NFL club owners have no plans to bring in replacement players as they did to stage games during a 1987 dispute, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said on Tuesday.
After the annual meeting of 32 club owners, Goodell said that the league still plans to stage a complete season starting in September even though they locked out players after talks broke down over a new working agreement.
“We are certainly planning on having a full season,” Goodell said. “That’s our objective and we’re going to work as hard as we can to make that become a reality.”
However, what the NFL has no plans to do is invite outsiders to fill uniforms as they did during the last dispute with players, which saw replacements cross picket lines of NFL stars for three games in 1987.
“We have not had any discussions or consideration of replacement players,” Goodell said. “It hasn’t been discussed. It hasn’t been considered and it’s not in our plans.”
Billionaire team owners and multimillionaire players have been unable to agree on how to divide more than US$9 billion in annual revenue from the US’ most popular spectator sport and ensure this year’s season.
Goodell also hinted that the NFL would back off the proposal it made on March 11 in the final hours before a contract expiry deadline that had already been extended twice.
“Every day that goes by makes it harder and harder to keep the elements in that proposal,” Goodell said.
The players rejected that offer and decertified the union, sending the mess into the US court system.
The first hearing on a lawsuit by several star players against the NFL under antitrust laws is scheduled for April 6 in Minnesota.
Goodell hopes to lure the players back to the table and resume talks before the NFL draft on April 28, even going so far as to e-mail every NFL player with a copy of the final owners proposal to try and nudge leaders back to the table.
Players cannot have contact with NFL clubs during the lockout. They are not paid and free agents cannot negotiate contract terms, nor are players allowed to use club facilities.
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