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Goodell: decision time approaching

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-27 08:03

RALEIGH, North Carolina - The time is fast approaching when the NFL must make a decision about canceling activities because of its labor dispute with league players, commissioner Roger Goodell said on Wednesday.

The league has the full intention of playing a complete 2011 season and holding its Super Bowl in Indianapolis, but Goodell believes the dispute could impact some decisions, including cutoff dates for holding events.

"We don't have a date (for cutoffs), but obviously that time is coming," Goodell said at a news conference in Indianapolis following the league's spring meeting.

"We are getting close enough now where those will have to be considerations."

Training camps and preseason games could be affected if there is no resolution in a month or so, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said earlier in the day.

The NFL rookie symposium scheduled for June has already been canceled and Irsay and Goodell said a return to the bargaining table was sorely needed.

"It is imperative on all of us to get back to negotiating, to figure out ways in which we can compromise our positions so that we can reach an agreement that's fair to everybody," Goodell said.

"The issue about litigation is that there is no end. At some point that has to end and you have to negotiate."

Players have been locked out by the owners for more than 10 weeks after talks on a new collective bargaining agreement broke off and the players union decertified. Nine of the players then filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.

The league, its teams and fans have all been impacted by the lockout and resulting court cases over the lockout and lawsuit, Goodell said.

"The longer it goes on, the more damage that's done to the game, the more revenue is down, the less money to be divided amongst the parties," the commissioner said.

League officials have projected financial losses could be as high as $1 billion if the regular season does not kick-off as scheduled in early September.

Along with the players, team employees have been affected by cutbacks, furloughs and salary reductions, Goodell said.

The feuding sides are due back in court next month with more mediation sessions to follow, but Jerry Richardson, owner of the Carolina Panthers, said he was not expecting any movement before July, when a verdict on the court hearing on the legality of the lockout was expected.

"We're in a waiting mode," Richardson told the league-owned NFL Network.

"I think we all need to see what's going to happen in July. Then we'll go from there."

Goodell said he would welcome the opportunity to sit down with players association executive director DeMaurice Smith outside the courtroom to discuss pending issues.

Reuters

(China Daily 05/27/2011 page23)