Two Senators’ Price of Legislation: Rozelle’s Promise of NFL Expansion

Legislation granting new powers to professional football, hockey, basketball and soccer leagues was held hostage in the Senate Wednesday by two senators demanding a promise from Pete Rozelle, National Football League commissioner, that the NFL will soon expand.

Sens. Charles McC. Mathias (R-Md.) and Albert Gore (D-Tenn.) vowed to keep the bill from coming to the floor of the Senate unless Rozelle promises to create six additional franchises over the next six years. Mathias and Gore represent cities--Baltimore and Memphis--that are bidding for NFL expansion teams.

Sponsored by Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.), the legislation would give football, hockey, basketball and soccer leagues authority to enforce their rules on team relocation, sharing of revenues, selection of team owners and termination of team ownership. Baseball already has such authority.

Unlike several other measures that were proposed earlier this year, the Danforth bill does not specifically require the NFL to put expansion teams in any particular city. One such measure would have required teams to be placed in Oakland and Baltimore, which both have lost NFL franchises.

Gore, who discussed the matter by telephone with Rozelle Wednesday night, said that the NFL commissioner promised to respond to the senators today. If Rozelle refuses to agree to six new teams, he said, no action will be taken on the bill, at least until next year. If he agrees, it is expected to pass the Senate today.

“I’m not asking for a commitment that teams be placed in Memphis or Baltimore,” Gore said. “I’m asking for a commitment that they will expand.” He said that the league is reluctant to expand because the existing teams would have to share television revenue with the new clubs.

Gore said that the NFL has offered to establish criteria for granting new franchises that would give preference to cities that have lost a team or have demonstrated strong interest in one. He added that such an offer is “worthless without a commitment to expand.”

The Danforth bill is the direct result of the controversy that arose when the Oakland Raiders defied the NFL by moving to Los Angeles. Pressure for the legislation grew stronger in 1984, when the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis without seeking league approval.

At least three other teams have threatened or are threatening to relocate without league approval--the Philadelphia Eagles, the St. Louis Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints.

Gore noted that Congress originally played a role in creating the current “market scarcity” of football franchises by granting the NFL a limited antitrust exemption.

“Now, they are seeking an expanded antitrust exemption that would increase their power over this market scarcity without agreeing to any expansion,” he said.