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NFL Capsules: AP sources say players review parts of deal
An end to the NFL lockout appears close, with both sides preparing to vote on a proposed deal once it is finalized.
When that might be remained uncertain as players gathered in Washington and league executives and owners headed for Atlanta.
The NFL Players Association's executive committee reviewed only portions of a potential new collective bargaining agreement Tuesday, with not enough information to warrant a vote Tuesday, two people familiar with the league's labor negotiations told The Associated Press.
A full agreement in principle wasn't completed Tuesday night, as some had hoped it would be, and another person familiar with the talks said there was no guarantee a full document would be finished Wednesday, either.
Still, player representatives from each of the 32 teams were scheduled to be at NFLPA headquarters Wednesday, and could vote on a new contract once it is ready.
The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the process is supposed to remain confidential.
Members of the league's labor committee planned to meet in Atlanta on Wednesday, and also were in position to recommend a finalized proposal to the club owners as soon as the documents are completed. The owners would vote Thursday, then team officials would be schooled in the guidelines of the CBA and how to apply them. Clubs were told topics would include the 2011 NFL calendar, rookie salary system and guidelines for player transactions.
While lawyers from both sides worked Tuesday on contract language in New York with court-appointed mediator Judge Arthur Boylan for the second consecutive day, the NFLPA's leadership met for about nine hours at the group's headquarters in Washington.
"Every day the last two years has been a long day," NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith said as he left, knowing each side faced another lengthy day of meetings on Wednesday.
If the four-month lockout — the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987 — is going to end this week, in time to keep the preseason completely intact, the owners and players almost certainly must ratify a new deal in the next two days. The St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears, who open the preseason on Aug. 7 in the Hall of Fame game, are supposed to open their training camps this weekend.
The start of Chicago's training camp will be delayed even if a new agreement is in place this week, because the team needs extra time to prepare, two people familiar with the situation told the AP on condition of anonymity.
One of the people who spoke to the AP said lawyers for owners and players planned to continue discussions Wednesday via telephone, instead of the in-person talks that produced so much progress last week.
There still were unresolved issues Tuesday, including what it would take to get the 10 plaintiffs — including quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, Chargers receiver Vincent Jackson and Patriots guard Logan Mankins — to sign off on a settlement to their antitrust lawsuit against the NFL that is pending in federal court in Minnesota.
Late Tuesday, Jackson tweeted: "I have made no demands, I wanna play ball like the rest of my peers!"
Another pending dispute has been the TV networks case, in which players accused owners of setting up $4 billion in "lockout insurance."
After joining the talks in New York for about seven hours, Hall of Fame defensive end Carl Eller thought an agreement would be reached this week. He also said retired players won't stand in the way.
After leaving negotiations, Eller headed to a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
"They want to get these games going, and they want to have a season. That's their focus," Eller said. "Our issues are very, very critical — very important — but they don't really have much to do with whether the game goes on or not."
He said "there's still a lot more to be done" when it comes to benefits for former players, but that could be resolved after the main issues are settled.
A proposal under consideration would set up nearly $1 billion over the next 10 years in additional benefits for retired players. That would include $620 million in pension increases, long-term care insurance and disability programs.
Retired players complained to the court in Minnesota recently that they had been excluded from negotiations, making Eller's presence Tuesday significant.
"We weren't happy, and we hope it doesn't go back to that. We hope we stay active in the talks and we hope we continue to have meaningful talks. This clearly lets us know there's more work to be done," Eller said. "It's certainly something we want to keep going and continue the dialogue, continue to work until we have some kind of a solution."
Lawyers for the NFL and the players suing the league submitted a joint filing to the court Tuesday, asking for an extra week to file written arguments "to allow them to focus on the continuing mediation." The request, which was granted in the afternoon, noted that "the parties have also been meeting regularly since April 11, 2011, in an effort to resolve their disputes."
The country's most popular professional sports league has been in limbo since the old collective bargaining agreement expired March 11. The lockout began hours later.
