Q: As you now celebrate your 10^th year as NFL Commissioner, how do you rate 1998?

A: I think we have been building through the decade of the 1990s. We started out with some problems with the Players Association. We didn’t have a Collective Bargaining Agreement. We had very different views on free agency. We had one pattern of television that had been in place for two or three decades. We had not expanded. Now we have changed all of that. We have 31 teams with the Browns kicking off this summer. We have changed our television patterns and I think the focus has stayed on broadcast television that has wide access to the fans with free TV. Obviously ESPN has been a great adjunct to what we are doing. Our Sunday night game has become part of the landscape. I think the biggest thing is the labor peace that we have had throughout the decade with the Players Association’s support from Gene Upshaw and his people, which has not only kept us free of controversy off the field but has kept the game great on the field. What you see in the league today is a system that works and provides continuity. Players such as John Elway, who plays his whole career with one team, and yet you have the young talent coming in -- players like Terrell Davis and Jamal Anderson and hopefully they will stay with their team for their whole career with the element of fan loyalty that the fans love so much.

Q: With Cleveland beginning play and a team in Houston or Los Angeles by 2002 is there a fear about diluting the product?

A: I don’t think so. If you look at history, the NFL went from 10 or 12 teams in the early 1960s and in one decade expanded with the absorption of the AFL and almost doubled the size of the NFL and there was no dilution of talent. Now we’re only adding four teams in two decades from the mid 1970s to the late 1990s. I think you can absorb that and I think it takes some intelligent planning which we have had and I think the talent is there and we will be a lot better for having the additional teams.

Q: Can you talk about celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the Pro Bowl in Hawaii?

A: This is a big anniversary for us and for Hawaii. The game has really evolved here. When we started, we didn’t know what it would become. It has become a week modeled after the Super Bowl with a lot of local and charitable events, growing exposure within the community for the Pro Bowl and the players. It’s our all-star game. It’s at the end of the season but it is anything but a anticlimax. It’s a big event.

Q: Can you talk about where we stand on instant replay?

A: I cited at the Super Bowl the two big plays we had in the playoffs. One was the Andre Reed catch in the Miami game and the other was the Terry Kirby down by contact play in the Atlanta vs. San Francisco game. There was so much criticism on the Andre Reed call. The officials were absolutely right. The television footage showed they were right. His elbow was down more than a foot from the goal line and yet we had criticism that was totally unwarranted and affected the whole game. The next day we had almost the identical play with the Ben Coates catch right at the goal line and the officials got it right again. I think the integrity of the game gets undermined when you have this hyper-reaction to a call that turns out to be a good call. We don't mind criticism and some calls are wrong. But I think you need to understand the difficulty of officiating a pro football game in the heat of the battle and bring some balance to the commentary.

Q: Would you like to have full-time officiating?

A: I don’t think we need it. We have to deal with the realities of the talent pool. The talent pool is a part-time pool. It starts at the high school level and continues through the college level. There are not people out there who are full-time officials. The best people in this profession are doing other things in the offseason. During the season they tend to be full-time and that’s what we have. The other thing it brings is people who are independent-minded and who are confident people with a lot of leadership ability and that is what officiating is about. It is an art; it’s not a science where you measure things with a ruler.

Q: How does what happen with Eugene Robinson on the eve of the Super Bowl fit into the scope of off-field behavior?

A: The first thing we need to realize is that allegations are allegations and we have to wait until something is either proven or admitted. The biggest focus of our policy has been violent misconduct. Most of these offenses, such as what occurred with Eugene, we leave it to the court system and we think that it is the appropriate place for it to be. Violence we feel is something where we can step in and give counseling and it’s also an area where we have an obligation. We make it clear to the players that it’s not going to be tolerated and however they are treated in thecourt system they are also going to face discipline in the NFL.

Q: Talk about your relationship with Bill Clinton.

A: He is another Georgetown graduate but we don’t see each other that much. When we were there at the White House last year, Terrell Davis gave him that big salute and Clinton said, "We’ll see you again next year." It turned out he was right.

Q: Did you meet Cher?

A: I did not. I wrote to her and said how delighted we were to have her as part of the show but did not get a chance to meet her.

Q: Were you personally responsible for Kiss performing?

A: That was a staff decision which I endorsed 100 percent.

Q: Do you have any of their CD’s?

A: No.

Q: What do you see for 1999?

A: We have the Broncos with the opportunity for a three-peat. We will begin another century and we will celebrate a century of NFL football. What we see is a sport that is very healthy, particularly with the talent on the field and the excitement of the fans.

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