Extension in the works; replay going to vote

Updated: March 31, 2004, 2:33 PM ET

Email Print Share

Associated Press

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- With several key issues on the NFL's agenda in the next few years, league owners want Paul Tagliabue around.

Tagliabue will be offered a contract extension of as long as three years, Steelers owner Dan Rooney said Monday at the NFL meetings. The 32 owners agreed unanimously to lock up Tagliabue, 63, beyond the May 2005 expiration of his current contract, which pays him about $5 million a year.

He's expected to get about $8 million a year under the new deal.

"He's taken the league to a new level," Rooney said of Tagliabue, who replaced Pete Rozelle in 1989. "The television situation is phenomenal, the relationship with the players union is great. We're entering an important period and we want him to continue to lead us through it. It's obvious what we think of him."

Among the upcoming matters the league faces are negotiations for a new network television contract -- the current eight-year, $17.6 billion deal expires after the 2005 season -- and an extension of the collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association.

"We've had back-to-back stewardships not seen anytime before in any league," retiring Ravens owner Art Modell said of the Rozelle-Tagliabue years.

In the next two days, the owners will vote on three proposals to keep instant replay as an officiating aid:

A renewal of the current coaches' challenge rule for five years.

Permanent renewal of the current system.

Permanent renewal, with an additional challenge given to a team that makes two successful challenges.

"I think it's time for voting on it permanently," competition co-chairman Rich McKay said. "This rule has been tried and tested in our minds. I think we should be a league of permanent rules."

Several other rules changes will be voted on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Changing overtime to allow both teams a possession is unlikely to be approved. The competition committee doesn't favor it.

The committee also recommended instituting 15-yard penalties for choreographed celebrations and suggested some minor changes to the fair catch rule that will eliminate any returns by the receiving team once the signal is made.

An expansion of the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams won't be on the agenda after Kansas City withdrew the proposal. Although many coaches said they favor the idea, the Chiefs felt there wasn't enough support among the owners, and the competition committee was strongly opposed.

Concern about the disparity in cash flow between the 32 teams has been a main topic of the meetings. Rooney, Buffalo's Ralph Wilson and Indianapolis' Jimmy Irsay expressed their concerns Monday.

"With our stadium and ticket pricing and market, we are 32nd out of 32," said Irsay, who went into his own pocket to pay a record $34.5 million signing bonus to quarterback Peyton Manning, last season's co-MVP. "There has to be some way to create a shift there, and it's the issue in the NFL right now -- revenue sharing."

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder paid out nearly $50 million in signing bonuses in the first two days of free agency this year. Even with a salary cap, some owners believe it's difficult for teams with less cash to match that, even though Snyder's spending has failed to improve his team in the five years he's owned it.

Tagliabue predicted renewal of the NFL Trust, through which teams share revenues from the sale of licensed merchandise. That amounts to about $4 million per team a year. Washington's Daniel Snyder and Dallas' Jerry Jones want to market their own products without cutting in others, although neither has indicated opposition to the NFL Trust. They do seek modifications.

That concerns small-market owners.

"I can't see why we're talking about selling a few more bobblehead dolls in Buffalo," Wilson said. "And I wonder how many Cowboy hats Jerry is going to sell there. There's a far more fundamental issue: the money disparity that will end up making it a league of haves and have-nots."

The Colts and Patriots will open the 2004 season on Thursday night, Sept. 9 in Foxboro, Mass. The game is a rematch of the AFC championship won 24-14 by New England in January.

The other prime-time games for the first weekend will be Kansas City at Denver on Sunday night, Sept. 12, and Green Bay at Carolina on Monday night, Sept. 13.

Dallas will play at Minnesota in a nationally televised game on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 12. No other matchups were announced Monday.