(Opening remarks…) "Good afternoon. We just finished the first session of our annual meeting with all the owners and many of the club executives this morning. I announced to them the schedule for the Kickoff Weekend and particularly, the national games. On Thursday night, September 8th, on ABC, will be hosted in New England consistent with what we started last year as a tradition and the opponent will be the Oakland Raiders. On Sunday, September 11th, on a FOX doubleheader it will pit the Dallas Cowboys will play San Diego Chargers in San Diego. On ESPN on Sunday night, we’ll have the Indianapolis Colts at Baltimore playing the Ravens. To wrap up the primetime games for the opening weekend Monday night, September 12th, on ABC, we’ll have the Philadelphia Eagles at Atlanta playing the Falcons. The rest of the schedule will be announced sometime in April.

We spent time this morning talking about some of the subjects that I addressed with the full group of club representatives, in particular, some of the collective bargaining issues we have and plans that we have to continue to build new stadiums, and for the league’s program to help with the construction of new stadiums.

As you know, the Cowboys, Colts, Jets, Giants and Chiefs have been working real hard on those projects, and we’ll be talking more specifically later this week about those particular plans, but we talked generally about the concepts we have in place for helping teams to build stadiums with invested private capital. Beyond that I would be glad to take questions."

(On his comments regarding the current state of labor negotiations…) "I said that at this point I think the negotiations have exhausted themselves and are at a dead end, but we need to resume them on a realistic basis, and that’s what we intend to do."

(On are there any planned negotiations in the near future…) "Yes, we have a special league meeting scheduled for April 19th, and if we can make progress with the players’ association we’ll have a league meeting, and if we don’t we don’t."

(On where are the differences between the two sides…) "Well, I think the biggest financial difference really since the first time we did the collective bargaining agreement in 1992 and early 1993, the teams and the league have really had to pay dramatically more sums of private funds to get stadiums built. At this point, we have had to commit over $2 billion in the last dozen years or so to build stadiums, and on an ongoing basis, the cost of paying for the debt service of those stadiums represents three-to-four percent of total revenue. That’s a cost we’ve never had to deal with before. That’s a major factor, and we have to figure out with the players’ association how to address that in the collective bargaining agreement and resolve some of the other issues."

(On a possible division in the ranks amongst ownership…) "I’m not sure we have division. I think we have a complicated set of new economic issues and we’re trying to figure out how to resolve them. I think the committee meetings we’ve had the past two days have been really good and I think we’re making some progress already."

(On revenue and the funding of stadiums…) "I think when we did this deal in 1992-93 there had been only two stadiums basically built with private financing, one was early on in Texas Stadium in the early ‘70s and then one was Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, and then some time in there in the early ‘90s we had to deal with the Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. The debt service cost coming out of revenue even at the team level was rare. Then, as you know, invested television revenue into the G3 program in the late ‘90s as well as other club seat premium revenue through the league to help build the stadiums in New England, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, and Green Bay, and those costs are now substantial costs.

Like I said, it’s three-to-four percent of total revenue, and even as revenue gets beyond $6 billion, if you figure out what three-to-four percent of six billion is you’re talking about a lot of money. In a sense, the collective bargaining negotiation today is not how do you divide 100 points, it’s how do you divide 96 points or 95 points because three, four or five points are going to the banks and construction companies for building these stadiums. That’s a significant issue. Internally, we have some issues in terms of the unfunded mandate. As I said earlier, the fact that everyone was going to spend to an average club revenue, that’s something we’ve had to deal with and I think we’re continuing to address the revenue issues."

(On comparing the NFL to the NHL in terms of labor relations…) "I’m not going to answer any questions which compare the NFL to hockey in terms of labor relations."

