Nfl Owners

The NFL tweaked some of its rules Tuesday, making thigh and knee pads mandatory equipment for players (starting in 2013) and pushing forward a pair of other changes involving the trade deadline and injured reserve. The rule involving thigh and knee padding for players is already being met with criticism by some players who argue that the bulky, additional padding slows them down without adding much protection . Vanity might also be a factor here for some opponents of the rule change, specifically those flashy wide receivers and defensive backs.

The NFL tweaked some of its rules Tuesday, making thigh and knee pads mandatory equipment for players (starting in 2013) and pushing forward a pair of other changes involving the trade deadline and injured reserve. The rule involving thigh and knee padding for players is already being met with criticism by some players who argue that the bulky, additional padding slows them down without adding much protection . Vanity might also be a factor here for some opponents of the rule change, specifically those flashy wide receivers and defensive backs.

The union representing NFL players pushed away from the negotiating table and decertified Friday, an extreme measure that leaves the federal courts to determine the immediate future of the nation's most popular sports league. Decertifying — dissolving the union — cleared the way for individual players to file antitrust lawsuits against the league, which likely could be barred from locking out those players. In the immediate aftermath of decertification, a group of players that included three of the NFL's most popular quarterbacks — Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees — filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league in U.S. District Court to prevent a lockout.

The sinking feeling surfaced in the stomachs of many Ravens as Billy Cundiff's field goal attempt hooked wide of the left upright Jan. 22. But for cornerback Domonique Foxworth, the heartache began back in September, months before the team's 23-20 loss in the AFC championship game. "My heart's been broken all season," Foxworth, carefully choosing his first words, said last Monday. The Ravens placed the Randallstown native on injured reserve Sept. 28, his season ended by a right knee injury for a second season in a row. On the first day of training camp in 2010, Foxworth tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a non-contact drill.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NFL owners figured out an easy way to pass a package of rules yesterday designed to boost offense, including the two-point conversion.They simply locked the coaches out of the room to squelch debate, then quickly passed three proposals.By a 23-4 vote, they passed the two-point conversion with the ball placed on the 2-yard line instead of the 3, the way the colleges do.By a 24-3 vote, they passed a rule pushing kickoffs back to the 30-yard line and banned kickers from using more than a 1-inch tee. In the past, they had been allowed to use 3-inch tees.

NFL owners meeting in Grapevine, Texas, yesterday approved a resolution for additional revenue sharing, a step toward the opening of negotiations with representatives for NFL players on a new collective bargaining agreement.Franchises already split network television revenues equally. This proposal provides for additional sharing of home gates, local television and radio contracts, and other incomes.Harold Henderson, the owners' negotiator, said he expects to make contact soon with the New York City law firm that represents the players in antitrust litigation against the NFL.Owners are expected to offer a two-tier system of unrestricted free agency, a salary cap (estimated at $28 million to $30 million)

The NFL owners know the name, but not the man.That's about the best way to describe their knowledge of Alfred Lerner, the minority owner of the Cleveland Browns who is now heading the Baltimore effort to get an NFL expansion franchise.Most of the owners had little to say about Lerner and even those who know him fairly well were reluctant to say if he would sway their vote Tuesday when Baltimore, St. Louis, Jacksonville, Fla., or Memphis, Tenn., is expected to be named the NFL's 30th team.

The labor strife gripping the NFL is actually two separate disagreements. The one between the players and owners is making headlines because it involves the salary cap and could lead to wholesale lineup changes, but the disagreement between the rich and not-as-rich owners figures to be more important in the long run. It centers on what has to be the most dangerous phrase in sports, the one that football owners have studiously avoided while watching it...

Until scientists develop a vaccine for those who suffer from optimism that Peter Angelos will buy and move a football franchise from Tampa to Baltimore, we will have to rely on conventional remedies. For example, the simple quoting of NFL owners from out-of-town newspapers can reduce fever and euphoria.Try this: "I know that Tampa is one of the premier places -- and let me emphasize premier places -- in the country for an NFL franchise. The NFL would be crazy to give up that market. Everybody in the NFL is cognizant about Tampa's ability to be a great NFL town.

NFL owners lost a Supreme Court appeal yesterday in their bid to avoid paying approximately $18 million to a pension fund for players.The justices, without comment, let stand a ruling that the owners were not entitled to reduce their contributions to the fund, even though all of the payments were not immediately tax deductible.During the early 1980s, the pension plan became over-funded when its investments earned greater returns than expected. The owners paid only $7.5 million into the fund in 1984, believing they could claim tax deductions only on that amount.

