PT – Good afternoon. It is always a treat to see a good football game and we should have that here this afternoon with the Cowboys and the Steelers and two outstanding coaches: Bill Parcells and Bill Cowher.

PT - I want to comment briefly on two subjects at the top and then, I’ll take your questions on any and all subjects. The first would be the Cowboys proposed stadium in Arlington and the second would be a couple of thoughts about Pat Tillman and Jake Plummer and other NFL players who have been supporting our troops in Iraq and supporting the families of our troops. But let me take the stadium first.

I think it is a unique opportunity for Arlington. As you know I visited over there yesterday and visited with Mayor Cluck and former mayors and toured the site and visited a youth football program. I think, as one of the papers said today, that it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for Arlington. To put all the pieces together for economic development, for a master plan, to have two major league sports franchises together in state-of-the-art stadiums. I think that is a big, big plus for that community. Secondly, this type of project has worked in other places and I think that people should recognize that.

We’ve built 20-plus stadiums in the last 10 years, since 1992 when the Georgia Dome came on the line and they are working. They are having positive impacts. I think maybe the nearest example, certainly the most recent example that I’ve been in, is Reliant Stadium in Houston. This stadium, the proposed Cowboys stadium in Arlington, would be a retractable dome stadium, so it’s a multi-purpose facility. It’s the type of facility that can host mega-events such as the Final Four. It’s not just limited to Cowboys games or to other football games or events that can be played outdoors such as is currently the case.

The third point to me that is very critical is that the private financial commitment here by the Cowboys is the largest that any NFL owner has made in a stadium project. When you consider the $325 million investment in the stadium, the rent to be paid over 30 years, other commitments relative to naming rights, and the commitment to put more than $16 million into youth football over a 30-year period, this is the largest private financial commitment by a team owner in an NFL stadium project and I think that’s very significant. To me it makes for a very balanced partnership. It guarantees that the two sides are going into this with similar incentives: to make certain that this project works for their mutual benefit. I mentioned Reliant Stadium. Obviously we played the Super Bowl there and this stadium would be a perfect location for hosting Super Bowls in the future and there would a strong presentation made by the representatives of Arlington and the Cowboys to host Super Bowls in the future in this proposed stadium. So that is my perspective in a nutshell on that.

With respect to Pat Tillman and Jake Plummer and other players who have been supporting the troops and their families, as you know Jake Plummer has really taken the lead among many of the players in supporting the Tillman family, in supporting the Pat Tillman Foundation and this week he made the commitment to do the public service announcement that we will be showing in our stadiums on Veteran’s Day weekend. These types of concrete actions and leadership shown by Jake are really outstanding.

He said it best the other day when he said that when we are honoring Pat Tillman it’s about a lot more than just a sticker on a helmet. It’s about very tangible, very concrete, very specific, supportive things and that’s been our philosophy on this.

We announced on Thursday in Washington that the league would be making a major financial contribution to establish - with the U.S.O. - a U.S.O service center called the Pat Tillman Service Center in Afghanistan where he lost his life. What he represents to the league in terms of courage, leadership and idealism, to me, is maybe the most extraordinary example an NFL player has given in many decades. We intend to go forward to continue to work with our players, not just Jake Plummer, but others like Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Duce Staley, Todd Heap, Warrick Dunn, Keith Brooking - who have gone around the globe, in Iraq, in Kuwait, in Germany, to support the troops and to honor Pat Tillman and to support the families of the troops. So going forward we will have more news on this front as we look towards Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving.

Q - Has there been any progress in the negotiations with the NFLPA?

PT - We are in negotiations. I would say that they’ve been intense, but we don’t have any progress that we can announce at this time, no.

Q - When is the earliest a Super Bowl could come to Arlington?

PT - The last one committed was to Arizona in February 2008. I think the likelihood would be, on the timeline that’s currently anticipated for the proposed Cowboys stadium in Arlington, the year that would probably come into play would be 2011, because the stadium would be up and running for at least a full year in advance, so that Super Bowl.

RE: Texas Stadium

PT - I think the big thing here is the opportunity to have a multi-purpose facility. Texas Stadium was a big step forward in the early 70’s compared to the dual-purpose football-baseball stadiums that had been built in many cities in the country in the ‘60s. The vision of Clint Murchinson was to do something unique. I think the vision here that the city fathers in Arlington have is for a multi-purpose facility that is a home, not just to the Cowboys, but to other mega-events, college and professional, such as the Final Four and the Super Bowl and to couple that with The Ballpark that is already there. To use the combination of those entertainment assets, plus Six Flags, to use that as a catalyst for economic development, to use that as a catalyst for addressing some of the highway and traffic issues that they have in the community and to accelerate the construction of some of that highway infrastructure, I think that’s a real opportunity, a big opportunity, and those types of opportunities only come once every generation. So it’s not so much what’s the history of Texas Stadium, it’s looking forward to the next 30 or 40 years in Arlington and seizing the opportunity, which is what they’ve done, and like I said, the key thing to me is the magnitude of the private investment by the Cowboys and the balanced partnership with the city.

RE: Jamal Lewis discipline:

PT - I think the severity of his crime was not all that significant. It was a felony, but it was something that occurred almost four years ago, before he had ever signed a contract in the league. It was one day basically, one phone call and I think he did pay a heavy penalty, will pay a heavy penalty under the criminal justice system and we factored that in and felt that given what he did, when he did it, the amount of time that was elapsed, the fact that this involved some controversial issues of an informant, that it was the appropriate sanction: two-game suspension, plus the two games forfeiture of paychecks for $750,000-plus in terms of financial penalty.

Q – Is it getting easier or harder over the years to bring new stadiums to new cities?

PT - I think every project is different. We’ve had 11 projects that were approved by referendum of the voters. We’ve had very few that have not been endorsed by the voters, more than 20 in all as I said before. I think that when people really focus on their community, their needs and their opportunity, then they can come to the conclusion that if there is a private investment – if it’s a public-private partnership – then these things definitely have a payback that is worth it in terms of a public investment. In many cases, I know it is the case here with The Ballpark, I know it was the case with Coors Field in Denver, the amortization of the public side of the investment takes place more quickly than is initially projected because of the economic development and the economic growth that takes place, so that’s the opportunity.

Q – What do you think Brett Favre has meant to the league?

A – A heck of a lot more than I’ve meant to the league. I think Brett Favre is one of those athletes who transcends generations, Walter Payton was such an athlete. They don’t come along even in every decade. The combination of raw talent, polished performances, enthusiasm, durability, passion for the game – all of those qualities are really quite extraordinary. He will be a legend. We talk about the legends at Lambeau Field, starting with Curly Lambeau himself and moving up through Vince Lombardi, but also some of their great players, Don Hutson, and then into the Lombardi years – the Bart Starrs, the Paul Hornungs, that is where Brett Favre is going to be in the history of the Packers and the history of pro football.