After breakout 2019, Broncos inside linebacker Alexander Johnson may be just getting started By Ryan O’Halloran Denver Post June 29, 2020 As soon as Broncos inside linebacker Alexander Johnson pulled into a hotel parking lot earlier this month to participate in a team-wide protest march, he got the itch to put on a helmet and shoulder pads. “When I got to the buses and saw my teammates, the first feeling I had was, ‘Ooh, I’m ready for some football,’” Johnson said with his signature big laugh. Ready for football, ready to build on his 2019 breakout season, ready to prove to coach Vic Fangio he can be a long-term core player and ready to show general manager John Elway he should be considered for a second contract. Johnson had 93 tackles in 12 games last year, enough of a sample size to allow Elway and Fangio to wait until the fifth round to select an inside linebacker (Wake Forest’s Justin Strnad). “It’s funny you say that because me and my family joked about it,” Johnson said. “After the first year I was here, obviously I wasn’t playing and was put on the practice squad, but they didn’t draft an inside linebacker (in 2019). I was like, ‘Shoot, they just know they have me in the backseat (ready to play).’ “I guess it can be some kind of endorsement. I know Todd (Davis) and I are going to go out there and perform and be the best inside linebacker (duo) in the league.” No doubt, Johnson, 28, is confident and possibly for good reason. He couldn’t talk that type of talk last June. Johnson started all five preseason games last year, suggesting the coaches wanted to see his mettle in August and that he wasn’t being considered for a regular role. “He was a depth player kind of fighting his way onto the roster at this point last year,” defensive coordinator Ed Donatell said. “He’s sure in a better place (now).” Out of 258 defensive snaps during the Broncos’ 0-4 start, Johnson played none. But looking for a spark — any kind of spark — Fangio moved Johnson and nose tackle Mike Purcell into the starting lineup. At the time, the Broncos had the 30th-ranked rush defense and had no takeaways. To use Johnson’s analogy, he moved from the back seat to the front seat of the Broncos’ defense. Over the final 12 games, Johnson played 749 of 823 snaps (90.9%). Despite spotting his teammates a four-game head start, he still finished tied for second on the team in tackles. The Denver Post’s game charting booked him for just six missed tackles. “He made the most of his opportunity,” Donatell said. “We found a role for him and a way to feature his style.”

Johnson’s style: Run and hit. Period. What a review of three selected games showed about Johnson’s 2019 season, but also his potential for 2020 … Week 5 at the Los Angeles Chargers: In first start, was “factor” (impact on the play) on 14 of 65 snaps. … Credited with eight tackles and one interception (dropped another interception). … Showed terrific lateral speed by stopping running back Austin Ekeler short of goal-line on pass to right flat. … Majority of his coverage responsibilities were in zone (retreating back), but he did buzz outside to cover outlet option. Week 8 at Indianapolis: Credited with 13 tackles, but we gave him a “factor” nod on 11 of 58 snaps. … Forced fumble the Colts recovered and had quarterback knockdown. … Showed inexperience when he blitzed unblocked, but bit on play action, allowing Jacoby Brissett to throw for 12 yards. … Called for horse-collar penalty on Colts’ winning drive. Week 13 vs. the Chargers: We picked this game because Johnson wore a brace on his left knee and Fangio said he was “50-50” to play. … “Factor” on 11 of 66 snaps. … Involved in two tackles for lost yardage and had quarterback pressure. … Clearly limited because of injury, which prevented him from running sideline to sideline and dodging second-level blocks, but showed high want-to level by playing every snap. The next step for Johnson is being used more often in man coverage, able to trail a tight end down the seam and improve his tracking ability against running backs. Johnson has already told inside linebackers coach Reggie Herring he wants a shot to cover tight ends. “Obviously, people talk about how me and Todd can’t cover; we’re going to show them we can,” Johnson said. “I told (Herring), ‘Let me cover a tight end in practice and show you I can do it and then translate that over to the game.’” If Johnson proves capable of covering tight ends, it could allow Fangio to use him as the only inside linebacker in dime personnel (six defensive backs) or keep him and Davis on the field in nickel personnel (five defensive backs). Regardless, Johnson will be an early-down mainstay. “He kind of brings that roughneck element to our defense,” Donatell said. “We really like where he is. He’s way ahead of where he was (last year) because he’s got a major role on this team.”

