Sunday, March 5, 2006; 4:21 PM
Negotiators for NFL team owners and the players' union were making progress this afternoon toward settlement on an extension of their collective bargaining agreement, sources familiar with the deliberations said.
It appeared increasingly likely that the league would push back the opening of the free-agent market, scheduled for midnight tonight, for a second time, perhaps until Wednesday. That would give NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue an opportunity to take a deal or near-deal with the union on a labor settlement before the owners in a meeting tentatively scheduled for Tuesday in Dallas.
Sources said the owners and players were progressing toward a compromise in which players would receive approximately 59 percent of a greatly expanded pool of league revenues as compensation under a salary-cap system. The owners raised their offer today to more than 58 percent, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing.
Negotiations resumed late this morning in New York amid renewed optimism that a settlement was within reach, a day after the talks had collapsed yet again.
A union official said just before 11:15 a.m. that the bargaining session was about to begin. Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the Players Association, and Richard Berthelsen, the union's general counsel, traveled back to New York from Washington this morning after leaving New York when talks broke down yesterday.
Upshaw said via e-mail early this morning that the parties were "now in the area where we will get a deal. I think it may be there. It comes down to a few final points."
Another participant in the talks said just before today's bargaining session began that any optimism should be tempered, however, because the sides had not yet resumed face-to-face negotiations and there still was plenty of work to be done. He said he was hopeful but less than certain that a settlement was imminent.
Even if the parties emerge from today's negotiations with a tentative agreement, the owners and players would have to ratify the deal. It could be particularly difficult for Tagliabue to get a consensus among the owners. The labor deal would have to be ratified by at least 24 of the 32 teams.
If the labor deal is accompanied by an agreement among the owners for clubs to increase the degree to which they share locally generated revenues, it's possible that nine high-revenue teams would band together to block approval of the labor settlement. If the labor deal isn't accompanied by a revenue-sharing accord among the owners, it's possible that nine low-revenue clubs could block it.
Tagliabue previously had informed owners they would meet Tuesday in Dallas if there were a labor agreement up for ratification.
The players' executive board is scheduled to meet this week in Hawaii, and the union's leaders could put any settlement with the owners up for the players' approval then.
The negotiations broke off yesterday with Upshaw saying the owners were unable to compromise, and he left New York and returned to Washington. But the owners were meeting via conference call when Upshaw departed, and league spokesman Greg Aiello said the owners expected negotiations to resume today.
The talks ended yesterday with the owners offering 56.6 percent of an expanded pool of league revenues to the players as compensation under a salary-cap system.Upshaw had dropped his demand that the players receive at least 60 percent, but he would not specify exactly what percentage his latest proposal called for.
Upshaw has maintained that any labor deal between the players and owners would have to be accompanied by an agreement among the owners to increase the degree to which the 32 NFL teams share locally generated revenues. Otherwise, Upshaw has said, lower-revenue clubs could not afford the salary commitment they would be making to the players. Owners have said they could complete a labor deal with the players without finishing a revenue-sharing agreement immediately.