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The Wisconsin State Journal Tom Oates Column: Packers Need to Think Small

Posted on: Monday, 5 June 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Tom Oates, The Wisconsin State Journal

Jun. 5--There is a saying in the NFL that if the Green Bay Packers are doing well, the league is doing well.

When the team from the league's smallest city can play on even terms with the teams from the big cities, it underscores the competitive balance that makes the NFL the nation's No. 1 sports league.

It's Bob Harlan's job to keep it that way.

Harlan's accomplishments as president of the Packers have made him a giant in franchise history. There is, however, one critical piece of unfinished business before Harlan retires and turns the team over to John Jones.

He's only one of 32 voters, but Harlan must make sure NFL owners find a new commissioner who understands revenue sharing and the salary cap mean everything to small-market teams such as the Packers and, thus, the league.

That's something Harlan has preached since 1989. Jones, who succeeded Harlan as president last week and will assume full control of the franchise next year, agrees.

"Continuation of the salary cap and revenue sharing are just essential for the survival and the success of the Green Bay Packers," Jones said.

That continuation is assured through 2011 after outgoing commissioner Paul Tagliabue negotiated a collective bargaining agreement with the players in March. However, the process revealed a growing rift in the ownership ranks that could eventually erode revenue sharing.

Nine owners of high-revenue teams tried to change the rules so they could keep more of the local income they generate from stadiums and sponsorships. These aggressive, mostly young owners have little regard for the NFL's share-the-wealth tradition.

The Packers' dilemma is currently they are a high-revenue team. Since the Lambeau Field renovation was completed in 2003, the Packers have ranked 10th in the league in income every year.

But that is fool's gold. Green Bay will be passed as soon as new stadiums are built for Dallas and the New York teams, and could fall even further as other teams get new stadiums.

No matter how flush the Packers are right now, Green Bay must continue to think like the small-market team it is. That includes pushing any commissioner candidate who understands the key to the league's success is competitive balance.

"Our fortunes are very high right now and we recognize that," Jones said. "But making sure that the teams in all markets have a chance to compete, regardless of market size, is essential to the success in the future of the NFL. We support that."

The Packers agreed to a revenue-sharing compromise in the new CBA even though, as one of the top 15 money-makers, they will have to kick several million dollars into a pool to be distributed among the bottom 17 teams. Harlan's seen too much to be fooled by that, though.

"It's not going to stay the same," he said. "You know there's going to be ups and downs. This collective bargaining agreement is going to cost us more. Who knows what comes up in the next collective bargaining agreement?"

No one knows, which is why it's imperative that the next commissioner be a friend of the Packers.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Wisconsin State Journal

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Wisconsin State Journal

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