For NFL, Jury Is Still Out on Realignment Proposals

Some of the best NFL action this off-season has been in Los Angeles Superior Court, but a bit of the attention shifts slightly east to the league meetings in Palm Desert this week.

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, his testimony in the Raider lawsuit against the league concluded, is in the desert along with team executives and all 32 coaches.

However, about a third of the owners are expected to stay away because no league business will be conducted and no votes will be taken.

The Raiders charged last week the NFL was implicitly discouraging some owners from attending because of the possibility of being subpoenaed in the trial, a charge the NFL denied. The league contends that the trial simply has hampered executives’ ability to prepare for the meetings.

Though the agenda is relatively light, compared to recent years when the possible return of football to Los Angeles was at stake, the top issue is the NFL’s realignment into eight four-team divisions in 2002, when the Houston expansion team begins play.

A vote is not expected before May, but the list of proposals will be narrowed to a handful, with a decision due by June.

One AFC team will move to the NFC--most likely Seattle, though San Diego also has been mentioned. Two new divisions will be created--perhaps the AFC South and NFC South--meaning numerous teams will play in a different division after next season.

“Well over 30 plans are being considered,” said Roger Goodell, the NFL executive vice president overseeing realignment. “We’re trying to narrow and limit the focus here, with a final vote no later than June 1.”

The issue is an emotional one in some cities, eager to see such non-geographic rivalries as those between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins and the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins preserved. Indications are they will be.

“We believe we’re a national game,” Goodell said. “There’s less focus on geography than many might think.”

A three-quarter majority of 24 votes out of a 32 will be required to pass a realignment plan, with Tagliabue holding four by earlier agreements--those of Baltimore, Houston, St. Louis and Tennessee.

Along with realignment comes a new schedule format that ensures every NFL team will play every other team on a regular basis--at least once ever four years, and home and away at least once every eight years.

That fixes the quirks of the previous system that resulted in such disappointments as Oakland playing at its old rival Pittsburgh only once in the last 20 years, and Denver and Miami meeting rarely during the careers of John Elway and Dan Marino.

Among other happenstances, Tampa Bay has never played in Buffalo--although with that Buccaneer record below 40 degrees, it’s just as well for Tampa Bay.

Under the new format, the 16-game schedule will consist of six games a season against the three other teams in the division, four games against a rotating division in the same conference, four games against a rotating division in the other conference, and two games against the team that finished in the same place in the standings in the remaining two divisions of a team’s own conference.

Other issues to be addressed at the meetings include the instant replay system, with the policy in use so well-received it might be extended to a multiyear agreement.

With the threat of losing a timeout if a challenge against a call is unsuccessful, there was an average of only about one challenge a game last season.

“Last year we had 247 stoppages in 248 games, and 83 reversals,” said George Young, the NFL’s senior vice president of football operations. “In 82 games, there were no stoppages.”

Sportsmanship and taunting and how they are called in games is another issue, with the NFL Players Assn. also expressing concerns.

Of particular interest to coaches at the meetings is the tampering policy that prohibits teams from talking to candidates who are assistant coaches with other teams before their seasons end.

Calls to change the policy intensified after Marvin Lewis--predicted to be a hot commodity as defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens--was interviewed for only one job by the time the Super Bowl was over.

Of the six jobs that had been open, four already were filled. The Cleveland Browns hired Butch Davis the day after the Super Bowl, and the Buffalo Bills chose Tennessee assistant Gregg Williams over Lewis and New York Giant defensive coordinator John Fox, who also was involved in the championship game.

Fox called the situation “discouraging” and said the league policy penalizes coaches who reach the Super Bowl.

Though there could be a great deal of discussion, a vote on the rule is unlikely.

“It’s really a complicated issue,” Young said. “There’s no simple solution.”