FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2000

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE OPENS MEETING WITH ANNUAL REVIEW

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue opened the 2000 NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida today with a 30-minute review of overall league affairs to a group of approximately 250 club presidents, head coaches, front-office employees, and league officials.

Excerpts from the Commissioner’s review include:

• "The ’99 season was exciting, unpredictable and highly competitive. And the Super Bowl was hailed as one of the best ever with a great second half and thrilling finish. As the year unfolded, fans and media used the term ‘topsy-turvy’ to describe the season. It underscored a key strength of the league. We have a system, and will continue to strive to have a system, that works for all teams. Our system gives every team the same chance and it gives fans serious hope that their team can make a run at the Super Bowl. Out of the competitive equality of our system last year emerged two Super Bowl teams of exceptional talent and superior records."

• "On a more somber note, we lost four NFL legends during the past year with the deaths of Leon Hess, Walter Payton, Derrick Thomas, and Tom Landry. Each was a remarkable individual. And it will serve us well not only to preserve their memories, but to remember what they stood for in business, on the football field, and in life."

• "It is clear that we have the greatest asset in sports – and that is the game of football. More importantly, NFL football. In America, and in growing parts of the world, people absolutely love it. But this is a new decade, a new century, and a new millennium. And it is time for us not to rest on past accomplishments, but to engage in new thinking about how to ensure that the NFL remains number one and by an ever-widening margin."

• "We are fortunate that NFL football has always been extraordinarily competitive and that there has always been new and highly skilled talent coming into the league. This continues to be the case, and by some measures the decade of the ‘90s was even more competitive than the past two decades. During the ‘90s, 23 different teams played the 20 AFC and NFC Conference Championship Games; 13 teams played in the Super Bowl; and seven different teams won the Super Bowl. In contrast, during the ‘80s only 19 different teams played in the Conference Championship Games; only 10 teams played in the Super Bowl; and five teams won it. During the ‘70s, a far smaller group of teams tasted the success of championships. Only 12 different teams played in the Conference Championship Games; only nine teams played in the Super Bowl; and again five teams won it."

• "What does this mean? It obviously means more teams were able to compete at the highest level; more teams were able to achieve their dream of winning a Super Bowl; and far more fans – in many regions around the country – were able to root for winners and celebrate championships. Skeptics or cynics would say we now have ‘parity’ or ‘mediocrity’ or that we have lost the ‘dynasties.’ Fans, however, have responded differently. They think what we have is more competition. And they are showing more interest in the NFL than ever before."

• "Last year we set an all-time per game attendance record for the second year in a row. For the first time in league history, paid attendance topped 16 million for the regular season and more than 65,000 per game. That was an increase of 1,300 per game over 1998. The top five paid attendance marks for a full season all have occurred in the past five years. Television ratings remained strong, with three of four partners maintaining or increasing 1998 levels. Last season was the first since 1985 in which both Sunday afternoon networks experienced year-to-year increases. Monday Night Football was down slightly (1 percent) but finished the fall season in third place among all prime-time programming, its highest finish ever. The Super Bowl rating was up 7 percent. The Pro Bowl rating was up 9 percent. The percentage of local blackouts lifted reached a record level last year. Eight-four (84) percent of our home games were televised in the local home market, and this helped our ratings."

• "One important tool for competing in the sports marketplace glut of today is to have good media relations. Making your players and coaches available to local and national media on a regular basis is a way to break through the glut. The media craves content. Let’s give them the NFL."

• "There is an important decision to be made on replay. Four points strike me about last year’s experience with replay:

1. We have a carefully balanced, consensus system that works.
2. It was not unnecessarily intrusive on the length or pace of the game.
3. It enhanced the credibility of our officiating and took the unhealthy focus off officiating that we had in 1998.
4. Replay was an insurance policy that gave us the opportunity in every game to correct the major, game-breaking call."

• "Another challenge is to maintain respect for the people in our game. Criminal behavior by athletes has been a negative issue in sports for several years. We all know that most of our players are good citizens. But the ones who get in trouble generate an enormous amount of negative publicity for our league. This is clearly a problem that needs to be addressed immediately. We do have programs and policies in place to support our players. But our players – and other pro athletes – face pressures that few others in our society face. Therefore, we need to do more to prevent these incidents from happening. We will continue the dialogue here intensively this week and through the next two months, then present policy recommendations to you at the May meeting."

• "Let me summarize our agenda into five key points:

1. As a league, we need to invest in fan development and fan service.
2. We need to keep the partnership structure of the league strong.
3. We need to keep the game great and work hard to maintain labor peace.
4. We must work harder than ever to maintain respect for the game and our players.
5. We must invest in the Internet and the technology of the future."