The lockout has resulted in pay cuts for non-playing employees around the league, and economic hardship for cities, like Cortland, N.Y., that hosted training camps in the past but won't this year. On Tuesday, the lower-level UFL — which had been hoping to start its season in the void created by a lack of NFL preseason games — announced it is delaying its season start to mid-September, a blow for a league that has lost $100 million in only two years.
The NFL's regular-season opener is scheduled for Sept. 8, when the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers are to host the New Orleans Saints.
Player Capsules
Mendenhall sues Champion over tweet dispute
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall is suing the parent company of the Champion sports apparel maker, calling the decision to drop his endorsement deal over his tweets about the death of Osama bin Laden and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks a breach of contract.
Mendenhall's lawyers filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court in North Carolina, seeking roughly $1 million in damages from Hanesbrands, Inc., the Winston-Salem-based corporate parent of Champion.
The complaint says Champion's decision to end its endorsement deal with Mendenhall in May, days after he questioned the public celebration of bin Laden's death, violates a contract extension the two parties signed in 2010, worth over $1 million. Mendenhall first signed a deal to endorse Champion products when he entered the league in 2008.
"For Rashard, this really is not about the money. This is about whether he can express his opinion," said Steven Thompson, a Chicago-based attorney representing Mendenhall.
A spokesman for Hanesbrands did not return a call seeking comment by early Tuesday afternoon. But legal experts said Mendenhall may have a difficult time proving his case.
"An athlete contracts away his free speech rights in signing his endorsement deal," said Jeffrey Standen, a sports law professor and associate dean at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Ore. "What the sponsor is buying is the athlete's name and image, and their name and image are related to public behavior and opinions."
Shortly after bin Laden was killed by a team of Navy SEALs, Mendenhall tweeted, in response to scenes of euphoria around the U.S., "What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side..." He also tweeted on the Sept. 11 attacks: "We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style."
The comments prompted significant anger, leading to a clarification by Mendenhall and a separate statement by Steelers team president Art Rooney II distancing the organization from Mendenhall's remarks. But his number of Twitter followers nearly doubled to around 37,000 within a few days of the tweets.
Hanesbrands' decision to drop the Steelers star was likely a "kneejerk reaction" made within 48 hours of the tweets, Thompson said. The swiftness of that move contrasts with Champion's silence regarding other contentious tweets by Mendenhall, the lawsuit claims.
On March 15, for example, Mendenhall tweeted about his agreement with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson's comments comparing the NFL to "modern-day slavery."
"Anyone with knowledge of the slave trade and the NFL could say that these two parallel each other," Mendenhall wrote.
About six weeks later, he tweeted that women who decline to perform oral sex on a partner should be aware that "It's either gonna be you, OR some other chick."
"Hanesbrands at no time prior to May 2011 suggested that it disagreed with Mr. Mendenhall's comments or that his tweets were in any way inconsistent with the values of the Champion brand," the lawsuit says.
That might not matter, according to Michael McCann, director of the Sports Law Institute at the Vermont Law School.
"The company's concern, I would imagine, is not really the content of what he's saying, but the public reaction to what he's saying," McCann said.
Most athlete endorsers have contracts that include deliberately vague language concerning off-the-field behavior that companies can use in situations exactly like these, McCann said. Such language was cited in a May 11 letter to Mendenhall's representatives, written by Lynette Fuller-Andrews, a lawyer for Hanesbrands.
The running back's contract included provisions barring Mendenhall from actions that would bring him "into public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule, or tending to shock, insult, or offend the majority of the consuming public," along with other terms, Fuller-Andrews wrote.
"It's going to be tough for him to prevail, because that gives the company a lot of leeway," McCann said. "Once you sign off on very generic, all-inclusive phraseology, it's very hard to get out of that."
"Morals clauses" are commonly invoked when an athlete's behavior makes the wrong kind of headlines. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick lost endorsement deals after revelations about his participation in a dogfighting ring, and Tiger Woods was dropped by some of his sponsors following the disintegration of his marriage over accusations of serial infidelity.
But the ease with which athletes can land in trouble with social media tools like Twitter likely mean endorsement deals in the future will be different, said Porcher Taylor, a professor in the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Richmond.
