Archive: March, 2011
Paul Domowitch, Daily News NFL Columnist
Eagles president Joe Banner is one of several NFL club executives and owners participating in the labor negotiations this week in Washington, D.C.
According to league sources, Banner has been involved, along with several other league executives, in developing a rookie wage-scale proposal. But that issue is on the back burner right now as the two sides duke it out over how to split the league’s $9.3 billion revenue pie.
Banner’s financial expertise could come in handy there as well. The owners have continually claimed that the current revenue split, which gives the owners $1 billion off the top for costs such as stadium construction and upkeep and 50 percent of the rest of the revenue, is an unsustainable business model. The players have asked the owners to prove that by opening their books and showing them team-by-team financial data. The owners have been reluctant to do that.
Vance Lehmkuhl
Paul Domowitch will chat about Eagles topics as well as the latest on the NFL talks in a Hot Button chat beginning at noon Thursday.
On a mobile phone? Click HERE to join the chat!
Daily News staff
The Ed Block Courage Award banquet last night did not have the drama of a year ago when Michael Vick was the choice by his Eagles teammates.
That does not mean that Vick was not a subject of conversation, especially with Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg being named the assistant coach of the year, largely for his work with Vick.
"We're all excited," Mornhinweg told National Football Post. "He's had a year under his belt in our system to bank on. I really think he's so talented that if he does it the right way he could end up being one of the greatest of all time. He's got another step to take to do that."
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
Brent Celek, like the rest of the NFL, is in lockout limbo this week, trying to follow the twists and turns of the extended collective bargaining talks down in Washington through his Twitter feed. In the meantime, Celek kept himself busy this morning by appearing at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children for the unveiling of the $10,000 Take Flight Zone entertainment center he donated through his Take Flight Foundation. It has iPads, PlayStation Portables, Kinect games, Nintendo DS Portables and Nintendo DS systems, for use by hospitalized kids and their families.
"We'd like to get the Take Flight zones, those lockers, in all the children's hospitals (in the Philadelpahia area). That's our goal -- to impact 2 million kids and their families by 2013," the Eagles' tight end said.
Celek, 26, and his wife, Susie, are Ohio natives, but Celek said he feels strong ties to the city where he has played all four years of his pro career.
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
The Eagles this morning confirmed that salary cap analyst Adam Katz has left the team, replaced by Derron Harris.
Most Eagles fans have never heard of Katz, but he played a role in negotiating contracts. Of course, this past season the NFL lacked a cap for him to analyze, but that should change under a new CBA, whenever one is reached. Katz's departure was first reported by Adam Caplan of Fox Sports.
Meanwhile, the extended talks toward that new CBA are to resume today in Washington, at 3 pm, and are expected to last well into the night.
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
UPDATING: The NFL Network has reported that the collective bargaining agreement has been extended a week for more bargaining talks. Teams cannot make moves during this time.
The new deadline is set for 5 p.m. March 11. Mediation is expected to resume Monday, with the sides meeting among themselves over the weekend.
Teams are barred from making transactions during this period.
Daily News staff
The Eagles have tendered two more restricted free agents in advance of the 3 p.m. deadline.
Running back Jerome Harrison was tendered at a 2nd-round level and punter Sav Rocca was tendered under no compensation, but the tender gives the Eagles the right of first refusal, the team announced.
Harrison was originally a fifth-round pick out of Washington State and was acquired by the Eagles in a trade with Cleveland for Mike Bell.
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
UPDATED: The NFL and the players union have agreed to a 24-hour extension and will return to the federal mediation center tomorrow to keep talking.
"The parties have agreed to a one-day extension," federal mediator George Cohen said in a statement.
Reporters who had been waiting in the cold outside the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Center for the promised Cohen statement were less than overwhelmed, given that the extension had already been announced on the NFL Network, whose cameras were set up just outside the front door.
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
CHANTILLY, Va. --- No overall lockout vote was taken during the three-hour NFL owners' meeting here today, but a league spokesman said the labor committee would be the authority that would order a lockout. And that can't happen before midnight Thursday.
Most owners, even on the labor committee, which met after the general meeting, indicated they were headed home last night, but commissioner Roger Goodell and two of his top lieutenants headed back into the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services offices around 8 p.m., presumably to resume talks.
Despite the talks, which are scheduled to continue tomorrow, union decertification and a lockout, which would then move the battle to the courts via antitrust suits, seem likely.
Daily News staff and Les Bowen
The Eagles have made a number of moves today involving players who would be restricted free agents under the current system, even as the clock ticks toward the end of the CBA.
They have tendered linebacker Stew Bradley at second-round compensation, guard Max Jean-Gilles at fourth round (his draft round) and cornerback Dimitri Patterson under the right of first refusal (Patterson was undrafted).
Exclusive rights free agent Eldra Buckley also was tendered.
