by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
As the featured speaker at the Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Omni, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who was in town for the Monday night game, commented on various aspects of the NFL, but started out by commending Jacksonville on its successful team and support.
“Your story here is a little bit like the little engine that could,” told the full house in the ballroom. “It’s both inspired and inspiring. The franchise was awarded at a time when the expectations by outsiders was that Jacksonville’s prospects were not great. But those of us in the league who met with Wayne [Weaver], Ed Austin and others, we feel that everybody’s expectations have not only been matched but really exceeded.”
Next year, the NFL will realign its 32 teams into eight divisions of four teams each. While the league did its best to preserve old rivalries like Pittsburgh-Cleveland or Washington-Dallas, some teams and fans still screamed at having their cheese moved, including Jacksonville. Tagliabue countered that the change brings more variety to the game by cycling more teams through home cities.
“Currently eight or 10 game are divisional games on a home or away basis,” he said. “With eight divisions of four teams, you only have six divisional games with 10 games outside the division. So you will see fewer of the rotating matches and more of an opportunity to see all of the teams around the league. That in turn is going to be based on a rotation that is built into a new schedule so that you’ll see the Raiders and the Bears and the Browns and everyone rotating in here.”
While pundits always compare Tagliabue to his inimitable predecessor Pete Rozelle in both personality and success, the former has continued to facilitate unprecedented success and wealth to the NFL. Often maligned as drab and boring, Tagliabue was able to poke a little fun at his business.
“As a commissioner, it sometimes troubles me to sit in rooms with other businessmen when they talk about how their customer satisfaction rate is 95 percent or over 99 percent and they have fewer than one percent of their customers not satisfied,” he said. “I envy them because every Monday morning, we have about 50 percent of our customers who are not satisfied. It never gets much more than that.”
With the NFL’s current television contract good through 2005, Tagliabue remains committed to keeping football games on widely available broadcast television rather than crossing over to cable or pay-per-view.
“Number one, it enables the fans to see the game whether or not they’re able to have cable in their homes,” he explained. “Secondly, it provides us with a mass audience, which is the underpinning of our popularity.”
Football has arguable overtaken baseball as America’s pastime with various upstart leagues popping up from time to time with varying success. Arena League football has been a success story so far, catering to smaller markets and offering a high level of entertainment for a small amount of money. While some speculate the NFL may soon move to cash in on the success of the Arena League, Tagliabue quelled those rumors.
“In a number of areas, arena football could complement what the NFL team is trying to accomplish, particularly with youth football programs and some other community-based activities,” he said. “I don’t see it as major spectator sport. I don’t, at the moment, see any direct NFL association with the Arena League.”