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Tagliabue Reveals Al Davis As The Real Source of Labor Peace!!! from | http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/9298321
Days of intensive negotiations have ensured labor peace in the NFL for the next several seasons. Tired but relieved, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue sat down with Playbook host Paul Burmeister to discuss the difficulties of hammering out this agreement. Tagliabue also reacts to rumors that he might retire soon. NFL Total Access airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET/PT (aired March 10, 2006).
Paul Burmeister: OK, Commissioner, Wednesday night you said you were more relieved than anything. You've had 24 hours to step away from it a bit, maybe exhale for a while, is that still your overriding feeling?
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue: Well, I think now, probably, I have a little better sense that we accomplished something that was important for the game, important for the league, and for the fans, so maybe I'm getting beyond relief to a little sense that everyone feels they had to give, but everyone felt they gave to get something done ... that was very positive.
Burmeister: So there is maybe a feeling that there was something, a feat accomplished more so than a disaster avoided?
Commissioner: I think so, definitely. I think that when you look back, we discussed dozens and dozens of different ideas internally, dozens and dozens of different ideas with the Players Association, and we did make some really significant structural improvements. Hopefully, they will be improvements. The way the salary cap is going to be structured is different and hopefully better. The way we are dealing internally with some of our internal revenue-sharing arrangements and "incentivizing" teams to build stadiums, help them build stadiums, involve some structural changes. So, it was just not another extension, it was trying to improve and extend and I think in the end that's what we accomplished.
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Al Davis said to me very early in the meeting, "You've got the votes," And I said, "I do?" He said: "Yeah, now you just have to figure out what they're voting on." So I said: "That's not too easy."
But it was only when he said that, after the first four hours, that I finally had the sense that maybe he's right. But then it still wasn't easy to figure out what it is we were going to put on a piece of paper, and say we all agreed to.
And committing the digital media, committing some future revenue streams, and committing to develop them in intelligent ways and dedicating significant pieces of that from the high-revenue teams to fund the revenue sharing that's needed, and also understanding that moving into areas of best practices in helping teams help themselves, I think there was a good feeling that what we agreed to is a good program for both to going forward in helping but also getting people to build their own stadiums and prove their own local presence.
in place in the '60s and through the '70s, in my judgment, and that was basically the thrust of my speech ... so that everybody should try to keep it working, it'd be great for the game and, Al Davis jumped in and said that he's been around 10 years longer than I am, but he supported a good deal of what I had set forth. And I think that Al had a great impact on the meeting because he does have tremendous perspective, and when he comes in and says it's time to make the decision for the good of the game, it has a lot of impact, and he reinforced what I had said.
Burmeister: Were you surprised that it was Al Davis, the one to get up and do that?
Commissioner: Not really, because when I first became commissioner in '89, Al called me and spoke with me on a number of occasions and had some really good advice about how to change the relationship with the Players Association and to make it less adversarial and less confrontational, and build a relationship of respect and trust. We've tried to do that over the years -- Gene Upshaw and I -- and the owners and the Players Association Executive Committee. It's reflected in many things we do, meeting together in Indianapolis at the Combine and talking about safety and issues and the rules of the game, but Al gave me that advice 17 years ago, and it's some of the best advice I've ever gotten, and he and I have always been on the same page when it comes to trying to make this system work fairly.
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Days of intensive negotiations have ensured labor peace in the NFL for the next several seasons. Tired but relieved, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue sat down with Playbook host Paul Burmeister to discuss the difficulties of hammering out this agreement. Tagliabue also reacts to rumors that he might retire soon. NFL Total Access airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET/PT (aired March 10, 2006).
Paul Burmeister: OK, Commissioner, Wednesday night you said you were more relieved than anything. You've had 24 hours to step away from it a bit, maybe exhale for a while, is that still your overriding feeling?
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue: Well, I think now, probably, I have a little better sense that we accomplished something that was important for the game, important for the league, and for the fans, so maybe I'm getting beyond relief to a little sense that everyone feels they had to give, but everyone felt they gave to get something done ... that was very positive.
Burmeister: So there is maybe a feeling that there was something, a feat accomplished more so than a disaster avoided?
Commissioner: I think so, definitely. I think that when you look back, we discussed dozens and dozens of different ideas internally, dozens and dozens of different ideas with the Players Association, and we did make some really significant structural improvements. Hopefully, they will be improvements. The way the salary cap is going to be structured is different and hopefully better. The way we are dealing internally with some of our internal revenue-sharing arrangements and "incentivizing" teams to build stadiums, help them build stadiums, involve some structural changes. So, it was just not another extension, it was trying to improve and extend and I think in the end that's what we accomplished.
.
.
.
Al Davis said to me very early in the meeting, "You've got the votes," And I said, "I do?" He said: "Yeah, now you just have to figure out what they're voting on." So I said: "That's not too easy."
But it was only when he said that, after the first four hours, that I finally had the sense that maybe he's right. But then it still wasn't easy to figure out what it is we were going to put on a piece of paper, and say we all agreed to.
And committing the digital media, committing some future revenue streams, and committing to develop them in intelligent ways and dedicating significant pieces of that from the high-revenue teams to fund the revenue sharing that's needed, and also understanding that moving into areas of best practices in helping teams help themselves, I think there was a good feeling that what we agreed to is a good program for both to going forward in helping but also getting people to build their own stadiums and prove their own local presence.
in place in the '60s and through the '70s, in my judgment, and that was basically the thrust of my speech ... so that everybody should try to keep it working, it'd be great for the game and, Al Davis jumped in and said that he's been around 10 years longer than I am, but he supported a good deal of what I had set forth. And I think that Al had a great impact on the meeting because he does have tremendous perspective, and when he comes in and says it's time to make the decision for the good of the game, it has a lot of impact, and he reinforced what I had said.
Burmeister: Were you surprised that it was Al Davis, the one to get up and do that?
Commissioner: Not really, because when I first became commissioner in '89, Al called me and spoke with me on a number of occasions and had some really good advice about how to change the relationship with the Players Association and to make it less adversarial and less confrontational, and build a relationship of respect and trust. We've tried to do that over the years -- Gene Upshaw and I -- and the owners and the Players Association Executive Committee. It's reflected in many things we do, meeting together in Indianapolis at the Combine and talking about safety and issues and the rules of the game, but Al gave me that advice 17 years ago, and it's some of the best advice I've ever gotten, and he and I have always been on the same page when it comes to trying to make this system work fairly.
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