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COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE OPENS MEETING WITH ANNUAL REVIEW Commissioner Paul Tagliabue opened the 2003 NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, today with a 30-minute review of overall league affairs to a group of approximately 300 owners, club presidents, head coaches, front-office employees, and league officials. Following are excerpts from the Commissioner’s review: · “Collectively, your talent and great football produced a truly remarkable 2002 season. It was not a season of ‘parity’ – a word that smacks of ‘mediocrity.’ It was a season of competitive excellence.” · “The 2002 season was intense, unpredictable, and, most importantly, exciting for the fans. Scoring was up, the passing game exploded, and there were more touchdowns than ever. There were a record number of overtime games, and a record number of come-from-way-behind victories. Going into the final week of the regular season, 19 teams – the most ever – were still competing for the Super Bowl. And at the end of a season noted for offense, it was a great defensive team that won the Super Bowl.” · “Television viewership across our four network partners was up 5 percent. In key demographic groups, the ratings increases were even higher. NFL games were the top-rated television program in local markets an extraordinarily high percentage of the time. During the playoffs, viewers nationally increased 9 percent and the Super Bowl was the most-watched program in television history – with 139 million U.S. viewers. In a challenging economy, the excitement on the field continued to support robust ticket sales. A record 90 percent of games were sold out and televised locally with the blackout lifted. Total paid attendance reached a new high and paid attendance per game continued to run near record levels.” · “We continued this past year to invest in the growth of our game through several strategic initiatives. Along with the Players Association, we created a new national football organization called USA FOOTBALL, representing all levels of amateur football. Our Youth Football Fund, which focuses on strengthening high school and junior high school football, endowed USA FOOTBALL, which will be based in Washington and run by a highly respected, diverse Board of Directors that includes NFL representation.” · “Throughout America, our goal is to assure that NFL football continues to be ‘America’s Passion’ and the number-one sport of more fans than any other sport. To achieve that goal, we must consistently attack the status quo by challenging ourselves to improve across the board.” · “Our number-one priority is the game. The critical elements are, one, continuing to have a player allocation system – through our Collective Bargaining Agreement – that fairly and effectively spreads the talent, ensuring competitive excellence on the field; and, second, continuing to have leadership from our Competition Committee – and throughout the league – on the critical game-related aspects of our sport that make our game so exciting and attractive to fans.” · “Another key priority is the issue of diversity in coaching and all aspects of league and club operations. As a result of the committee that Dan Rooney chairs and other factors, the 32 owners and the league are more committed than ever to workplace diversity. It is not enough to have diversity as a goal and assume that it can be obtained through good intentions or by accident. We are going to have color-blind employment practices, but more than that, we are going to continue to have affirmative outreach efforts to identify and train talent -- and produce new talent -- in front office and coaching positions.” · “Achieving true diversity requires a commitment to diversity from all of us in this room, and affirmative steps to be more inclusive in every aspect of our operations. At the same time, we must continue to recognize that talent and merit will always distinguish winners from losers in professional sports, including the NFL, whether the competition is on the playing field, among coaches, or among executives and managers in all other areas of operations.” · “On television, while the other major league sports have moved most of their regular-season programming to cable, we will seek to continue our dominant presence in broadcast television, while also expanding our position in digital cable, satellite, and on-line distribution. With massive changes in the television landscape, including the availability of dozens or hundreds of channels in most households, we will continue to re-evaluate all elements of our television programming. This includes the makeup of our current AFC, NFC, and prime-time packages; and flexible in-season scheduling arrangements that will enable us to deliver the most attractive games to the largest possible audience.” · “Changes in our approach to TV will continue in 2003. We will build on the success of last year’s launch of the season and focus our fans early on the energy and appeal of the NFL. And later in the year we will launch the NFL Network on DirecTV. The NFL Network will be unique among the growing number of single-sport television services – with very attractive year-round television programming dedicated entirely to the NFL and the sport of football.” NOTE: Commissioner Tagliabue also announced to the clubs four more key games of 2003 Kickoff Weekend. See separate news release for details. # # # |