''Every celebrity endorsement contract of any kind in the future must have a Twitter/Social Media clause," Taylor wrote in an email. "I will be so bold as to state that the failure to not have such a clause would be tantamount to endorsement contract drafting malpractice."
-- Tom Breen
Vikes rookies want summer chemistry to carry over
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The NFL lockout has delayed development for rookies all over the league, without any of the offseason practices or minicamps to start working on schemes with their new teammates and coaches.
Minnesota Vikings rookies Christian Ponder and Kyle Rudolph are confident their budding relationship has at least created some chemistry that will carry into the 2011 season and beyond.
"It's good to have a guy like that to go through this whole process with," Ponder said. "We've kind of leaned on each other. I think it's always great to have someone that can be there with you. Obviously he's going to be a big weapon during the season."
Ponder, the quarterback from Florida State taken by the Vikings with the 12th overall pick, and Rudolph, a tight end from Notre Dame drafted in the second round, first met at the NFL scouting combine in February. They spent time together at two events for NFL rookies and worked out for a week in Florida, honing their throw-and-catch camaraderie as well as forming a friendship off the field.
This week, Ponder is trying to find a place to live during the season, and he's staying in the guest room at Rudolph's rented townhome in the meantime.
"Hopefully it's a long ride for both of us here," Rudolph said, "and hopefully we'll be able to grow together, grow quickly and win a lot of football games. That's what everybody wants."
Ponder was a late arrival due to his house hunting project, but he and Rudolph were among a group of about 25 NFL players and hopefuls who worked out Tuesday at the University of Minnesota. The sessions are organized by Arizona Cardinals star wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, a native of Minneapolis.
"When you're out here with guys that are in the league, they're going to push each other," Ponder said. "They have a great setup."
That extra work with teammates before training camp, whenever it begins, is important.
"Everyone runs routes completely differently. To get on the same page and start working with these guys and get comfortable is big," Ponder said. "It's definitely a big step."
Ponder threw passes to Rudolph and a handful of other Vikings receivers in Florida during the week after Memorial Day. Ponder was able to pick up a playbook during the draft while the lockout was temporarily lifted by a court order, and he shared copies with as many Vikings as he could. But without many players living in the same place during the summer, there weren't as many Vikings player gatherings as other teams had. That could slow their progress a bit as the entire offense learns a new system under new coordinator Bill Musgrave.
Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe, who took part in the workouts Tuesday, too, didn't sound worried.
"We have a lot of vets here. So at least we don't have a young team," Shiancoe said. "The rookies are really going to have to do some adjusting and some making up since we didn't have an offseason. ... But at the same time we are professionals. Just adjust on the fly. Especially this team. We've been through a lot of adversity. We know how to deal with it."
So they'll continue to run sprints in the heat, refine their route-running skills and keep lifting weights, trying to be as ready as they can whenever the lockout is officially over and camps can begin.
"Holler at me when it's time to go," Shiancoe said.
-- Dave Campbell
Team Capsules
Vikings on stadium: 'We're assessing our options'
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings significantly advanced their new stadium plan this year, finding a public partner to help fund the proposed $1.1 billion project and hearing supportive words from the state's new governor.
Minnesota's $5 billion budget deficit blocked the path to progress, though, and the partisan impasse over how to fill that gap forced the state government to shut down at the beginning of the month, shoving the stadium to the background.
Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, and the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate have been busy this week completing their agreement to put Minnesota back in business and guide state spending for the new cycle, but the Vikings were dealt another setback.
The stadium won't be considered during this special session of the Legislature, and Dayton said Tuesday he's reluctant to call another special session later in the year to address a request the team first raised more than a decade ago.
"I haven't decided. It's not ready to be considered at this point," Dayton said. "We'll have to see if negotiations proceed to a point where it can be. ... I take calling a special session very seriously and something I would not do routinely. It would have to be circumstances that compel it, and, again, I don't know whether those will occur or not."
Vikings vice president for public affairs and stadium development Lester Bagley offered a rather ominous response.
"All I can tell you is that we are assessing our options," Bagley said, declining to elaborate.
The Vikings have begun the final year of their lease at the 29-year-old Metrodome, now called Mall of America Field, which is getting a new roof after the old one collapsed during a snowstorm last December. In February, when the lease expires, they will essentially be free agents. Next year's regular session of the Legislature begins in January.