(On his comment describing labor relations at ‘dead end’…) "I used it on purpose. I wrote it myself at 7 o’clock last night. I said the negotiations have exhausted themselves-not the negotiators-the negotiations, and we’re at a dead end, but the next sentence says that we need to resume on a realistic basis and make sure the premises which underlie the agreement in ‘92-‘93 continue to be our premises, mainly the best way to get a good labor deal is to continue to have a rising tide that raises all boats. I think that’s where we are. I think our television revenue overall is going to increase significantly going forward with contracts we’ve already done with CBS, FOX and DirectTV are very positive steps in that direction. I think that our remaining contracts will be very positive. That we can keep building stadiums such as these proposed in Dallas, Indianapolis and the Jets stadium. This will be a very significant thing for the league to be back in Manhattan. It will be very significant thing for the players in terms of increased revenues to share.

What I don’t want to see us do is get back into the concept or frame of mind that it’s static, it’s not going to grow. As you all know, when I took this job in 1989 was one of the first things I said was that the league had to expand the number of teams, and we’ve done that. We’ve had to build stadiums because only one stadium had been built in the entire preceding decade and that was in Miami. You can’t have a healthy business serving the fans in a positive if you’re not building stadiums and growing. We need to keep doing that. It will be the premise of our agreement, and it will be good for everybody."

(On does the players association recognize the debt service…) "They do recognize the debt service up to a point, and they’ve been very supportive on that piece of it. That’s something we worked out in late 1999 and early 2000, but the magnitude of the investment is growing and the current system there is a limitation in there and the limitation now is really becoming an impediment. We already have had intensive discussions with them on this, but we haven’t had a way of resolving it yet, but they have recognized this with cap credits much of the investment up to this point but it’s growing. The other thing that’s growing is the cost of the stadiums. I think most of the current stadiums are retractable domes and that involves expense as well."

(On the Miami Super Bowl proposal…) "No, Miami is not suggesting a permanent Super Bowl rotation. The Dolphins will make a presentation tomorrow on the idea that as the Super Bowl rotates there should be one or two sites that would be specially designed and constructed to be a Super Bowl host area or host city, and that would enable us to take the game to a higher level over time. You could have pavilions that would be permanent, you could have elements that would be permanent where teams could bring sponsors in, and every team could bring people into the game and have a permanent piece of the facility. People interested in our sport from Europe or Asia could travel to the kind of site around Dolphins Stadium just as they travel to theme parks in Florida. It really is an exciting vision where the Super Bowl could go in the next 15-25 years if it had a permanent facility or two as part of a rotation that would include other cities that didn’t have such a facility."

(On plans to improve Dolphins Stadium…) "They have made some announcements on plans to improve the stadium. I didn’t read them at the time, but I saw them in the newspapers."

(On the concept of a Super Bowl facility…) "The concept would be the permanent facility would host the game on a rotating basis. A lot of it’s thinking out of the box. It’s very visionary, very interesting that in those years when the Super Bowl was going to be in that facility you might have a two-week celebration of football that could start off with a youth football weekend, and that would bring a lot of kids and families to this complex to focus on football and place maybe some type of series of games. Then maybe the following week you have the Pro Bowl in this facility the week before the Super Bowl during the open week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl which we’ve talked about before moving the Pro Bowl to that open week so that you have a week of youth football, a week of the Pro bow, and then the Super Bowl. That type of thing. Then in other years you’d have it in Houston or Arizona or wherever it might be."

(On the LA team playing in a site like the one proposed in Miami…)"Well, there were concepts of this type proposed for Southern California, and maybe we’ll get back to them, but this is a Miami proposal."

(On the first regular season game being played outside the United States being the first step in making the NFL an international game…) "I don’t think it’s a first step in making it an international game. We’ve been playing American Bowl games since 1986 and we’ve played dozens of them in many different countries and they were some of the first steps. I think the NFL Europe League is a big, big step in terms of internationalizing the game. There are many, many steps we’re taking and the game in Mexico is one of them, but just one of many."

(On what would be the significant hurdle 10 years from now on a franchise playing outside the United States…) "I don’t know that there will be a significant hurdle. I can’t see that far. I’m still trying to get out of the dead end."

(On the Carolina Panthers alleged link to steroids…) "We have our security people investigating that, and I know they’re cooperating closely with the Panthers, and getting good cooperation with both sides, and at some point they’re going to give me a report."

