FROM THE COMMISH

From Tampa, Florida

Over time, the Friday of Super Bowl Week has become the day when the NFL Commissioner has a State of the League speech and a press conference. It’s a tradition that was started by Pete Rozelle, was continued by Paul Tagliabue and the torch is now carried by Roger Goodell.

Goodell didn’t really have much of a speech; just some opening comments about the league and the type of season that played out across the country.

“I think it’s been an incredibly exciting season for our fans,” Goodell said. “The one word I like to use is unpredictable. Each week, there’s another unpredictable event, and I think that is the hallmark of our season, and frankly, the hallmark of the NFL.

“There are three ways I’d like to describe this season, thinking back about it, and it’s with three key words: hope, inspiration and teamwork, all of which are very important in football. Hope that your team always can succeed and overcome the obstacles. We saw that with Atlanta, Miami and Baltimore coming from a difficult season the year before and going into the playoffs with first-year coaches. Inspiration, from the efforts by some of our great players each week and our coaches and the teams when they come together and inspire communities, and we see that very clearly. And of course teamwork, which is so critical for what we all need to achieve. It’s working together and coming together at exactly the right time.

When Goodell went to questions, easily the subject that drew the most queries centered on the looming battle with the NFL Players Association over a new collective bargaining agreement. We will save his comments and those of the NFLPA until next week, once the real football is behind us.

But here are a few highlights on his comments involving the owners, players and a new working agreement:

“The ownership has spent a tremendous amount of time evaluating the current collective bargaining agreement. They came to the conclusion that it was better to terminate that agreement and go into a negotiation where we could work to try to come up with something that would work for all clubs and our players rather than continue on with that system. The economics were difficult prior to the economy turning south on us. What’s happened now with the economy turning difficult for all of us, I think that it just accentuated the negatives in that collective bargaining agreement. I think the owners feel that it’s critically important for the future of the game, for the future of the business, that they re-evaluate this. It is being done all across the country in every industry. We’re evaluating our product. Labor unions and management have to work together to address this.”

Here are some of the other topics that Goodell touched on.

ON WHETHER THE LEAGUE WANTS THE RAIDERS AND 49ERS TO SHARE A NEW FACILITY IN THE BAY AREA, MUCH AS THE GIANTS AND JETS DO IN THE MEADOWLANDS:

“… This facility is badly needed in the Bay Area. We have asked both teams to evaluate the possibility of a shared stadium. We can’t come to a conclusion right now if that’s the best solution. And in these times, when it’s more challenging to get these stadiums built, we have to be more creative. It’s been successfully done in New York with the Jets and the Giants, and we think it’s something that at least can be explored and evaluated by the two teams and by both communities. If it ends up being the best solution, then I think that’s a great thing.”

ON SITUATION WITH VIKINGS IN MINNEAPOLIS WHERE THERE LEASE AT THE METRODOME IS UP IN 2011 WITH NO NEW STADIUM IN SIGHT:

“I know that Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf want to continue to have the Vikings in Minnesota and a new stadium and I share that. They have worked very hard to be able to get to that point. They have understood the priorities of the community. They have stood by and allowed the baseball stadium and the Gophers stadium to move forward because they recognize those priorities and there are all these priorities in the community. I think we have to continue to work with the governor and the leadership in that community to understand those priorities and figure out how we get a new stadium built. That is necessary for the Vikings and we all want the Vikings to be there in the long term successfully. They need a new stadium. That’s clear. I think it’s recognized by all parties and we need to get down to the difficult business to figure out how to do it.”

ON PRO BOWL MOVING NEXT YEAR TO MIAMI AND BEING PLAYED THE SUNDAY BEFORE THE SUPER BOWL:

“… The entire premise of shifting the Pro Bowl was to make our event bigger and better than it is right now. We’ve had a great experience in Hawaii. We expect to continue to be in Hawaii. We expect it will be in the rotation. What we thought, though, would be a very interesting alternative would be to play the game as part of the lead up to the Super Bowl. So we’ll be playing it on Sunday night in Miami in advance of the Super Bowl. That will bring more interest, clearly. It will bring more exposure for our great players, and we think be a positive. In addition, we think that while we’ll miss the Super Bowl guys, it really puts an emphasis on team accomplishment. Make it to the Super Bowl: that’s the crowning achievement. But if you get the opportunity to play in the Pro Bowl, it’s a great opportunity and it’s something that you deserve as an individual player, those accolades, and we’d like to put you on the biggest stage, and we believe the biggest stage is prior to the Super Bowl. But we do continue and hope to be in Hawaii.”

ON WHETHER THE LEAGUE WOULD CONSIDER AN ADJUSTMETN TO THE RULES FOR OVERTIME THAT WOULD REMOVE A FIELD GOAL AS AN OPTION ON THE FIRST DRIVE IN OVERTIME:

“It’s been considered before, and I’m sure it will be considered among the alternatives. There are other ways of addressing the field goal on the first drive, and I think it is something the Competition Committee needs to consider because what we’ve seen in our statistics is that historically about 30 percent of the games in overtime are decided with a team who wins the coin flip scoring on the first possession. That number has risen to about 47 percent, and I think that’s significant, and I think it’s something our committee needs to look at. When you couple that with the fact that our field goal kickers are much more accurate than they have been in the past, that is a danger. We have talked about different concepts, and the committee will discuss this.

ON WHETHER BECAUSE OF THE SUCCESS OF SELLING TICKETS FOR NFL GAMES IN ENGLAND, WOULD THE LEAGUE CONSIDER A LONDON FRANCHISE?

“We are so thrilled with the reception that we’ve got from our fans in the UK. Each year, the excitement, the passion has grown. We saw that this year when we went back with the Saints and the Chargers. The event was bigger and better, and I think that they have demonstrated that they are tremendous football fans and that we’re continuing to grow the game over there. As you pointed out, earlier this week, the tickets went on sale in a difficult economy and were sold.”