shaneo69
11-16-2005, 11:00 AM
GRETZ: Welcome Big-Wigs
Nov 16, 2005, 8:04:20 AM by Bob Gretz
Yes, that just may have been Jerry Jones celebrating a Monday Night victory on the Country Club Plaza Tuesday evening. And that quite possibly was Daniel Snyder and his entourage walking through the lobby of a Crown Center hotel.
The movers and shakers of the National Football League are in Kansas City for their annual fall meeting. This was scheduled for several weeks ago but was postponed when Giants co-owner Wellington Mara lost his long battle with cancer.
Now over the years I’ve hung around a lot of hotel lobbies at league meetings and I can tell you it’s not one of the highlights of covering pro football. It’s several days of hurry up and wait, and wait, and … . The owners and their reps gather in a large meeting room with the Commissioner and staff from the league office. They come and go from the room over a morning and afternoon. Each time the door opens, it’s like Groundhog’s Day, as the media waits to see which face comes out of the burrow and whether he’s going to stop long enough to see his shadow or not.
Some like Jones will stop at the first TV mini-cam they see. Others like Pittsburgh’s Dan Rooney will stop and chat with the writers. Unless he’s got something to get off his chest, managing general partners like Al Davis brush past everyone and head for cover. At the end of the day, the Commissioner usually holds a press conference to announce that there was plenty of good discussion, but nothing much was actually accomplished.
More than likely that’s what will happen on Wednesday, when the owners finish up. There is not much on the docket for action at this meeting, although discussions will continue about the all-important issue of revenue sharing. That’s the key to getting a new labor agreement done with the players.
But let me take this opportunity while they are here to send some messages to the big-wigs that make things go in this league.
To all the owners and their representatives: Remember the example that Mr. Mara set for this league in the early 1960s. When it came time to share television revenue equally, he had to be convinced. But ultimately, he decided that the future of the league would be helped by every team starting in the same spot when it came to TV income. He was right and the NFL followed the lead of the AFL in sharing national broadcast revenue equally. It was part of the financial foundation that turned the pro game into America’s favorite past-time.
For some of the newer additions to the ownership ranks, every time you think “why should I share my hard-earned income” just think of Wellington Mara.
To Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie: Spend some time this week talking with all your fellow owners and give them all the stories about dealing with Terrell Owens. There will be teams waiting to negotiate with Owens for 2006, maybe even for the final four games this season. Mr. Lurie, tell them you made that mistake once. Tell them you bought into the whole thing when your football people told you they could work with this guy, they could handle him. After everything is settled, what did T.O. bring the Eagles? They did not win a championship. Instead, they have put up with headache after headache.
Mr. Lurie, remind your fellow owners of this: a football team is never one player away, especially when that player can destroy the team from within.
To Vikings owner Zygi Wilf: Congratulations on the victory last Sunday in New York. In what has been a rough season for the team and the franchise, this game had to be a ray of light. I know it had to be fun to also beat the team that was your favorite for so many years.
A lot of folks have been in your ear about the future of your organization. All the folks on Park Avenue are chattering away and I’m sure you’ve heard from everybody who is anybody in the Twin Cities. Let me throw my two cents in on a pair of hires that will help turn the team around.
First, hire Bill Kuharich as the guy to lead the football operation. Whether he’s the general manager, vice-president, player personnel man, no matter the title, Kuharich has held all those jobs in the NFL. He’s learned from two of the best in the business: the late Jim Finks and Carl Peterson. Around the NFL, he’s well connected and respected for his ability to judge talent. He’s running the pro personnel operation for the Chiefs and they’ve been lucky to have him; it’s time he got back in the saddle.
Second, hire Rich Gannon and give him a title that means something like: president in training. The Vikings need to restore respectability in the Minnesota community and Gannon will bring that to the franchise immediately. He lives there, he’s married to the daughter of one of the franchise’s greatest names (Bill Brown), he’s smart, he’s driven and he’s a winner. It will take some time for Rich to get up to speed on everything involved in running a franchise, but even in his apprentice stage, he brings class to the organization.
