Posted on 04/17/2006 3:38:52 PM PDT by mainepatsfan
Concern for Buffalo Tagliabue to meet Schumer, Russert to talk about Bills
Posted: Monday April 17, 2006 3:39PM; Updated: Monday April 17, 2006 3:39PM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The head of the National Football League will meet later this week with Sen. Charles Schumer to discuss concerns about the financial future of the Buffalo Bills under a new labor pact with the players.
Outgoing NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue will meet Thursday morning with Schumer and TV newsman Tim Russert, host of NBC's Sunday morning Meet the Press program, and an avid Bills fan.
"I'm looking forward to this meeting because keeping the Bills in Buffalo is vital to western New York," Schumer said in a statement. "This is going to be the first step of a long process to do everything we can to help the Bills and small-market teams."
New York politicians have rallied around 87-year-old Bills owner Ralph Wilson after he complained that the new collective bargaining agreement with the players could ultimately hurt Buffalo's franchise.
Buffalo congressman Brian Higgins, a Democrat, has called for a congressional hearing into the matter, and Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-Clarence, is trying to drum up support among lawmakers in areas with other small-market teams.
Wilson is worried about two components of the new labor pact owners approved last month. Only Buffalo and another small-market team, Cincinnati, voted against it.
Part of the agreement could exclude small-revenue teams from fully taking part in the NFL's new revenue-sharing model.
Although the collective bargaining agreement has been approved, the NFL is still determining how teams will qualify for more money. One proposal could count local government subsidies to teams as team revenue, which also would hurt the Bills' bottom line.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
If you can't pay the freight, don't come crying. Green Bay has to be a smaller market yet you don't hear them crying.
I'm just waiting for the pearls of wisdom from Russert on this.
Where is Hillary on this?
I hear she is a life long Bills fan.
Whine, whine, whine, where is Hillorat?
Do the Bills market themselves to the Toronto-area considering it's only about an hour away?
Getty images are not permitted here.
Not sure.
Sorry.
That`s what Bill says too!
Well he can accept other "forms" of payment.
ummm guys field a competitive team and you'll make money.
Cincy has found that out.
Beyond that, this agreement was a CBA, which means that pretty much nothing short of Supreme Court ruling would rule it null and void.
And that isn't going to happen I don't think....
No problem. We delete them when we see them, but it's obviously best if they never get posted in the first place.
Shhhhh. I like having two divisional wins.
Maybe they should move the team to the South....like all the residents of Upstate NY. Having Schumer in for a meeting is a complete joke....his and Hillary's tax confiscation schemes have more than contributed to the declines in upstate NY....just wait til the Delphi plant moves to Mexico/China
I'll delete it from my list. I'll try to remember if I come across one again.
LOL
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