Dave Logan, optimistic there will be football this fall, talks defending champion Cherry Creek and hope surrounding Broncos By Kyle Newman Denver Post June 29, 2020 As the NBA, MLB and NHL attempt to navigate the complex logistics of a return-to-play amid the coronavirus pandemic, time remains on football’s side. To that end, Cherry Creek coach and Broncos play-by-play broadcaster Dave Logan remains cautiously optimistic that he’ll be working as regularly scheduled on Fridays and Sundays this fall. “I definitely feel like we’re going to have football,” Logan said. “The state has been smart about how it has started the re-opening process… It certainly bears watching what’s going on with the start of some of these professional sports, and seeing how they navigate through the (health and safety) logistics. But the reality is, for the football season, we’ve got two-plus months to prepare and also sit back and evaluate (the feasibility) on a daily basis.” At the prep level, CHSAA’s Resocialization Task Force’s June 4 report classified football as “higher risk,” and the association stated at that point it was not able to move forward with moderate or high-risk sports. Two days later, commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green tweeted that CHSAA would “begin constructing safety and implementation guidelines to resume ‘ALL’ athletics and activities including football beginning this fall.” Now, amid concerns about a resurgence of coronavirus, CHSAA’s latest update vowed to proceed “with guidelines and standards for resuming fall sports on their scheduled start dates” with health and safety concerns at the forefront. During the summer, limitations on team workouts have been mandated at the district level after spring football was canceled across the state. At Cherry Creek, Logan’s Bruins are in their second week of voluntary workouts — sans the use of footballs and the weight room. So, it’s essentially conditioning and team building for the defending Class 5A state champions, while remaining six feet apart. “The whole idea of putting players into a position where they can play fast and don’t have to think a lot — that’s going to be a challenge this year given where we are and a lot of of the (interaction) rules that are in place,” Logan said. “As we work our way through this process — and obviously there are plenty of distractions — the reality is, the teams that handle these distractions and do the best job of focusing on the process no matter what that process is… those teams are going to have a leg up to start the season.” The 65-year-old Logan knows his Bruins need to be one of those teams as they continue to prepare for the 2020 opener against Doherty on Aug. 28 at Stutler Bowl, should the season begin on time. “It’s hard enough to win a state championship, but then to repeat, that’s a whole other thing,” said Logan, who has won eight titles overall, including three straight at Mullen from 2008-10. “You’ve got to get your

team to understand that while we appreciate last year, it’s in the rear-view mirror, and last year’s not going to help us at all in terms of what this season might look like. And we have a bigger bullseye on our back this year.” This fall will be Logan’s 28th year as a head coach in Colorado, and ninth at Cherry Creek. It will be his 31st year calling Broncos games, and the 850 KOA mainstay believes the high hopes Denver fans hold heading into the season are warranted. “I liked what I saw from Drew Lock in a small sample size, and what they did with the draft was smart,” Logan said. “They’ve realized now that the game has changed and the team they’ve got to beat is Kansas City. If you look at the weapons the Chiefs have — and of course they have a great young quarterback (in Patrick Mahomes) — they surrounded him in a really smart way. “Now, just because you’ve got a bunch of guys who are fast, that doesn’t ensure your offense is going to look like the Chiefs. But it gives Drew that many more weapons… It forces the defensive coordinator to decide who that guy is you want to take away. Is it Courtland Sutton? Is it Jerry Jeudy? Is it Noah Fant? The Broncos have many more weapons, at least on paper, than they’ve had the last few years.”

Broncos player among top 10 safeties in NFL, according to CBS Sports By Joe Nguyen Denver Post June 29, 2020 CBS Sports unveiled its lists of top 10 players at a number of different NFL positions last week and a member of the Broncos made one of the lists. And it wasn’t Von Miller. Justin Simmons was ranked No. 6 among safeties. “The 26-year-old is a former third-round pick that has played far above his pay grade since entering the league in 2016, which is why the Broncos franchise tagged him for 2020 as they attempt to hash out terms on a long-term deal,” CBS Sports’ Patrik Walker writes. “He’s not missed a game since 2017 and delivered 11 interceptions in his career, and his 17 pass break ups in 2019 is inhuman for a guy who sees more than his fair share of snaps as a box safety. Cap this all off with an allowed completion rate of only 52.8 percent in 2019 — a vast improvement over the 71.1 percent from a year prior — and it’s not hard to see where Simmons’ career is headed.” Simmons set career highs in 2019 with interceptions (40) and pass deflections (15). Cornerback Chris Harris Jr., who signed with the Chargers in the offseason, was ranked No. 9 among cornerbacks. “As he readies to suit up at SoFi Stadium, he does so with a seriously large chip on his shoulder, looking to prove wrong those who think he’s somehow taken a step back entering his 10th season,” Walker writes.

