Goodell, “some of the owners” to attend mediation

Posted by Mike Florio on April 13, 2011, 7:58 PM EDT
AP

We pointed out earlier that the court-ordered mediation process has no chance of succeeding without the involvement of the owners.  Albert Breer of NFL Network reports that Commissioner Roger Goodell and “some of the owners” will participate in the negotiations that commence on Thursday.

Specific owners have not been identified.  Members of the negotiating team are strong candidates to attend, including Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy, Steelers owner Art Rooney, and Giants co-owner John Mara (if he was able to use the court-ordered mediation to get out of jury duty).

Still, the folks at mediation must have “full authority,” which means more than the ability to pass along offers from the ownership at large.  They must have the power to make and respond to offers without further consultation.

If they don’t, the other owners need to fire up their private jets ASAP.

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23 responses to “Goodell, “some of the owners” to attend mediation”

  1. I hope the owners bring the brass knuckles, baseball bats and roll out the full nine yards of hospitality for the negotiations, because the playas and DeWhatever have no intention of dealing in good faith. Although it is not the best venue for the NFL and its’ fans, the antics of the miraculously disappearing and reappearing union should not be tolerated by a federal judge.

  2. I admire the Judges optomism but let’s be serious, it will take a week anyways to lay out all the issues, and where each side is. It will be weeks before Owners will be faced with any type of vote on an issue.

  5. As a staunch supporter of the owners’ position in this labor dispute, I do think Bob Kraft needs to enter an appearance—hopefully tomorrow—and make a good-faith effort to resolve this impasse. It’s imperative for the owners to be seen as part of the solution, and not part of the problem. At the same time, two issues should be non-negotiable with the players. First, the players need to re-form the NFLPA (without the asterisk) and agree to a new CBA. And second, judicial oversight should be replaced with some alternate form of dispute resolution at a mutually agreeable venue. In consideration for those concessions, the owners should be prepared to make additional, significant player concessions—either now, or at some not-too-distant future point—i.e., before any appellate ruling.

  6. @Txchief

    I agree 100%

    The union, oops, i mean “association” hasn’t done 5 minutes of good faith negotiating.. They are looking for the courts to hand them everything. But I have a feeling the owners know they will win an appeal on the lockout issue. I do not expect any agreement in this mediation (act and kill time) stage. The league wants Nelson to hurry up and rule the lockout over so the owners can appeal to St. Louis. The law breaking, non bill paying, blind followers of DeMo arent able to look that far ahead and thats when the owners will bludgeon these greedy ingrates like Derek Mason, and Adrian Peterson.
    Can’t wait till Goodell has even MORE power to crack the whip on some of these disgraces to society. Hopefully he will start banning some of these clowns straight out of the league

  7. txchief,

    so glad you think the owners are dealing completely above board in these shenanigans. they’ve already lost one court case, and are going to lose another here very shortly. the players haven’t exactly been upstanding citizens either, but let’s not pretend that it’s one side that’s been behaving like children.

  9. As long as Kraft, Rooney, and Mara will be there–and instead of just ignorant, shortsighted clods with attitudes like txchief–resolution is possible.

  10. Did Judge Nelson order mediation of a settlement or mediation of a CBA? I have seen both reported on different sites. If it is the latter, then the players are in a worse position than the owners since they disbanded. Did I miss where D Smith was granted full authority to negotiate a CBA without a union?

  12. captainoblivious, the owner lost what case? Sending the parties back to mediation rather that having a trial smells like a win for the league!

  13. How will the players have someone with “full authority” at the mediation? Doesn’t each side need to obtain approval within their group before any compromise is official? Or does the vote of the members of the union go by the boards because of decertification? If so, will some players be pissed if a couple lawyers and players can make any deal they want?

  14. ..da ownahs for you, captainoblivious. If dis gets trooly uglee, we’ll (wheel?) see who be beggin’ fo’ mercy in tree months!

  16. All the owners should attend except for JJ and Richardson (troublemakers). Of course, Bud Adams is too old to travel and Al Davis is basically dead, so they are excused. Where are Glazer, Benson, Weaver, Wolf, McCaskey, et al?

  18. We pointed out earlier that the court-ordered mediation process has no chance of succeeding without the involvement of the owners.

    ____________________________

    Really? You know all the knit-picking over who is there, and who isn’t… is a little beside the point. It’s like reading about a courtroom version of the Oscars. Next we’ll be blaming the lockout on Jerry Jones’ poorly tailored sports coat, and Bob Krafts need for more blush in his makeup. Throw in Joan Rivers gushing about DeWhatever’s latest hat, and we’d be there.

    Meanwhile, the real mediation process depends less on who exactly is representing who, but on what exactly the two sides agree to. Or not.

    And if you remember, the owners (same guys who are accused of not having enough owners at the table last time, and who are now being set up for failure for the same reason) made concessions on every issue last time. Why would you suddenly assume they won’t make some more concessions with whoever they have representing them at the table this time?

    What concession have the players made yet? What’s their track record in this?

    My impression is this particular article simply makes unsubstantiated excuses for why the latest round of mediation will fail so the owners can be blamed later. We should let it play out and then figure out who to blame.

    I’d would like to know River’s opinion on D’s ridiculous hats though…

  19. Flogging a dead horse here.

    Not all the owners have to attend in exactly the same way that not all the players need be there.

    All is required is a set of folks from both sides that have the authority to negotiate an agreement that can go back to be ratified by all owners and all players.

    Maybe that ratification does not happen and the owners/players at large reject the deal. In which case, it’s back to the negotiating table.

    This is not rocket science.

    Let’s just move on.

  20. “As long as Kraft, Rooney, and Mara will be there–and instead of just ignorant, shortsighted clods with attitudes like txchief–resolution is possible.”

    Deb, you ignorant s.l.u.t. I see you are drinking the Rooney-brand koolaid.

  21. Hopefully the players are serious about negotiating now. After they realized that they weren’t going to have their cry baby demands handed to them by the courts like usual they are now forced back to the table.

  22. I’m just hoping that having the hammer of Judge Nelson hovering over these sessions keep both sides from leaking like the Titanic and blasting each other.

    I really wish D. Smith and Roger Goodell would do a public handshake apologizing for the backbiting by both sides. That would go a long way to calming things down on both sides.

  23. @angrycorgi …

    You are sooo lucky that’s one of my all-time favorite SNL bits. Another women might be raising Cain with the censors about now 😉 Said that to someone in a discussion not long ago and boy-howdy did I get some looks LOL

    But enough of that … it’s not like Rooney’s was the only name I mentioned, you boob. Kraft, Mara … ring a bell? I was talking about longtime owners the players respect who are at least as concerned about the good of the league as their own wallets and who have the reputation of not going off like bottle rockets when they’re ticked.

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