Disputing NFL Owner Groups to Meet Tonight

The National Football League’s 12 dissident owners voted Monday night to take a compromise route toward selection of the commissioner, delegating three of their own to meet with three of the old-guard tonight.

Serving as referee will be Pete Rozelle, the retiring commissioner who pushed for the meeting, which will be held at an undisclosed location in the Chicago area.

Also present will be two members of a New York executive search firm, Heidrick and Ruggles, the organization brought in by the NFL to comb the country for candidates.

Many of the dissident owners have said they prefer to start from scratch, with the election of a new search committee to replace the one that has made only one nomination, unanimously endorsing Jim Finks, general manager of the New Orleans Saints.

However, at a private dinner Monday night, they voted to try the compromise route first.

“We’ll see what they come up with,” a dissident owner said. “That will give us an understanding of what’s out there.

“We’ve wondered why a professional firm was hired in the first place when the (search committee) obviously wanted Finks all along.

“But now that we’ve paid for them, we’ll at least get a handle on (possible candidates). We can always go on from there.”

Pat Bowlen of Denver will represent the dissidents along with Jerry Jones of Dallas and Ken Behring of Seattle. The search committee will be represented by Wellington Mara of the New York Giants, Dan Rooney of Pittsburgh and Robert Parins of Green Bay.

The compromise was seen as a victory for Rozelle, who has spent the last week or so trying to bring the sides together.

“That’s a proper role for the commissioner, and he’s played it effectively,” said Mike Lynn of Minnesota, a leader of the dissident group.

Rozelle has been visiting one on one with most of the owners, trying to break up a fight that, he fears, is close to damaging the league.

Ed DeBartolo of San Francisco, another dissident leader, said his group has had the NFL’s best interests at heart from the first.

“We’re not trying to be divisive,” he said. “Our point is that we can’t make a sensible decision on (a new commissioner) unless we have all the information that the (search committee) has. And they wouldn’t give it to us.”

They will tonight.