Owners want to avoid 'Spygate II'

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, March 27, 2008

In a time when consumer confidence coast to coast is measured daily, it also seems to be on the NFL's front burner.

When the league's annual meetings officially open Monday in Palm Beach, Fla., a large chunk of the agenda will deal with what Ray Anderson, the league's executive vice president/football operations, calls a "critical theme for us."

The NFL's franchise owners, including the Broncos' Pat Bowlen, will be presented with several initiatives in the wake of the highly publicized "Spygate" affair involving the New England Patriots and an aftermath that has included questions about the team's Super Bowl wins and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., challenging the league for destroying evidence in the case.

"(The) main theme is accountability from top to bottom in protecting integrity and maintaining the confidence among our fans," Anderson said. "That's what we're looking to do."

One of the biggest initiatives will be each franchise designating a person - the owner, team president, general manager or coach - to certify, in writing, each season that the team has been in compliance with all league rules.

"We do that in a lot of businesses where you have to get audited and the senior person signs off on the audit that things are in truthfully good order," Anderson said. "We think that will help with accountability."

The "duty," as Anderson called it, of any team or league employee to report any suspected rules violations will be emphasized, as will the creation of a reporting system "with strict confidentiality protection." The policies - some will require a three-quarters "yes" vote from the owners and some can be implemented by commissioner Roger Goodell without a vote - also could include spot checks by league officials of each franchise during the year.

Also on the agenda:

* Several rules proposals that will be voted on include allowing a defensive player to wear a radio headset in his helmet, much like quarterbacks do; a new format for seeding playoff teams; expanding rosters; and forcing players to tuck long hair into their helmets to keep the hair from obscuring the names on players' jerseys.

Under the new playoff seeding system, the two division winners with the top records in each conference would earn byes for the first weekend of the postseason as is currently the case, but seeds No. 3 through No. 6 in each conference would be seeded based on records, with division winners awarded the tiebreakers.

* An update on the current collective-bargaining agreement, which several franchise owners, including Bowlen and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, have criticized in recent months. A clause in the current agreement gives the owners the ability to vote later in November to opt out of the current agreement, which would make 2009 and 2010 the last two years of the deal.

* Implementing a five- to seven-day period before the official start of free agency during which a player's agent is permitted to talk with teams. Such contact currently is not allowed. Under the proposal, players can't meet with teams, make any visits or undergo physicals until the start of free agency.

legwoldj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2359