(On being comfortable with the league’s current steroid policy…) "I’m comfortable that our steroid policy is very effective. No, I can’t say that I’m comfortable with things slipping through the cracks because we know THG slipped through everyone’s cracks because it was an unknown substance and there was not a test for it. Now that there is a test for it, we’re testing. I think we have a very strong program, and very pervasive testing, and very severe penalties, and a minimum number of violations, but is it perfect? No."

(On the state of Minnesota ownership group…) "Our staff is working with Mr. Fowler and his representatives, working through the transactions that need to be completed in order for him to fund the acquisition. We had a short report yesterday from the finance committee, and they’ll keep working with his people in the works ahead."

(On is the current financial status of the ownership group…) "I would say it’s typical. When you are buying an asset you can either borrow a lot of money or sell assets to convert into cash and then you don’t have to borrow as much. It’s kind of a normal that this happens in this type of situation."

(On the distribution of Super Bowl tickets…) "We are really going to address that at our May meeting. It’s the type of thing that we’ve reviewed every couple of years, and we’ve had different approaches in different years, and I couldn’t say I anticipate any changes or not until I see what the current issues are. I know we’ve been pretty aggressive in enforcing polices on re-sale especially by club employees, and we’ve also been pretty aggressive in enforcing our policies on re-sale in general ticket buyers and putting it on the internet and things like that. I’m going to get a report on that. It’s the type of thing we analyze every year. We have our own internal ticket department and that’s part of their responsibility along with our security department."

(On any updates regarding the Mike Tice issues…) "No, I don’t even have a report on the Mike Tice issues."

(On does he think the current policy is aggressive enough…) "I’ve said we’ve had some very aggressive policies, and we’ve tried some even more aggressive policies that proved to be unworkable. We tried for a while to have tickets limited to a club employee only if they showed up in a Super Bowl city and it wasn’t too practical, so we’re working on a variety of alternatives."

(On the status of collective bargaining and how they’ll relate to the upcoming TV contract negotiations…) "There is really no relationship between the two. We’re talking about collective bargaining and television. We’re negotiating with ABC and ESPN and we’re going to continue that. I think probably in the relatively near future we’re going to get some things done with additional network packages."

(On what he wanted to communicate to Governor Schwarzenegger during their meeting…) "Just that one of our priorities right now is to make some decisions on a stadium in the Los Angeles area and get a team into a stadium in the Los Angeles area, and also to address the stadium needs of the other three teams in the state. The Chargers have been working on stadium plans for quite a while, and they reached some agreements last year with the city that kind of cleared the decks on some outstanding issues that they had to get guarantees there, and now we’re hopeful they can get more progress there. We certainly want to work with the 49ers and Raiders and see what they can do to improve their stadiums. The only three stadiums in the league today that go back to pre-1970 and were built primary for baseball are three stadiums in California, so that’s an issue."

(On is there difference of opinion on the definition of total revenue…) "No. We do have a consensus not only with the clubs in terms of a definition of total football revenue. We basically have an agreement with the union on that, an agreement in principle on the definition of total football revenue. That is not really the issue. The issue is recognizing, as I say, the cost of capital investment of the stadiums which is very large and then trying to get to the level for the salary cap that all the clubs in the league can live with even those clubs who have below average revenue. Part of the issue there will be either continue our supplemental revenue sharing pool or put the equivalent type of program in place, or some type that would continue to help clubs with below average revenue to spend to the cap."

(On the Jacksonville Super Bowl…) "I think that everyone feels that the Jacksonville Super Bowl was a big success, and that the city handled it very well and the host committee was very effective in getting things done and delivering on the concept that they had. I would say, that the way some people said it to me, that there were some insularly aspects from the weekend a part from e game that were maybe not ideal, t workable, and it was a very enjoyable and successful weekend."

(On what were some of the complaints of Jacksonville…) "Not enough newspapers in the town, and the one that there (laughter) had too much classified advertising on Super Bowl Sunday. No, you’ve heard some of things like taxis were limited in supply and some of the cruise ships were leaving early on Monday morning so people had to get up early after the game and they couldn’t leave at noon and they had to leave at 7:00 am instead."

