Robert Kraft hosted a Q&A with a few Patriots fans before Sunday night's game, and -- surprise, surprise -- a good many of the questionswholesale nfl were about the collective bargaining negotiations with the players' union and the possibility of a 2011 lockout. After saying last week that he hoped to have a new agreement in place by the Super Bowl on Feb. 7, 2011, Goodell offered little in the way of specifics but reiterated his assertion that he's determined to avoid a work stoppage.
"I think it's critically important to avoid that," Goodell said during remarks to the media after the session with the fans. "We need to havenhl jerseys cheap a system that works for everybody, but I think everybody would agree that what's most important is football, and that we should work very hard to avoid that."
Talks between the owners and the players have been slow, and the rhetoric surrounding them has occasionally (though, not lately) been San Diego Chargerscontentious. NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith has said many times that he believes the owners opted out of the last CBA with the intention of locking out the players in 2011 in order to secure a more favorable share of the revenue pie. Goodell has denied that, though the union has countered by citing as evidence TV contracts that pay out even if no games are played and the fact that the league hired the same attorney who presided over the lockout that cost the NHL an entire season.
Several times Sunday night, Goodell was asked what the key issues in the current dispute were. He outlined four.
"In any negotiations, youSeattle Seahawks have the economics, clearly," Goodell said. "And then we look at the rookie wage system, the 18-and-2 schedule and several issues, really, including our drug program. I believe we need to make sure we have the best drug program in sports."
The drug-testing program has not come up publicly as a core issue in these negotiations, but the rookie wage scale has, as has the league'sSt. Louis Rams proposal to expand the regular season to 18 games and eliminate two preseason games. In framing the argument for the latter, Goodell focuses on fan dissatisfaction with the quality of preseason games for which they pay full price, but players are resisting the idea of expanding the season over health and safety concerns.
The NFLPA offered a proposal for a rookie wage scale during a CBA negotiating session about one year ago, but there has been little discussionTennessee Titans or movement on that issue since then.
"These negotiations aren't about winning," Goodell said. "If everyone will give a little, it'll benefit everyone a lot. No negotiation is successful if one party gets everything they want."
As to his comments from last week about wanting a new deal in place by the Super Bowl, Goodell was asked if he thought that was possible.
"I have no idea," heHouston Oilers said. "I know I'll work night and day to try and get it to happen."
During his remarks to the media, Goodell also said he expected to have a resolution on the Brett Favre-Jenn Sterger situation before the end of the season, and that Favre's injury status (i.e., any possible decision by the Vikings to put him on IR) wouldMiami Dolphins not affect the decision. He also said his staff is reviewing comments made by Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff about the Patriots forming a 'wall' on the sideline during opponents' punt returns, and that Westhoff could face discipline action if the league determines his remarks were in violation of league rules.
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