For Denver Broncos season tickets, the waiting (list) is the hardest part By Paul Klee Colorado Springs Gazette June 29, 2020 Dr. Jeremy Shelton leaps out of perfectly good helicopters to ski down mountains in Alaska. He’s a proud Coloradan, a former soccer star at Creighton, a dog lover, a Pearl Jam buff, an anesthesiologist in Denver. But no powder run above tree line, backstage pass or med school graduation can outdo the email he found — in his junk-mail folder — at 10:07 a.m. Friday. "I check my junk mail about once a week,” he says. "Thank goodness I did.” That was the precise moment in time when “Shelty” became a Broncos season-ticket holder. “And I was in the operating room!” he says. “So I celebrated with a quiet shout of elation into my mask.” Through Super Bowl parades and Josh McDaniels eras, Broncos season tickets have been Colorado’s golden ticket. They can be family heirlooms passed down through generations of superfans. And yet the myths and legends of the waiting list — and the process through which seats are acquired — remained somewhat of a mystery, at least to me. Hopefully this clears up some of the mystery. Right now the waiting list for Broncos season tickets is “just under 90,000” hopefuls, says Clark Wray, senior director of ticket strategy and analytics. That means if you put your name on the waiting list tomorrow, the Broncos estimate your email will arrive in roughly 13 years — or right around the time Arch Manning, Peyton's and Eli’s ballyhooed nephew, is challenging Patrick Mahomes for 2033 NFL MVP. The wait for club-level season tickets is roughly seven years, though wait times depend on a number of factors, such as team performance. “We didn’t have a club seat waiting list until about 2012. Coincidentally it happened when a certain new quarterback arrived,” Wray says. There is no fee for tossing your name on the general reserve seat waiting list, so it’s a safe bet some of the names on the list are there just for kicks. Wray, who began his Broncos career as an intern in 1998, says the wait list has grown by as many as 10,000 names in one offseason. Additions are usually fewer than that. How many seats at the 76,125-seat Empower Field at Mile High become available annually? “If there’s even 1,000 seats that open that’s quite a bit. It’s usually very few seats,” Wray says. “You’ve got to remember that each person can purchase up to four seats. It’s not a one-in, one-out type deal."

OK, the question on everyone’s mind: Will all these lucky ticket holders be able to use their season tickets for the 2020 season? In short, the Broncos don't know yet. And it probably won’t be their decision to make. It’s likely the NFL will lean on local authorities to determine fan attendance for this season. It’s not the Broncos you need to lobby. It’s the mayor’s office, the governor’s office, the so-called experts who dictate what’s open and not open during the COVID-19 pandemic. The length of the Broncos' waiting list is not normal, by the way. The Green Bay Packers reportedly have a waiting list of over 130,000 names. As of last season, the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs reportedly do not have a waiting list for season tickets. In 2001, when the Broncos moved into the new stadium, they made it so season tickets can only be transferred to immediate family members. “We have a number of accounts that have an ‘add’ date of 1960,” Wray says. Yes, there are “a few hundred” ticket holders who’ve kept those tickets since the Broncos’ first season — or shortly after, in 1961, ’62 and ’63. “It’s a higher number than people might think,” he says. Full disclosure: Shelty is a dear friend. He’s a gem of a man. He’s also the caliber of Broncos superfan who went hoarse through the unforgettable 2015 AFC Championship game against the Patriots. He also left Super Bowl XLVIII in the third quarter, opting for Taco Bell, because he couldn’t stand to watch the Seahawks score again. Next time fans are allowed into Mile High, you’ll find him in Section 336 — 40-yard line, Row 12, Seats 1 and 2. “Who knows if we’ll be able to attend all the games this year due to the pandemic?” he says, fingers crossed. “But these (tickets) are something we’ll have for the rest of our lives.” Cheers to all the lucky ones. And for the patient folks waiting among the almost 90,000, Shelty stands as proof there is light at the end of the list.

