NFL Is Undecided on Commissioner

Paul Tagliabue, a National Football League lawyer, moved up to challenge the long-standing front runner, Jim Finks, in the race for NFL commissioner here Tuesday night.

After taking four inconclusive ballots, the representatives of the 28 clubs adjourned their October meetings until 6 a.m. PDT today.

Outgoing Commissioner Pete Rozelle said the competition is closer than it was in Chicago last July, when there were 11 abstentions as Finks, the general manager of the New Orleans Saints, received 16 of the necessary 19 votes.

The league seems to be split into two voting blocs, although Rozelle, the only official speaking for the record, denied it.

Sources said the group supporting Finks--including Raider owner Al Davis and many representatives of the league’s old guard clubs--had held onto “most” of the votes that they have commanded for the last three months.

If Finks got about 15, Tagliabue won perhaps 13 votes as the choice of the league’s newer owners--give or take a few votes for the two other candidates, Los Angeles radio executive Willie Davis and New York politician Pat Barrett.

Most of the younger leaders, who have also been known as the Chicago 11 since the last owners’ meeting--when they successfully blocked Finks--agreed earlier in the day to get behind Tagliabue.

Ram owner Georgia Frontiere’s representative, vice president John Shaw, sided with the dissidents in July. This time he declined to reveal the club’s choice.

Frontiere was one of four absent club owners. The others were W.C. Ford of Detroit, Leon Hess of the New York Jets and Jack Kent Cooke of Washington.

Rozelle, who tallied the votes with the assistance of league counsel Jay Moyer, had decided before the meeting not to release the count of preliminary ballots.

The candidates received hour-long interviews at the beginning of the day’s 10 1/2-hour meeting. Afterward, Rozelle said, there were hours of heated exchange.

Tagliabue, thought of by some as the newcomer, has actually been in the fight for nearly six months, although he has attracted little attention.

A former Georgetown basketball player, Tagliabue, 48, has spent the last 20 years with the league’s Washington law firm, Covington and Burling, which has occasionally assigned him full time to the NFL.

He has worked closely with Rozelle, and most of those in the league office have for many years considered him the heir apparent.

Asked Tuesday why he wanted to be commissioner, Tagliabue said: “I think it would be fun.”

During his interview, he talked frequently about his basketball career.

“I wanted (the owners) to know that I’ve spent a lot of time around locker rooms,” he said.

Finks, 62, also is a former athlete--a one-time NFL quarterback who played five years for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Finks said he had no way of knowing whether he converted any of the dissidents during his interview.

“All I know is that they’re not bad guys,” he said.

During a career as player, assistant coach, general manager and expert on many NFL committees, Finks has spent most of his life in pro football.

After adjourning, the owners were huddling in various suites and meeting rooms well into the night. Rozelle said there had been “some movement” by several clubs from ballot to ballot. The next question is whether there will be enough additional changes before sunrise to elect a new commissioner.