While owner Zygi Wilf has repeatedly said he won't move the team, developers in Los Angeles — two different groups have stadium plans for the nation's second-largest market — have inquired before about his interest in selling the franchise. If the lease expires without much more progress toward a new building, Los Angeles is sure to beckon again.
"What would you do if you had a chance to go to Los Angeles?" asked Ramsey County Commissioner Tony Bennett, who worked with the Vikings on a plan to build a suburban stadium in Arden Hills on a polluted old army ammunitions site about 10 miles north of the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis and open it in 2015.
Wilf and the Vikings have pledged more than $400 million to the project, which also calls for a half-cent sales tax in Ramsey County that would contribute another $350 million. They've asked for $300 million in state money.
"We were ready. The Vikings were ready," Bennett said. "But apparently the Legislature wasn't ready and the Governor wasn't ready, based on what he's saying."
He added: "We were making some progress, and then we went into a deadlock on the budget. Of course the budget is a much higher priority. I don't consider it in same room. We agreed to keep the stadium in the background, but we had pretty good assurances that the House and the Senate would allow this to go forward."
Several state legislators expressed concern about pushing a stadium now, given the already strong public backlash about the budget deficit and the shutdown. The 2012 session, with re-elections looming, could be an even more adverse political climate through which to navigate a stadium bill.
"We've done everything that has been asked of us," Bagley said last week. "It's time to do it. We're down to months left on our lease and every day that goes by, the cost of the project goes up."
Bennett spoke Tuesday by phone from Portland, Ore., where he attended an annual conference for the National Association of Counties. He said he was razzed by a couple of his colleagues from California about the possibility of the Vikings moving to Los Angeles.
"But I think we can keep them here. The Governor said he wanted jobs. Well, there's 13,000 jobs, for three years," Bennett said, referring to estimates of how many construction workers would be needed for the project.
-- Dave Campbell
AP sources: Bears not reporting to camp this week
CHICAGO (AP) — Two people familiar with the situation say the Chicago Bears won't report to training camp this week even if there is a new labor agreement because they need more time to prepare.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The Bears planned to report to camp at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., on Friday and hold their first practice the following day. That's about a week earlier than most teams because they're scheduled to play St. Louis in the Hall of Fame game on Aug. 7.
The Bears must give Olivet Nazarene 24 hours' notice and need a few days to fill out rosters and sign draft picks, along with undrafted rookies and conventional free agents.
One person said if owners ratify a deal at their special meeting in Atlanta on Thursday, the Bears could report the following Tuesday or Wednesday, if the Hall of Fame game is still on. If the deal is ratified and the game is canceled, they would start camp around the 29th.
-- Andrew Seligman
Other Pro Football Capsules
With end of lockout in sight, UFL delays season
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — With the NFL working to end its lockout and save the preseason, the struggling United Football League announced Tuesday it would push back the start of its games from August to September.
The schedule switch is another blow — at a critical time — to the second-tier pro league that has lost more than $100 million in its two years of existence.
The UFL had hoped to gain exposure in the vacuum left by a locked-out NFL. It scheduled several early-season games on Sundays and aimed to fill television time slots normally reserved for NFL exhibition games. But Commissioner Michael Huyghue told reporters he was resigned to losing a "windfall" from the NFL.
"It seems nonsensical for us to play on Sundays when the NFL is there," Huyghue said. "The only reason we did it was we hedged our bet and felt confident the labor situation was going to invade the traditional preseason, and that might be inducement for networks to want to fill that void with a high-quality football product. That is not the case."
The UFL has franchises in Omaha, Hartford, Conn., Norfolk, Va., Las Vegas and Sacramento.
The league is made up of players who were cut in NFL training camps, veterans who want to get back to the NFL and free agents. Players earn about $40,000 a season.
Even with the delayed start, the plan is for each team to play eight regular-season games, Huyghue said.
This is considered a make-or-break year for the UFL, whose majority owners are Bill Hambrecht, Paul Pelosi and Bill Mayer.
