Roger Goodell's $1 salary under way with start of NFL lockout

NEW YORK -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and league general counsel Jeff Pash are slashing their salaries to $1 each during the lockout.

Goodell and Pash promised in January they would take salary cuts if there was a work stoppage. Goodell earns about $10 million a year, including bonuses, and Pash nearly $5 million.

Goodell also has asked the league's compensation committee to delay any bonus payments to him until there is a deal with the players' union.

Also taking cuts will be all league personnel at the New York headquarters, NFL Films in Mount Laurel, N.J., and at NFL Network and NFL.com in Culver City, Calif.

For now, salaries for those league employees will be reduced by 12 percent, an amount equal to two weeks' pay.

If the work stoppage continues into August, salary reductions for management-level employees will range from 25 percent for executive vice presidents to 20 percent for senior VPs and 15 percent for VPs. Directors will take a 10 percent cut and managers will be reduced by 5 percent.

In 2009, Goodell took a 20 percent pay cut and the league staff was trimmed by 15 percent.

Several teams have instituted furloughs and pay cuts because of the lockout, which began Saturday morning after the players' union decertified and the owners locked them out.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a plan to reduce salaries by less than 10 percent during a prolonged labor stoppage while letting all personnel keep their jobs. Those making the most money, including general manager Scott Pioli and coach Todd Haley, are taking the biggest hit, but no employees will be laid off or furloughed. If there is a full 2011 season, employees would be reimbursed for money lost.

For the New York Jets, the lockout means 25 percent pay cuts for Rex Ryan and his coaching staff, along with general manager Mike Tannenbaum. The anticipated pay cut -- members of the organization learned of it several months ago -- is now in effect with the lockout, a team spokesman said. Non-contract employees are now required to take one furlough week -- unpaid -- per month.

"This is a fluid situation," the spokesman said. "We will obviously be evaluating our approach as events unfold."

The employees' lost wages will be recouped if no games are lost, according to the team. The 25 percent cut is within the guidelines of the lockout clause in each coach's contract, but Larry Kennan, the president of the NFL Coaches' Association, told ESPNNewYork.com last week that 25 percent was "very harsh." Other teams, such as the New York Giants, are planning no pay cuts or furloughs, only hiring freezes.

The Green Bay Packers haven't initiated pay cuts yet, but vice president of administration/general counsel Jason Wied said cuts are likely in the future.

"Our coaches, our scouts, even [Packers CEO] Mark Murphy and [general manager] Ted Thompson and [head coach] Mike McCarthy, we're looking at relatively sizable salary reductions until this matter is resolved," Wied said in a conference call with reporters Saturday.

The team is also freezing salaries and new hiring.

However, Green Bay does plan to go forward with a new scoreboard project and expects to keep the Lambeau Field Atrium attractions open to fans.

"This is not a time for us to pull back in terms of reaching out to the fans," Wied said.

They took the term "lockout" rather literally at the Tennessee Titans' headquarters in Nashville, where a metal chain secured the main gate to the parking lot's front entrance, an extra bit of security normally not seen there.

In preparation for an antitrust lawsuit filed by 10 NFL players, the NFL made two additions to its legal team -- David Boies, who represented Al Gore during the recount fight in the disputed 2000 presidential election, and former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement.

The lawsuit includes star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. It was filed Friday in federal court in Minnesota, where a judge has held jurisdiction over NFL labor matters since the early 1990s.

The lockout is the sport's first work stoppage since 1987.

Information from ESPNNewYork.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Mr. NFL comissioner, ITS NOW OR NEVER!

Roger Goodell has a decision to make this week. Does he want to be a $10 million mouthpiece for NFL owners, or a difference-maker who rescues his employers from themselves?

It's one or the other. Because when it comes down to it, Goodell has a single job as commissioner of the world's most profitable sports league: Make the NFL trains run on time. If he can't do that, then it's time to find another conductor.

That's right, Goodell should resign immediately if this owners-created labor dispute becomes a living, breathing lockout by the end of Friday's federally mediated negotiating deadline. Once the owners press the nuclear lockout button, then Goodell must go.

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Brendan Smialowski/Getty ImagesIf Goodell can't avoid a lockout, perhaps the league should look elsewhere for leadership.

Roger and out.