Denver should be thankful that John Elway has called the city home By James Merilatt 104.3 The Fan June 29, 2020 John Elway has taken a lot of criticism in recent years. And to some extent, it’s been justifiable. After all, the Broncos have been 27-37 since winning Super Bowl 50, missing the playoffs in all four years. They’ve also suffered through three-straight losing seasons for the first time since 1970-72, an era that predates a large percentage of the current fan base. Some, if not a large portion, of the blame for this poor play has to go to the man who is building the roster. That’s fair. But yesterday, as Elway celebrated his 60th birthday, one thought kept recurring. The Mile High City has sure been lucky to have No. 7 be a part of the sports landscape for most of the past 37 years. Since the day the Broncos traded for Elway in the spring of 1983, Denver has never been the same. Ever since, the city has been “big league,” being relevant to people on the coasts and in other major towns. It started on the playing field, of course, where Elway was a Hall of Fame quarterback during his 16 years in a Broncos uniform. During that time, he turned the franchise into a perennial winner. At the time No. 7 arrived, the team had been to the postseason a grand total of three times and won the AFC West twice in 23 years. In those playoff appearances, they had only won two games, both at the end of the 1977 season when they earned a trip to Super Bowl XII. In Elway’s 16 years, the Broncos went to the playoffs 10 times, won the AFC West on seven occasions, played in six AFC Championship Games, appeared in five Super Bowls and won two Lombardi Trophies. To say he transformed the franchise is as grand of an understatement as anyone could possibly make. But it wasn’t just in the win-loss column that Elway made a difference. He was also a bona fide star, a celebrity outside of his home city. Never in the history of the franchise, or any other that called Denver home, had any athlete become a national figure, let alone someone that was identifiable on the international stage. No. 7 was the first to reach that status. He was known from coast to coast for his rocket right arm, highlight-reel plays, fourth-quarter comebacks and clutch performances. He was the first Denver-based athlete who couldn’t walk down the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York or Tokyo without being mobbed by fans. That might not sound important, but it played a key role in the Broncos franchise, as well as the city as a whole, graduating to the next level. It made Denver a place that NFL players wanted to play, something that had never been the case. It put the city regularly on national television, which served as free marketing for the chamber of commerce. All of that helped elevate the status of the city.

Without Elway, there’s a good chance the Rockies don’t exist. Without No. 7, there’s a strong possibility that the Avalanche never move to town. He helped establish Denver as a great sports city, which led to every league, both big and small, wanting to place teams here by the 1990s. By 2011, however, that was starting to fade a bit. The Broncos were in the midst of a down period. The Avs were no longer a powerhouse in the NHL. Save for one great run in 2007, the Rockies were a perennial also-ran. And the Nuggets were reeling from their best player leaving town because the city wasn’t big enough for his brand. That’s when Elway stepped in and saved the day again. When Pat Bowlen brought him back to become the team’s general manager after the 2010 season, he was stepping into a dire situation. The Broncos were coming off of the disastrous Josh McDaniels era, which concluded with a 4-12 season; that was the most losses the franchise had ever suffered in a year. They also were coming off of their fifth-straight season of missing the playoffs, the longest drought since 1977. In other words, the team was a mess. And in short order, Elway fixed it. During his first few months on the job, he drafted Von Miller, who will go down as the greatest defensive player in the history of the franchise. He also hired John Fox, a coach who would help them right the ship. During their first season together, Elway and Fox would preside over one of the most magical seasons in Broncos history. Yes, it was Tim Tebow who was pulling rabbits out of his hat on the field, but it was the general manager and the head coach who were willing to let him on the stage, abandoning their system in the middle of the season in favor of a college-based offense. That 8-8 season, as well as the team’s upset of the Steelers in the playoffs, led to the next big moment in franchise history. They set the stage for Elway landing the greatest free agent of all-time, as that season provided evidence that Denver had a good foundation, which was what Peyton Manning was looking for when picking his new home. With Manning, the Broncos would win four AFC West titles, advance to two Super Bowls, field the greatest offense in the history of the league and win the franchise’s third Lombardi Trophy. To get that title, however, Elway would once again have to prove his greatness. After getting blown out by the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII, No. 7 transformed the roster in two years. By the time Super Bowl 50 rolled around, the Broncos had gone from a finesse, offense-based team to one of the most-dominant defenses in NFL history. That was because Elway was willing to pivot. How many other executives would’ve done that after coming off of a season in which the team’s offense set record after record? How many other general managers would make that call with one of the greatest quarterbacks in league history on the roster? How many other people in football would do a 180 with a team that had just played in the Super Bowl? Elway was willing to do it because he’s one of the most-competitive people to ever grace the American sports landscape. Getting close wasn’t good enough. It was always about winning with No. 7. And that’s why he’s been such a blessing to the city of Denver.

That personality trait made him unbelievably fun to watch on the field, while also making him a quarterback that could lead his team to great heights. It also has made him a great executive, someone that is willing to do anything and everything it takes to build a winner. Sometimes, that rubs people the wrong way. And on occasion, it causes mistakes to be made. But the motivation has never been questioned. At every turn, there’s never been a doubt that Elway is all about winning. Think about other sports cities who have never had the pleasure of witnessing that kind of mindset firsthand. Heck, think about other franchises in Denver that could benefit from that type of mentality being instilled by an executive or a player. Since 1983, Broncos fans have been fortunate enough to have the consummate winner on their side. That doesn’t mean it always works out, but it means the franchise is always striving to be on top and has a legitimate shot of getting there. That’s why everyone in the city should be thankful that John Elway has called Denver home since 1983. And they should be hoping he continues to do so for many more years to come.

