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By Pete Alfano
palfano@star-telegram.com
The NFL was in Fort Worth on Wednesday, but Super Bowl XLV was not on the agenda. Anticipation might be building in North Texas for Super Sunday at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6, but league executives, team owners and officials met at the Omni Hotel downtown to discuss the elephant in the room -- the expiring collective bargaining agreement.
The labor agreement with the NFL Players Association expires March 4, and while that is only one month into the off-season, the ramifications could have a big impact on the sport. The doomsday scenario is a lockout by the owners or a players' strike that would wipe out the 2011 season or shorten it.
As popular as the NFL is, no one wants to go there. As commissioner Roger Goodell said in a news conference after the meetings, "Uncertainty is not good for fans or business partners.
"Fans want football," he said, "and that's why an agreement is our highest priority. Discussions are going on and having a dialogue is positive, but I won't be happy until it is all done. We have to start getting significant progress on the issues."
Even though there is ample time between March 4 and the opening of training camps in July to reach an agreement, Goodell said an agreement will be more difficult when the current one expires.
Off-season activities will be affected. There would be no salary cap, for example, thus free-agent signings would likely be put on hold. So would those organized team activities such as minicamps. If the NFL and the Players Association agree to an 18-game regular season, those off-season OTAs would likely be reduced.
Other priorities include player safety, which has become the major issue this season. The owners and team officials were shown a video on how the crackdown of helmet-to-helmet hits has been successful in getting players to stop using their head in the worst sense of the phrase.
"We are getting across how the game is changing in a positive way," Goodell said. "Players have adjusted."
John Mara, co-owner of the Giants, said that safety issues have always been a primary focus.
"We anticipate a busy off-season for the rules committee," he said, as the NFL attempts to deal with how to make an inherently violent sport safer while acknowledging it is a contact sport played by bigger, stronger and faster players.
palfano@star-telegram.com
The NFL was in Fort Worth on Wednesday, but Super Bowl XLV was not on the agenda. Anticipation might be building in North Texas for Super Sunday at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6, but league executives, team owners and officials met at the Omni Hotel downtown to discuss the elephant in the room -- the expiring collective bargaining agreement.
The labor agreement with the NFL Players Association expires March 4, and while that is only one month into the off-season, the ramifications could have a big impact on the sport. The doomsday scenario is a lockout by the owners or a players' strike that would wipe out the 2011 season or shorten it.
As popular as the NFL is, no one wants to go there. As commissioner Roger Goodell said in a news conference after the meetings, "Uncertainty is not good for fans or business partners.
"Fans want football," he said, "and that's why an agreement is our highest priority. Discussions are going on and having a dialogue is positive, but I won't be happy until it is all done. We have to start getting significant progress on the issues."
Even though there is ample time between March 4 and the opening of training camps in July to reach an agreement, Goodell said an agreement will be more difficult when the current one expires.
Off-season activities will be affected. There would be no salary cap, for example, thus free-agent signings would likely be put on hold. So would those organized team activities such as minicamps. If the NFL and the Players Association agree to an 18-game regular season, those off-season OTAs would likely be reduced.
Other priorities include player safety, which has become the major issue this season. The owners and team officials were shown a video on how the crackdown of helmet-to-helmet hits has been successful in getting players to stop using their head in the worst sense of the phrase.
"We are getting across how the game is changing in a positive way," Goodell said. "Players have adjusted."
John Mara, co-owner of the Giants, said that safety issues have always been a primary focus.
"We anticipate a busy off-season for the rules committee," he said, as the NFL attempts to deal with how to make an inherently violent sport safer while acknowledging it is a contact sport played by bigger, stronger and faster players.