The NFL isn't broken. Or broke. It is a $9 billion industry that continues to grow as if it has an overactive pituitary gland. Other leagues put their heads on their pillows each night and dream of becoming the NFL.

Of course, Goodell and the owners want you to believe that the league's future is dangerously fragile, that a reconfigured collective bargaining agreement (conveniently reconfigured to the owners' specifications) is preventative medicine -- necessary and good for the health of the league. They can live with a lockout strategy because they're convinced it would be for the greater good of the league and its fans.

But what if they're wrong?

Goodell has been a master of repeating the company line … even though the company line has more holes in it than a mesh game jersey. He and the owners have been banging that financial drum slowly and loudly since Goodell was elected commissioner on the fifth ballot in August 2006.

But forget about the company line for a moment. Here's the bottom line: The NFL generates more annual revenue than the NBA and NHL combined (with about $2 billion to spare). The NFL, which owns almost every meaningful record for most-watched television programming, can fall out of bed and get a 33 share. And according to Forbes magazine, each of the NFL's 32 franchises is listed among the world's 50 most valuable sports teams. Six of those franchises (the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets and Houston Texans) are ranked in the top 10.

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Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesGoodell's powers of persuasion -- not only with the union but also with the owners -- are being put to the test this week.

Duh -- winning.

This is no mom-and-pop business, unless Pop is Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the business is worth $1.65 billion. And, as The Wall Street Journal noted several months ago, the least valuable NFL franchise (the Oakland Raiders) is worth more than the Chicago Cubs or the Los Angeles Lakers.

So you can see why the players' union is reluctant to take a salary haircut. And if you can't see why it's reluctant, then you've been listening to Goodell for too long.

The players didn't create this crisis; the owners did. They're the ones who signed off on the last CBA in 2006. (Goodell, by the way, played a role in those negotiations.) At the time, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney gushed to The Associated Press, "We've got the best labor deal in sports."

But now they want a mulligan?

Anyway, whose fault is it if a franchise drafts poorly, plans poorly and spends poorly? And since when is it the players' responsibility to help bail out the lower-revenue franchises by taking less of their previously negotiated slice of the pie?

The owners want to make more money. Can't blame them for that. But until the owners can actually prove there's an electrical fire in the league's revenue wiring, then you can't blame the players for squeezing their wallets shut.

Goodell says no new stadiums have been built since 2006 -- the message being that owners can't afford the cost of new construction. But 21 new stadium projects were initiated and/or completed during the 17-year reign of Goodell's predecessor, Paul Tagliabue. And, in the past two seasons, new stadiums worth nearly $3 billion combined -- Cowboys Stadium and New Meadowlands Stadium -- have become operational on Goodell's watch. So it's not as if the bulk of the league's teams are playing in football Fenways.

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AP Photo/Alex BrandonHe presides over the richest, most successful pro sports league in the country. Why isn't that enough for Goodell and the owners?

Something has to give, preferably the stubbornness of the owners. That's where Goodell comes in -- or should.

Goodell is the son of a politician, so he was raised on the importance of compromise and consensus building. One way or the other, he has to herd 32 very rich and very entrenched cats through these negotiations. He has to convince them (and perhaps himself) that a lockout would be the dumbest idea since showing up for a Wonderlic test without a No. 2 pencil.

This is when we learn whether Goodell is worth his nearly $10 million in annual salary. The last thing these negotiations need is an owners' lap dog who yaps at all the wrong times and for all the wrong reasons. We know Goodell can hand down discipline and fines, but can he lead? Can he solve? Can he make the NFL's 2011 regular season run on time?

Years from now, nobody will particularly care how Goodell dealt with Spygate, Michael Vick,Ben Roethlisberger, helmet-to-helmet contact, Ines Sainz, Philadelphia snowstorms or Brett Favre. But everybody will remember whether he contributed to a lockout or prevented one.

254-hour extension reached for NFL labor

WASHINGTON -- America's favorite sport is still in business -- for another day.

The NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed Thursday to a 24-hour extension of the current collective bargaining agreement so that negotiations can continue.

Federal mediator George Cohen already has gotten the union to agree to a 7-to-10-day extension on labor talks, but still awaits the owners' response, a source told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.

