18 games not a deal breaker

Friday, February 04 2011

No issue has better illustrated the divide between NFL owners and players than the proposal to add two games to the regular season. This article was written by Scott Brown and appeared in The Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

But it won't be the reason labor peace is scuttled if the sides cannot agree on a new collective bargaining agreement before March 4.

With a lockout looming, NFL lead counsel Jeff Pash on Wednesday called on owners and players to commit to negotiations but said the 18-game proposal favored by owners won't be a deal-breaker.

"It could be a part of the new business model. It doesn't have to be," said Pash, the NFL's lead negotiator. "We do think the economics of an 18-game season could be compelling. The best thing about an 18-game season is it is responsive to fan interest, and if fans have been clear on anything it's that they have little use for preseason games."

If the Steelers are any indication, players have no use for lengthening the regular season.

"Crazy. I don't think it's a good thing if you're so worried about player safety," outside linebacker James Harrison said.

The proposal wouldn't lengthen the season, as two preseason games would be eliminated in favor of two more regular-season games. But players, particularly on the Steelers, have been outspoken in their opposition because regular-season games generally exact a higher physical toll than preseason games.

"The way these guys' bodies are feeling, and you're talking about adding two more games to that?" Harrison said. "It's going to be a far cry to get a guy through a whole season. The biggest thing that hurt (the proposal) is when Mr. (Dan) Rooney came out and said he'd rather stay at a 16-game season, they don't need the money."

The Steelers chairman emeritus emerged as a lone — though powerful — dissenting voice among owners several weeks ago when he expressed opposition to an 18-game schedule.

"That meant a lot," Steelers safety Polamalu said.

That is among a handful of issues on which NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association DeMaurice Smith will try to reach an agreement during the next month.

They have a negotiating session scheduled for Saturday, and Pash said both sides need to approach upcoming talks with urgency.

NFL owners opted out of the current CBA in 2008, two years early, because they are unhappy with their split of the financial pie.

The union puts the players' cut at about 51 percent of all revenues. Owners want a portion of that cut to help pay for investments they say will benefit both sides, such as the construction of new stadiums.

The players have balked at accepting what they see as a pay cut when the NFL is a $7 billion-a-year enterprise.

"I believe they're going to lock us out," Harrison said. "There's no doubt to me."

Smith is scheduled to talk at the NFLPA's annual news conference today, and Goodell will deliver his state of the NFL address Friday.

"Whatever's happened up until now, let's put it aside and work as hard as we can," Pash said. "If we put the effort into negotiating that we put into litigating and news conferences, we really could get something accomplished that's pretty good. We need to get busy, and we need to get busy now."