The Striking Fact Is Nobody’s Talking as Tuesday Approaches

There was nary a hint of optimism Sunday, as 26 of the National Football League’s 28 teams took the field under the shadow of the second strike in six years and the fifth since 1968. The strike is scheduled to start when the other two teams, the New York Jets and New England Patriots, complete their game tonight.

“My agenda now is to prepare for a strike,” said Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Assn. He said picket signs were prepared for Tuesday’s walkout.

No new talks are scheduled, and the two sides are unable to even agree on their disagreements. The owners claim the players’ demand for free agency is the only issue that can’t be resolved easily; the union said the owners are stalling on many issues.

Owners, meanwhile, are going ahead with plans to play games with free agents. Several teams claim they have nearly full rosters signed to resume play in two weeks. If the strike takes place, the Sept. 27-28 games will be skipped and the league will resume play the next weekend.

“I’m still working on the theory that we might be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat,” said Jack Donlan, executive director of the NFL Management Council. “I don’t think it’s likely, but I have to keep thinking that way.”

But Upshaw saw no rabbits on the horizon, not to mention in any hats, after the most recent meeting, an informal three-hour session between the two chief negotiators Friday. At those talks, the union rejected Donlan’s request for a 30-day extension of the strike deadline in return for concessions on issues other than free agency.

“We need someone to make the deal,” Upshaw said. “Obviously, when Jack part of a grand plan. . . . We’ve met one-on-one 8 or 10 times. I’m not going to meet with him one-on-one again if he’s going to be vague and general.”

The versions of those informal talks were symbolic of the chasm between the sides.

The Management Council said Donlan offered concessions on pension, roster size and other issues; Upshaw said he heard nothing specific that could make him postpone the strike deadline.

Donlan also said that he had offered to step aside and let someone else make the deal for management. The union has suggested that Commissioner Pete Rozelle might be the man.

“I said to Gene, ‘If it’s the messenger, I’ll step out,’ ” Donlan said. “Gene said, ‘Jack, it’s not the messenger.”’

The fans, meanwhile, were becoming disenchanted with both sides. Most said they saw no reason to attend the games--to be played with free agents cut before the season.

“If they go out, they can stay out,” said Jack Miller, a private investigator from Fort Mitchell, Ky., attending the Bengal-49er game in Cincinnati. “They’re cutting their own throats. Their average salary is $230,000. If they want more than that, they can go scratch.”

But he added of the owners’ plans:

“I wouldn’t give them a nickel. I wouldn’t go to the games at all. That’s like going to watch a high school team and they’re putting their third string in. It’s ridiculous.”