Broncos' Bryce Callahan set to return healthy, determined By Aaron Wilson Houston Chronicle June 29, 2020 Bryce Callahan stuck each landing with confidence, bounding from left to right while catching some serious air during a strenuous workout. The Denver Broncos veteran cornerback and former Rice standout displayed just how far he’s come in his lengthy rehabilitation from a broken foot that required surgery and interrupted a thriving NFL career last year. Changing directions fluidly, the Cypress Woods graduate went through a series of backpedaling and agility drills at the direction of Dr. Minh Luu at Ollin Athletics. Callahan performed weighted lunges and showed range of motion and strength in his leg muscles, ankles and, most importantly, his foot after spending his first season with the Broncos on injured reserve. Callahan is determined to make up for his lost season, a year of frustration that followed the former undrafted free agent being rewarded with a breakthrough contract. Signed to a three-year, $21 million free agent deal in March 2019 that included $10 million guaranteed and reunited him with Broncos coach and former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, Callahan can’t wait to play his first snap in a game with his teammates, including former Texans defensive backs Kareem Jackson and A.J. Bouye. “Coming off of last year, it was a big disappointment,” Callahan said. “I don’t want to say I’ve got something to prove, but I’ve got something to prove to myself. I’ve never been more excited to get back out on the football field. This was my first year in 20-something odd years that I didn’t play football, so it’s a big year for me. I’ve never worked this hard in the offseason. "I’m ready to get back out there. I’m full-go with no limitations. I’m not really even thinking about my foot. Everything is moving in the right direction. I just want to play all 16 games, stay healthy and ball out.” Callahan initially broke the fifth metatarsal in his foot in December 2018 while playing for the Bears against the Los Angeles Rams. He underwent surgery to repair the damage, having a screw inserted to aid the healing process. In a rare setback for this kind of injury, Callahan’s comeback was abruptly halted when the screw bent inside his foot and had to be replaced. “I was talking to my doctor last year and he said that rarely happens,” Callahan said. “Sometimes, you can play through it and sometimes you can’t. That wasn’t normally the case where you have to go in and get it fixed again.” When healthy, Callahan is one of the top nickel corners in the game. In 2018, Callahan recorded 45 tackles, six passes defended and two interceptions. His 81.4 grade from Pro Football Focus ranked seventh among all NFL cornerbacks.

Callahan’s work with Luu has been invaluable. Unable to travel as frequently due to the coronavirus pandemic that effectively canceled all team activities this offseason, Callahan has remained in Houston to train. “I don’t want to say it’s a blessing because of all of the bad stuff that’s going on, but, to be able to stay home and get this constant work with Dr. Luu instead of being back and forth for OTA’s, has probably been the best for me,” Callahan said. “This year is the best my body has been feeling.” Callahan’s contract was renegotiated on March 22, 2020 as he agreed to convert $1.75 million in base salary and $250,000 in per-game roster bonuses into a $2 million playtime incentive. In 2021, the Broncos added a $382,353 roster bonus that represents 1/17 of his $6.5 million base salary contingent on the NFL season being expanded to 17 games and him being on the roster for any game that season. Callahan is eager to get on the field soon for a private workout with Bouye, Jackson and safety Justin Simmons whenever their schedules align and Jackson is out of quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus. “We’ve already been in talks,” Callahan said. “We have groups in Houston. We’re trying to get a good day to all get together and get on the field and talk about stuff. We have to wait for Kareem to quarantine. We’re all good communicators, smart guys, no egos, no 'me players.' “Having coach Vic and (defensive coordinator) Ed Donatell helps, too. It’s a blessing to be going into my sixth year in the same defensive scheme. It should be exciting.” A former all-state selection, Callahan went undrafted out of Rice in 2015 despite intercepting 13 career passes to finish tied for second in school history. A former freshman All-American, Callahan was later named All-Conference USA and selected to play in the East-West Shrine All-Star Game. “I don’t want to throw too much shade at Rice, but let’s just say it was difficult,” Callahan said. “The academics, I wasn’t prepared for how hard that would be. The group of friends I made are some of the best friends I have in life. It was really good, but the environment at Rice was a little different than what I was aiming for. Rice is a good academic school. They don’t really care about athletes. The academic side was challenging.” Callahan began his first NFL season on the practice squad, but was quickly promoted and wound up starting three games and finished with 21 tackles, four pass breakups and a sack. In his second NFL season, Callahan started 10 games and had 32 tackles. By his third NFL season, Callahan was making a larger impact as he notched his first NFL interception against former Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and returned it 52 yards. He also scored a touchdown on a fake punt against the Minnesota Vikings and had two interceptions and one sack that year. From humble beginnings, Callahan has proven himself. “It’s a weird thing being an underdog,” said Callahan, who intercepted eight passes as a high school senior. “Obviously, it puts a chip on your shoulder because you have to prove yourself. It’s a good thing because you don’t have all that pressure on you. Being an underdog worked in my favor.”

