NFL Owners to Meet on Stalled Labor Talks

NFL owners, in hopes of preserving labor peace before the start of free agency, will convene in New York today for an emergency meeting to discuss how to proceed.

The league and the players’ union have been working toward an agreement that could add $10 million to $15 million to a 2006 salary cap that is projected to be about $95 million a team. Talks have reached an impasse. With free agency starting after 9 PST tonight, some teams might be forced to make significant, high-profile roster cuts to be in compliance with the new salary cap.

In a typical off-season, with a long-term labor deal in place, those teams would be able to renegotiate with their players and find less-drastic ways of clearing money off their books.

“It’s pretty scary,” an AFC personnel executive said of the current situation. “It’s going to be an ugly deal, and I don’t see any way around it.”

Agent Leigh Steinberg, for one, doesn’t think the worst-case scenario will be realized. He predicts that there will be an eleventh-hour agreement in the negotiations for a new collective-bargaining agreement, or that the deadline for the start of free agency will be postponed.

“As teams peer into the apocalypse, as they stare into the abyss, these consequences are so dire that at the last minute they will” find a solution, Steinberg said Wednesday.

The current agreement expires after the 2007 season, and the final year of the deal is one without a salary cap. That threatens to widen the divide between the wealthiest and neediest franchises. It also jeopardizes the stability of a league that has not had a player work stoppage in almost two decades.

“Football has traditionally been smarter than baseball, basketball and hockey in understanding the value of labor peace,” Steinberg said. “Fans have focused on the play on the field, and have the security of knowing that games will be played.”

The NFL Players Assn. wants to expand the pool of revenue from which the players are paid, but the two sides have not been able to agree on what percentage of the expanded pool the players should receive. The owners are offering about 56%, and the union is asking for at least 60%. The salary cap now is tied directly to network TV contracts and gate receipts.

The two sides abruptly broke off talks Tuesday, despite speculation that a deal was in the works. In a written statement that followed news of the impasse, the league said owners would be told today “how the NFLPA is overreaching and why we have been unable to come to an agreement with the NFLPA on an extension.”

The league is not only seeking an agreement with the players’ union but is grappling with its own revenue-sharing issues. Owners have not been able to agree on whether to share locally generated revenue, and, if so, how much of it should be shared.

Immediately pressing, however, is the beginning of this year’s free-agency period.

Some teams aren’t waiting until the last possible moment to improve their position in relation to the salary cap.

The Buffalo Bills on Wednesday released three starters from their 2005 team: defensive tackle Sam Adams, safety Lawyer Milloy and tight end Mark Campbell. The release of Adams alone cleared a reported $3.5 million of space for the Bills, who already were about $2 million under the cap.

“It’s that time of year when I think all teams are making, to a degree, some painful decisions,” said Marv Levy, general manager of the Bills. “We have to move forward with it.”

Among the prominent players who could be headed for new teams are running backs Edgerrin James of Indianapolis and Shaun Alexander of Seattle, receiver Antwaan Randle El of Pittsburgh, cornerback Charles Woodson of Oakland and kicker Adam Vinatieri of New England.

Oakland, Washington, Kansas City and Miami are among the teams who need to trim the most to get in compliance with the cap.

Among those best-positioned to acquire players are Minnesota, Arizona, Cleveland and Green Bay.