We've spent a lot of time this year talking about how the NFL seems to be trying to tone down the brutality in football. For the most part, their efforts seem less sincere and more like public relations, because the rules -- which Roger Goodell appears to make up as he goes along -- are enforced in such an arbitrary way, no one seems to know why some hits are deemed illegal while others are celebrated. The truth is, football is brutality. It's stylized violence, and it always has been, whether it was Night Train Lane doing the hitting or James Harrison.

It's London week in the NFL. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who played American football across the pond two seasons ago, return to Wembley to "host" the Chicago Bears. The London experiment is now in its fifth year. The game hasn't sold out -- the NFL can blame the lockout for that -- but it has been well-attended in the past. But can interest be sustained if the NFL placed a team in London, or would it be a novelty act that faded away? John York, co-owner of the San Francisco 49ers and the head of the NFL owners' international committee, told BBC that having a franchise in London “is a long-range plan.” For now, they are trying to market the sport.

The NFL lockout is finally over. The players have voted to accept the agreement reached by NFL owners and the NFLPA executive committee. Players can report to team facilities Tuesday, and free agency begins Tuesday as well. Some NFL training camps will open Wednesday. Great news, obviously. Now who feels like dancing?

As usual, it's the fans that got played for suckers. Go ahead and cheer the end of the NFL lockout if you want. And I'll cheer with you. Well, sort of. Sure, I'm happy football's back, too. Think I wanted to spend the rest of the summer writing about the Orioles and their annual cliff-dive onto the rocks? Or writing about all the whining that's emanating from the Baltimore Grand Prix over traffic congestion and noise? But if I hear one more NFL owner or player say he's happy for the fans now that this whole labor mess is almost settled, I swear I'm going to hurl.

The NFL lockout is officially over, ending 133 days of frustration and confusion for owners, players and football fans. The players' leadership group announced it has recommended approving a deal with the owners, which means both sides have agreed on a 10-year collective bargaining agreement that provides a new split of the $9.3 billion generated in annual revenues and shapes the league for the next decade. The owners and the players struck an agreement in principle on the new CBA at 3 a.m. Sunday, but the players' 13-member executive committee -- which includes Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth -- still had to review and vote on the deal.

Former Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor, drafted by Baltimore in the sixth round this year, has a few things in common with Ravens fans right now. He doesn't know when training camp is going to begin, but he is anxious for it to get here. "I'm ready to play some football," said Taylor, who threw out a ceremonial first pitch for the Bowie Baysox last Thursday, then signed autographs for fans for nearly an hour in the 100-degree heat. "I've been working real hard. I know whenever it's time to go to camp, I'll be prepared.

NFL owners suffered their second federal court setback in a week yesterday in their seemingly endless legal fight with the NFL Players Association.A federal judge in Washington, Royce C. Lamberth, disagreed with other federal judges and ruled that the NFL's labor exemption from antitrust laws expired when the last union contract ended in 1987. The suit was filed by developmental squad players who received $1,000-a-week in 1989, considerably less than the league's minimum salary.Doug Allen, the assistant executive director of the NFLPA, said the decision could lead to the developmental squad players' getting up to $80 million in damages and said it would result in the NFL's not being able to hold a collegiate draft after 1992.

The NFL owners, who appear to be on pro football's longest losing streak, suffered two more court setbacks yesterday in their legal fight with the players that could cost them between $60 to $65 million.A five-woman, three-man jury in Washington ruled that the practice squad players in 1989 were entitled to $10 million in damages -- tripled to $30 million under antitrust law -- because the NFL illegally fixed their wages at $1,000 a week.In a separate ruling, the National Labor Relations Board affirmed a 107-page 1991 decision by administrative law judge Benjamin Schlesinger that they had to pay the players for the final replacement game in 1987.

NFL owners and players have tentatively agreed to a plan that would allow for the players' executive committee to vote Monday to recommend accepting the collective bargaining agreement and end the league's 4-month-old lockout, according to multiple reports. After an emotional few days which spurred confusion and frustration, the sides made major progress in closing the gaps on the few remaining issues Saturday, all of which should bring the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987 to an end. A source told ESPN that the 11-member NFLPA executive board — which includes Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth — will meet in Washington on Monday to endorse the 10-year CBA and recertify as a union.