When he isn’t concentrating on his craft and his health, Callahan has remained busy and engaged in what’s happening around the nation. The killings of African-Americans George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, among others, prompted Callahan to participate in marches in Denver and Houston to protest police brutality and systemic racism. “It was more emotional than I thought it would be,” Callahan said. “You can really see people hurting out there. It’s a real issue that I’m glad we’re finally touching on that issue and having real change. It’s bad that it happened. It’s good that change is happening, too.” Callahan is encouraged that more players are contemplating kneeling during the national anthem to raise awareness about social justice issues, as former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick did. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has acknowledged that the league was “wrong” in not allowing players to peacefully protest in the past. Texans coach Bill O’Brien recently told the Houston Chronicle that he plans to kneel with his players during the anthem. “A couple of years ago, people were looking down on kneeling during the anthem and now I see coaches are talking about they’re going to take knees with their players,” Callahan said. “(Broncos team president) Joe Ellis had a deep talk, a heartfelt speech with us and you can tell he actually does care about the situation. We’re making moves in the direction. “I feel like it’s more open now. Back then, people were like, ‘You’re disrespecting the flag.’ Now, people’s eyes are more open that it’s about protesting police brutality. Maybe more people are woke now. You can see it.”

NFL teams preparing for ticket-focused headaches By Ben Fischer and Karn Dhingra Sports Business Journal June 29, 2020 The NFL has been telling the world for months that it is preparing for a normal season with full stadiums. But behind the scenes, most teams expect severe restrictions on stadium capacity as local governments continue to fight COVID-19, and they have no idea what those limits will be by early September. In a matter of weeks, teams must figure out how many seats they can use and how to fairly distribute them among season-ticket holders — not to mention what this all means for group sales, suites, sponsor inventory and single-game buyers who already hold tickets. “The term I used with my team yesterday is DEFCON-1,” said one team executive, speaking anonymously because the NFL has ordered teams to not discuss contingency planning. “Shit’s about to go down in the next 2-3 weeks, and we need to be at our best. We’re going to have a lot of education to do, fan servicing to do, a lot of selling to do, and on the partnership side, we’re going to have to go through every single deal, all in a relatively short period of time. If I sound calm, it’s not reflecting the situation we’re in.” The basic problem is that season tickets will probably outnumber seats available. On paper, that’s not necessarily a complicated problem — teams could always break a season into multiple packages, and then give each season-ticket holder a portion of the original 10-game set. But that only works if teams get clear, consistent information from their state and local governments about capacity limits. With COVID case counts growing rapidly in California, Texas and Florida, most authorities can be expected to delay those decisions until closer to the fall. Or worse, impose limits on a week-by-week basis. The patience shown so far by season-ticket holders isn’t endless, particularly if they sense unfairness. “Most people have been extremely understanding in all communications, but what changes is that greed factor, when you find out what somebody else got,” said another team employee. “I don’t know what ticket managers make, but it’s not going to be enough.” Possible litigation looms as a threat. If teams are under legal orders to cap attendance, that will stymie most lawsuits. But there’s still risk — teams could run into trouble if they do anything to give some customers a leg up over others in the re-distribution process, said Robert Hilliard, a Corpus Christi, Texas, plaintiff’s attorney who has sued MLB over foul-pole netting and the Houston Astros over the cheating scandal. “It has to be a complete, random drawing anonymously, right?” said Hilliard, himself a Cowboys season-ticket holder. “They can’t say, ‘Well, we have a 10-year season-ticket holder and he’s agreed to buy additional signage for $150,000 if we give him his suite versus his neighbor who can barely make his payments.’”

