NFL Might Be Ready To Use Arena Option

NFL owners don’t plan to tinker much with their own league at their annual meetings, which begin today. But this could be a landmark session for arena football.

The NFL has the option to acquire 49.9% of the Arena Football League, and owners will vote Tuesday on whether to do so.

“It looks to me like the votes will be there,” said Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, who also owns the AFL’s Dallas Desperados. “I think the positives are really significant for arena football.”

Casey Wasserman, who owns the Los Angeles Avengers, plans to attend the meetings and hopes to celebrate a merger. He played a significant role in arranging the AFL’s partnership with NBC, which will televise arena games every Sunday beginning next season.

Wasserman is also part of a powerhouse coalition working on a proposal to build an NFL stadium in downtown L.A. The subject of when the league might return to L.A. is not on the docket for the meetings.

“It’s not on the formal agenda,” said Joe Browne, one of the NFL’s senior vice presidents. “That’s not to say someone won’t raise it from the floor.”

Tampa Bay General Manager Rich McKay, chairman of the eight-member competition committee, said the league is hitting its targets as far as scoring, average margin of victory and length of games. Good sportsmanship will be a particular point of emphasis again next season.

“I think we brought it to the players’ attention last year, but we have more work to do,” McKay said.

The league plans to enforce rules about the music and artificial crowd noise piped through stadium speakers. The practice will be outlawed when the visiting team has the ball and the clock is running.

Instant replay will be discussed, although no major modifications will be implemented. The only change is officials will be reminded to stop the action on the field the moment they are buzzed to review a play.

The chop-block rules will be examined, as will the “tuck” rule, which many people believe cost the Oakland Raiders a playoff victory at New England.

The subject of staging future Super Bowls in New York and Washington is also on the agenda. Currently, the league rule mandates the average January temperature for a host city must be 50 degrees or warmer. But NFL officials are considering bending the rules to give back to the two cities most acutely affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.