Huyghue said the league projected that it would lose money the first three years. But the $100 million in losses so far is considerably higher than Huyghue had reported previously. There also are $6 million in unpaid bills from UFL vendors.
Huyghue said he twice recommended that the league suspend operations, in January and again last month. But he said each time the owners told him they believed in the UFL's mission and were committed to funding the league's $50 million budget for this season.
The commissioner said the UFL's long-term survival depends on bringing in new investors and landing a TV contract. He unsuccessfully negotiated with CBS and TNT in recent months.
The best-case scenario would be for the NFL to come on board as a partner, he said.
Huyghue said he had unsuccessfully approached the NFL the past two years about a partnership or a commitment to use the UFL as a developmental league.
Asked if he would try again, Huyghue said, "If the labor situation got solved on Thursday, I probably would be in their office on Friday. It's a natural fit. We're going to need a more powerful support behind us to assist with television and sponsorship."
If the UFL became a developmental league in the mold of the old NFL Europe, Huyghue said, the UFL would be willing to play in the spring or fall or a combination of the two.
The NFL and UFL have had a "cordial" relationship, Huyghue said. Last season each 52-man roster included an average of 24 players with NFL experience. NFL teams signed about 60 UFL players last season, assigning them to either the active roster or practice squad.
"Our owners don't want to get out," Huyghue said. "They want a system of support so they're not shouldering all the financial burden themselves."
UFL games were shown on HDNet and Versus last year, with the league paying production costs for Versus' telecasts.
The league also spends about $9 million for workers' compensation insurance and an additional $2 million on chartered flights and hotels, Huyghue said.
The emergence of the Omaha Nighthawks as a signature franchise gave the UFL hope it could find its niche. The team averaged about 23,000 fans for its four home games last season with a roster featuring NFL veterans Jeff Garcia and Ahman Green and former Ohio State star Maurice Clarett.
Clarett is set to play for the Nighthawks again this season along with Nebraska's 2001 Heisman Trophy winner, Eric Crouch.
The UFL is hoping to avoid the fate of other upstart pro football leagues that failed.
"You can only tell people you're doing your best," Huyghue said. "The only crystal ball I have is the message I get from the owners, and they are supportive."
-- Eric Olson
Former NFL star McMahon injured in limo accident
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Former NFL quarterback Jim McMahon and two others were injured Monday when a limousine crashed through a fence south of Reno, the Nevada Highway Patrol said. The Nevada Highway Patrol said the accident happened around 2 p.m. on U.S. 395.
The limo, owned by Bell Limousine of Reno, was heading north when it left the four-lane highway, crashed through a wire fence, over a culvert and into a pasture, Trooper Mike Edgell said.
"Right now he's in a lot of pain," Edgell said later Monday. He described McMahon's injuries as "non-incapacitating," and it wasn't immediately known if he would be admitted to the hospital.
A woman traveling with McMahon also was injured and being treated for non-life threatening injuries. The patrol identified her as Lori Navon, 45, of Scottsdale, Ariz. The driver, Robert McCoy, 40, of Sparks, also was injured and taken to the Renown Regional Medical Center.
Alcohol was not involved and the cause of the accident was under investigation, Edgell said.
McMahon, 51, played 15 seasons in the NFL and helped the Chicago Bears win the Super Bowl in 1986. He was at Lake Tahoe over the weekend, where he competed in the American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.
McMahon and Navon were on their way to Reno-Tahoe International Airport when the accident happened, Edgell said.
Former 49ers C Blue dies at 65
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Forrest Blue, a four-time Pro Bowl center who helped the San Francisco 49ers win three straight division titles in the early 1970s, has died. He was 65.
The 49ers announced Tuesday that Blue died Saturday at an assisted living facility in Carmichael, Calif. No cause of death was given.
Blue was selected in the first round of the 1967 draft by the 49ers, 15th overall. He played on both the football and baseball teams at Auburn after going to high school in Marfa, Texas.
He didn't miss a game for the 49ers from 1969-74 and finished his career with four seasons with the Baltimore Colts.
Following his NFL career, Blue moved back to California, founding Forrest Blue Properties Inc., a development company in Penryn, Calif.