Another front for possible litigation is personal-seat license terms, which in some cases — such as the New York Jets — promise access to “all” games. As long as capacity is limited by law, rather than a team or league decision, lawsuits probably won’t succeed, experts said. The NFL has told teams there won’t be a leaguewide policy on capacity, but last week owners approved a plan to cover the first few rows of seats to create a safety buffer for the field, which at a minimum will force changes to a few thousand high-value seats in all 30 venues. The PSLs could give teams an incentive to ask for formal legal restrictions. Group sales are likely to be slow this year, experts said, because many businesses are still restricting workplace gatherings. Venue operators will worry about their ability to enforce social distancing within groups. One major sports sponsor said his legal department is asking hard questions about their liability for client giveaway tickets that lead to illness. Another difficult question for teams: What if you determine a suite for 20 fans can only safely hold 10 people this year, but a customer insists that they have 12 people who form a household group? Single-game tickets have traded on marketplaces since the May 7 schedule release, and those should be considered in jeopardy given the priority placed on season-ticket accounts and other key customers. Tony Knopp, CEO of TicketManager, which handles corporate ticketing for major clients, said some companies in Texas have already distributed tickets to clients. The New York Giants and New England Patriots have both told season-ticket customers they can skip the 2020 season with no penalty for future years. If large numbers accept that deal, it would help minimize the challenges in fairly distributing limited supply. But both those teams have waiting lists, and teams less confident of finding a replacement buyer for one year will probably resist that policy. Teams need to be talking to their customers as much as possible to keep them abreast of developments, said Patrick Ryan, CEO of Eventellect, a company that helps teams maximize ticketing revenue. “Over-communication can’t happen in these scenarios,” he said. Ryan also cautioned about the potential downside of shifting fans to inferior seats in pursuit of social distancing, even if those fans initially don’t object. “If you move them, it might hurt the relationship more than you realize.”

The return from COVID-19: How can organizations protect themselves? By Rick Burton and Norm O’Reilly Sports Business Journal June 29, 2020 As the summer of 2020 races past, with the coronavirus still aflame and social justice on everyone’s mind, and the NBA and NHL resuming their seasons, many of us are quietly optimistic about the pleasure taken from sports. We long for the “normal” activities we traditionally promoted with families and friends. For many of us, despite our burdens and biases, that means not just watching major professional sports teams but also getting to participate, coach, watch and parent in ways we’ve treasured for decades. Between the two of us, this means the following: ■ Wanting to chase a medal in our age group at the national masters swimming championships. ■ Lacing ’em up and playing beer league hockey again. ■ Heading to the gym for sweaty games of pick-up hoops. ■ Attending youth sports in public and watching kids and grandkids competing again. ■ Toeing the line at a local triathlon or returning to the Himalayas. Now, for any of this to happen, a number of sports organizations have to get back to work, governments must agree on protocols, public health agencies must approve phased openings, and insurance companies, against their better judgment, will have to sign off on liability concerns. That’s no small task. Global pandemics of this size and scale are rare (thank goodness) and returning from them is beyond our expertise. So, we went out and sought expert help. Meet Professor Kelley Walton. She’s currently the director of the Professional Master of Sports Administration and Master of Athletic Administration programs at Ohio University. She is also an attorney, a former HR professional with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and an expert in sport law/human resource management. We asked her for advice we could share with sports organizations (and universities) as we come out of COVID-19. Her first suggestion was for organizations to create a COVID-19 policy that aims to balance the safety of a workplace (and its workforce) with the privacy rights of employees who are (or might be) diagnosed or exposed to COVID-19. “The best way to communicate expectations to employees and hold them accountable is to have a company policy that explains exactly what is expected and the consequences for noncompliance,” she

said. “To ensure your workplace is safe and healthy, it is recommended employers have a communicable disease policy.” “This can either be COVID-19 specific or a general communicable diseases policy. The employer will need to determine whether the policy should apply to all communicable diseases like influenza, Ebola, and tuberculosis or whether they want a policy to deal with COVID-19 only.” The implementation of such a policy is clearly context specific and requires consideration of the location, the potential exposure to communicable disease, and the resource base at that organization. Walton further explained that when creating a policy such as this, “employers should undertake a number of steps, including: 1) A statement that the company will take into consideration and comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws; the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the recommendations/mandates of federal, state and local governments when addressing issues related to COVID-19; (2) A plan to keep all personal medical information confidential; (3) The requirement that employees are to stay home and notify their employer if they suspect or know they have COVID-19; and (4) Guidance on business travel expectations.” These are just a few of the elements a policy might include. Other elements could include sanitation protocols, remote work options, considerations for those with underlying medical conditions, and a communications plan so the policy is well understood across the organization. For many readers, the above material may seem a little dry. They might recall that our columns for SBJ frequently invoke old movies, song lyrics and attempts at sly humor. But the global struggle with COVID-19 and the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and others (followed by worldwide protests) mean we set humor aside. The same holds for sports organizations. Sure, many teams and leagues have been stalwarts in countless socially aware categories and engagements. But collectively, none of those groups (pros and college) have been good enough. We all have plenty of room for improvement. It’s one thing for the NFL to say they got it wrong. It’s another for them to get it right come September. For columnists like ourselves, speaking only about COVID-19 and not about how black lives matter would absolutely miss the bigger picture. Our silence on the latter would be oppressively loud. What 2020 delivered to our industry was lives taken, livelihoods lost and lifestyles altered. People died. Jobs evaporated. Bank accounts emptied. And disproportionately, African Americans suffered. Still, as June turns into July, we have a chance. There’s still time on the clock for a late rally. For the starters to shake off their worst, lazy, ignorant traits and play like all-stars. Now is the time for our “team” to come together. Now is the time to understand historical pain and put others ahead of self. To share the common goal. Now is the time to want the ball in your hands or the puck on the end of your stick.

