NFL Owners Take a Small Loss That Seems Like a Win as Meetings Begin

MAUI, Hawaii — Owners of the 28 National Football League teams will open their winter meetings today amid news as happy as they could have hoped for--a new TV contract at practically the old prices.

Commissioner Pete Rozelle is expected to announce a package that is down only about 6% from the $490 million the teams split last year, rather than the 20% cut that network executives were warning the league to expect.

CBS, ABC and NBC will all be paying less for their games now, but the NFL will go on cable for the first time, with eight Sunday night games on ESPN.

This announcement will kick off the NFL’s off-season in earnest. Next on the agenda are negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The NFL Players Assn. had been waiting to see the new TV package before making final its own shopping list, but the players have announced they’re going for unrestricted free agency, thus assuring a long, hard set of talks.

Gene Upshaw, executive director of the players’ association, is expected to be here. The players will hold their own meeting in Century City next week.

Also to be decided here is the future of instant replay. It was put in a year ago by a vote of 23-4-1, but it needs 21 votes to stay and there have been reports that there are a lot of unhappy owners.

Dallas Cowboy President Tex Schramm, the head of the powerful competition committee, is expected to push for its continuation, but under a new format with an eighth official on each crew manning the TV monitor, rather than the supervisory officials who worked last season.