Here’s What Was on the Agenda for the N.F.L. Owners’ Meeting on Sunday
We’ve got no idea what the owners and the players discussed during the owners’ meeting held at the team headquarters on Saturday, but here’s a small sampling of what was on the agenda:
• The N.F.L. Players Association wants the owners to change the rules that allow clubs — and players — to make more than two four-day visits to the team headquarters on a season. The union says all teams now are allowed to make one four-day visit this year and two the year after.
• Owners asked for a review of the salary cap for the 2011 N.F.L. season, noting the cap for this year’s first round of free agency is about $54 million, about $6 million less than the figure owners had sought. But the union said it was concerned about the cap for the second round of free agency — with more than $125 million of free-agent money available to be spent — and the salary cap for the third round.
• Owners said they had no plans to raise the salary cap above $54 million during the 2011 N.F.L. season, and the union said that’s because the N.F.L. has never done it before.
• Owners acknowledged the team’s $2 million contribution to a fund set up for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. The owners said they hadn’t taken the $2 million to use all at once, but they did say they’ll take the money in small amounts over the next two years.
• Owners said owners-only meeting rooms at the team headquarters are too quiet.
• Owners said they are committed to having a “top-line” on-field product and didn’t want to set up separate meeting rooms where the game’s media can gather.
• Owners spoke frankly about the owners-only meeting rooms in the team’s headquarters. Owner’s meeting room
• Owners said they want to be able to spend more time on the football side of business, since many of their employees, including scouts, are in N.F.L. teams.
• Owners said they are still exploring the possibility of having a new stadium on the North Side, which was rejected by the state in the early 1990s.
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