Having him involved in the process and having someone here on the ground day to day will be helpful. |
He brings a passionate dedication to football and a focused leadership style to his new role. |
He was a warrior, a neighbor and a friend ... In the eyes of many he was the greatest football player of all time. |
He was mythic. He symbolizes football, and, more importantly, he symbolizes leadership. |
Hopefully, I'll have the report by the beginning of the season, and then we can discuss it with the (NFL) Players' Association to see whether there are changes that we can make that would perhaps increase the penalties for players who might engage with others in a course of conduct that was designed to circumvent the (drugs-testing) program. |
Hopefully, people will recognize there is reason to be positive and recognize that out of tragedy can come great achievement and vision and hope for the future. |
I am honored to have been commissioner since late 1989 and to have been heavily involved with the league, its owners, clubs, coaches, players, fans and media since 1969. |
I believe that now is a positive time to make the transition to a new commissioner. |
I believe that now is a positive time to make the transition to a new commissioner. We have a collective bargaining extension in place, long-term television contracts, and have undertaken many other strong elements in league and club operations. |
I came to the conclusion in the last 10 days that this was the optimum time to undertake those twin responsibilities: Moving forward on everything that we are doing and being involved with the search process. |
I didn't know what to anticipate. We don't have a discussion with the owners until (today), so it's really hard to say. |
I do think that with only one game a year we need to be very realistic how frequently the game is going to be back in cities that have already had it. The point is, we can play Super Bowls all over America, but unless you are naive as to how the weather is in this country, it does still get cold in the winter. We have to be realistic. We're not going to play the game all over the country. We will concentrate on northern cities with domes and there will continue to be a heavy array of games in the southern climates. |
I do think there needs to be an outreach and more reality on both sides. There needs to be a positive dose of reality on both sides of the table. To some degree, positions are hardening on both sides when they shouldn't be. |
I don't know where I'm going to do it. I'm just thinking about it. Just for that reason, that by then, people will have a whole new set of needs. The outpouring from the public is just fantastic. We just have to keep it going. |
I don't know whether his mind has changed or not. I know he's here. I know he's very strong and committed. ... I think that a lot of uncertainty about the future has been cleared up. |