The 24-hour extension Thursday was offered by the owners and accepted by the union when both sides made their most significant progress in labor talks to date, sources said.

The two sides narrowed the financial gap between them by roughly $5 million per team per year. Nevertheless, a significant divide still exists -- roughly $25 million per team per year, sources familiar with the process told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. With 32 teams in the league, the gap is $750 million to $800 million per year.

According to sources familiar with Thursday's agreement to extend the CBA deadline, there are no face-to-face negotiations scheduled Friday between the owners and the union, but Cohen will meet independently with each side to discuss their differences in labor talks.

Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday, a member of the NFL Players Association's executive committee, told The Associated Press about the extension after the sides met for about eight hours before Cohen. The CBA was set to expire at midnight Thursday, which would likely have prompted the first work stoppage since 1987 for a league that rakes in $9 billion a year.

"We just know right now that we granted a 24-hour extension," Saturday said as he and Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch left the session.

As it stands, the 24-hour extension, according to sources, gives the union a chance to review the league's latest proposal and for both sides to decide on the next step -- be that another extension, more negotiations, a lockout or decertification.

In addition to the owners' proposal Thursday, the union has also made concessions in the latest negotiations, sources on both sides told Mortensen. The details of those concessions are unknown.

The deadline extension does not mean any transactions can occur, according to a league source. As part of Thursday's agreement, even though an extension was granted, the league year has ended. Teams no longer can cut, re-sign players or make any player moves beyond Thursday, until there's a new CBA.

League spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed the transaction freeze via text, saying teams are free to negotiate with players and agents, but signings are prohibited.

Failing to make a deal could put the two sides on the road to a year without football, even though opening kickoff of the 2011 season is six months away. The labor unrest comes as the NFL is at the height of its popularity, breaking records for TV ratings: This year's Super Bowl was the most-watched program in U.S. history.

Without a new CBA, the owners could lock out the players, and the union could decertify to try to prevent it through the courts -- something the NFLPA did in 1989. It formed again in 1993.

Sources told ESPN the union was prepared to decertify Thursday. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Patriots guardLogan Mankins, Chiefs linebacker Mike Vrabel, Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson, Vikings linebacker Ben Leber, Vikings defensive end Brian Robison and Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller have agreed to be name plaintiffs on the antitrust suit the players will file against the NFL if no labor agreement is reached and the union files for decertification, according to sources.

Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL's negotiating team arrived at a federal mediator's headquarters about 45 minutes ahead of NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and his group.

"We're working hard," Goodell said.

Also on hand for the NFL were Pash, outside counsel Bob Batterman, New York Giantsowner John Mara, Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy, Washington Redskins general manager Bruce Allen and several other league executives. Mara and Murphy are members of the league's labor committee, which has the authority to call for a lockout if a new agreement isn't reached.

"We'll stay at it as long as it takes," Pash said.

They'll be staying at least into Friday, though a deal isn't done. Washington Redskins player rep Vonnie Holliday told the AP that the two sides are "still apart" on a pact to replace the current CBA.

"I don't see how we can be that close right now unless somebody is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat; I just don't see it," he said.

Since the 1987 players' strike that shortened the season to 15 games -- with three of those games featuring nonunion replacement players -- there has been labor peace in the NFL. The foundation of the current CBA was reached in 1993 by then commissioner Paul Tagliabue and union chief Gene Upshaw.

It has been extended five times as revenues soared, the league expanded to 32 profitable teams, and new stadiums were built across America to house them.

The contract extension reached in 2006 was the final major act for Tagliabue, who then retired, succeeded by Goodell. An opt-out clause for each side was included in that deal, and the owners exercised it in May 2008 -- three months before Upshaw died.

Smith replaced Upshaw in March 2009.

Joining Smith at the mediation session Thursday were union president Kevin Mawae, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Saturday, and about a dozen others, including current and former players.

The biggest sticking point all along has been how to divide the league's revenues, including what cut team owners should get up front to help cover certain costs, such as stadium construction. Under the old deal, owners received about $1 billion off the top. They entered these negotiations seeking to add another $1 billion to that.

Among the other significant topics: a rookie wage scale; the owners' push to expand the regular season from 16 games to 18 while reducing the preseason by two games; and benefits for retired players.

Information from ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen and The Associated Press was used in this report.