Nov 16, 2005, 8:04:20 AM by Bob Gretz
Yes, that just may have been Jerry Jones celebrating a Monday Night victory on the Country Club Plaza Tuesday evening. And that quite possibly was Daniel Snyder and his entourage walking through the lobby of a Crown Center hotel.
The movers and shakers of the National Football League are in Kansas City for their annual fall meeting. This was scheduled for several weeks ago but was postponed when Giants co-owner Wellington Mara lost his long battle with cancer.
Now over the years I’ve hung around a lot of hotel lobbies at league meetings and I can tell you it’s not one of the highlights of covering pro football. It’s several days of hurry up and wait, and wait, and … . The owners and their reps gather in a large meeting room with the Commissioner and staff from the league office. They come and go from the room over a morning and afternoon. Each time the door opens, it’s like Groundhog’s Day, as the media waits to see which face comes out of the burrow and whether he’s going to stop long enough to see his shadow or not.
Some like Jones will stop at the first TV mini-cam they see. Others like Pittsburgh’s Dan Rooney will stop and chat with the writers. Unless he’s got something to get off his chest, managing general partners like Al Davis brush past everyone and head for cover. At the end of the day, the Commissioner usually holds a press conference to announce that there was plenty of good discussion, but nothing much was actually accomplished.
More than likely that’s what will happen on Wednesday, when the owners finish up. There is not much on the docket for action at this meeting, although discussions will continue about the all-important issue of revenue sharing. That’s the key to getting a new labor agreement done with the players.
But let me take this opportunity while they are here to send some messages to the big-wigs that make things go in this league.
To all the owners and their representatives: Remember the example that Mr. Mara set for this league in the early 1960s. When it came time to share television revenue equally, he had to be convinced. But ultimately, he decided that the future of the league would be helped by every team starting in the same spot when it came to TV income. He was right and the NFL followed the lead of the AFL in sharing national broadcast revenue equally. It was part of the financial foundation that turned the pro game into America’s favorite past-time.
For some of the newer additions to the ownership ranks, every time you think “why should I share my hard-earned income” just think of Wellington Mara.
To Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie: Spend some time this week talking with all your fellow owners and give them all the stories about dealing with Terrell Owens. There will be teams waiting to negotiate with Owens for 2006, maybe even for the final four games this season. Mr. Lurie, tell them you made that mistake once. Tell them you bought into the whole thing when your football people told you they could work with this guy, they could handle him. After everything is settled, what did T.O. bring the Eagles? They did not win a championship. Instead, they have put up with headache after headache.
Mr. Lurie, remind your fellow owners of this: a football team is never one player away, especially when that player can destroy the team from within.
To Vikings owner Zygi Wilf: Congratulations on the victory last Sunday in New York. In what has been a rough season for the team and the franchise, this game had to be a ray of light. I know it had to be fun to also beat the team that was your favorite for so many years.
A lot of folks have been in your ear about the future of your organization. All the folks on Park Avenue are chattering away and I’m sure you’ve heard from everybody who is anybody in the Twin Cities. Let me throw my two cents in on a pair of hires that will help turn the team around.
First, hire Bill Kuharich as the guy to lead the football operation. Whether he’s the general manager, vice-president, player personnel man, no matter the title, Kuharich has held all those jobs in the NFL. He’s learned from two of the best in the business: the late Jim Finks and Carl Peterson. Around the NFL, he’s well connected and respected for his ability to judge talent. He’s running the pro personnel operation for the Chiefs and they’ve been lucky to have him; it’s time he got back in the saddle.
Second, hire Rich Gannon and give him a title that means something like: president in training. The Vikings need to restore respectability in the Minnesota community and Gannon will bring that to the franchise immediately. He lives there, he’s married to the daughter of one of the franchise’s greatest names (Bill Brown), he’s smart, he’s driven and he’s a winner. It will take some time for Rich to get up to speed on everything involved in running a franchise, but even in his apprentice stage, he brings class to the organization.