(On how confident are you in the Jets bid for their new stadium…) "I have no idea. I know they’re very serious about pursuing their plans and they’re going to be very serious about the proposal they make to the MTA, but I have no way of speculating beyond that."

(On the status of the Super Bowl in 2009 concerning New Orleans…) "I really couldn’t say definitively, but we have so much competition for the Super Bowl that the better or newer the stadium, the more responsive the owners are going to be. It would be kind of taking who’s in the loop and who’s out of the loop one at a time. Right now, we’re looking at four teams competing for ’09 and New Orleans is not one of those teams. Whether they would come back in some future date, I don’t know."

(On is the Minnesota stadium on hold with the Fowler ownership up in the air…) "On hold where? I’ve had conversations the past couple of weeks with officials in Minnesota who are on the public-sector side who are anxious to keep the stadium discussion going and my guess is that I’ll be up there in the next several weeks trying to work with them to see how we can assist and what can be developed."

(On the funding of the Colts new stadium after talking to the legislature…) "They understood and accepted that the project was very important and very timely, and that the challenge was to figure out the best way to secure the financing. Paying is always the hard part."

(On Bob Iger and how they will affect the TV negotiations and is the NFL Network a viable option to show games…) "I don’t think the fact that he was once involved with ABC Sports it’s not a personal decision, it’s a company decision, and it’s a financial decision so we have had a great relationship with Bob Iger since he goes back to ABC and I’ve known him for many years, but whether he’s doing the negotiations, or someone else is doing the negotiations, or he’s leading the decision making on their side I think it’s an institutional decision not a personal one."

"On the Thursday-Saturday package yes, we’re still considering a wide range of alternatives and in some of those alternatives, the NFL Network could be the carrier for those games."

(On the evolution of the Super Bowl…) "I think it’s very interesting. If you go back and look at how the Super Bowl has evolved and take three points of time. Take Super Bowl I where there are a few empty seats in Los Angeles and then look at the next 25 years and how the game grew into a mid-winter national holiday, and every year it’s the most widely viewed sporting event in the nation. I think it was about 25 years from 1967-1992 in Minnesota that we had one of the first if not the first major NFL Experiences which gave a whole different character to the game and it brought local community and kids in and that was 25-year period. Then from 1992 until now, we’re heading towards Super Bowl XL, there is another 15-year period where the NFL experience has grown, the events around the game have grown, charitable events have grown, and entertainment has grown in the past 15 years. I think to take a look out at Super Bowl L, LX, is an important way to look at it, and the potential for the game to become a several-week event and the celebration of football beyond the Super Bowl itself I think, is a very exciting prospect. The game can have an impact globally in terms of interest overseas in NFL football, American football, is very real. Last year, we had major television viewership in China with Shanghai TV and a good audience. I think the idea that we could have different pavilions, and some of them could be international sports pavilions, to improve the Super Bowl it’s worth looking at."

(On the gameday entertainment for the proposed Miami site…) "It’s interesting in the extravaganza point because one of the concepts in the Dolphins idea is that inside the stadium itself would be sacred turf. Only the game would be inside the stadium. None of the gameday entertainment would be inside the stadium. The clean field on gameday would be a clean field focused entirely on football. The pregame and halftime show would be part of the complex and televised in the stadium, but not performed in the stadium so the focus could be more than ever be on the game and the facility would enable you to do that. That’s one of the concepts."

(On have any clubs been fined for illegal sale or re-sale of Super Bowl tickets…) "I would have to go back. I’ve been involved with Super Bowl tickets for 35 years, but Mr. Aiello says yes club employees have been fined or disciplined. It’s not a new issue."

(On the status of NFL Europe…) "I’m going over to Europe during the second week of April. I will be attending a game over there in Düsseldorf in the new stadium. We have a meeting that weekend with the NFL Europe advisory board which is a group of top German businessmen working with us to grow the league. We will probably discuss that in the May meeting in Washington."