John Elway turns 60 today By Mike Florio Pro Football Talk June 29, 2020 The viral video of the two girls who weren’t familiar with a bunch of hit songs from the past 20 years made many feel very old this week. If that didn’t do the trick, how about this: John Elway is 60. For those of us who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, Elway is still the baseball player who made a power play and defied the NFL draft. He’s the young gunslinger who became one of the best quarterbacks of all time, capping a career without any championships by winning a pair of Super Bowls and walking off into the sunset. And then, after more than a decade out of the NFL, Elway became a high-level executive with the Broncos, building another Super Bowl winner as a General Manager. Although the search fo a post-Peyton option at quarterback hasn’t gone well (MDS raised the question of how different the NFL may be if Elway had drafted Russell Wilson instead of Brock Osweiler), the selection of Drew Lock in 2019 could turn around three seasons of sub-.500 play. Like Ozzie Newsome, Elway’s performance as a G.M. could eventually justify a Hall of Fame bust, if he wasn’t already in as a player. (Newsome definitely would have a second one.) And with plenty of years left to pursue more championships, Elway still has plenty of chances to add to a special legacy in Denver. It would be easier if Elway didn’t have to directly compete with a quarterback who eventually may be better than Elway ever was. A quarterback who will make plenty of people real really old when he turns 60 in 2055.

FMIA Guest: Joe Browne Looks Back At AFL-NFL Merger, 50 Years Later By Joe Browne Football Morning in America June 29, 2020 Peter King is on vacation until July 20, and he lined up some guest writers to fill his Monday spot on Football Morning in America. Today, it’s Joe Browne, the all-time longest-serving employee in the NFL office who was honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the Ralph Hay Pioneer Award for his significant and innovative contributions to pro football. By Joe Browne The NFL celebrates (if that word still exists in anyone’s pandemic vocabulary) its 100th anniversary this September. The 100th season was last year. Now it’s time for the 100th anniversary! I am old enough—I prefer “mature enough”—to remember when the league celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1970. Ironically, the Chiefs and their great fans were coming off Super Bowl victories on both occasions. The 1970 season was such an historic start to the next half-century of football that this year’s 100th anniversary may struggle to match it. This would have been true even without the uncertainty that COVID-19 brings to the game schedule and in-stadium attendance. This summer’s Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend already has been postponed due to health concerns and is now planned for next August. Fifty years ago, the National Football League and American Football League completed their merger to form one professional league. I was there for it, as a young NFL public relations employee. As a league intern in 1966, I saw the stop-and-start and stop-and-start-again merger talks in their infancy. Would you believe the momentum for this historic merger began in a parked car at Love Field, an airport in Dallas? Sit back, and I’ll tell you that tale, plus the one about how exactly it was that Dallas, with only a 20 percent chance of being slotted into the NFC Eastern Division, became rivals with teams more than 1,000 miles away. The Dallas narrative involves a flower vase and a woman named Thelma. Here’s how it all began . . . The Lead: The Merger In 1966, the enormous economic costs to both AFL and NFL owners in their battle for fans, rookie players, and franchise cities continued to escalate. It had been going on several years. After consulting with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle and the lawyers, Cowboys president Tex Schramm invited his Dallas neighbor—but not close friend—Lamar Hunt, the co-founder of the rival AFL, to meet him on April 4 at Love Field. The session wasn’t held in an exclusive members-only airline lounge but rather in Tex’s Oldsmobile, parked near a 12-foot statue of now-infamous Texas Ranger captain Jay Banks. Yes, it does read like a Netflix script. Tex chose Lamar to talk merger because Hunt was respected by his fellow AFL owners; rumors were that Lamar wanted to end the excessive player spending, and he was known as a quiet person who could keep matters confidential. After the two men had a cordial talk, Lamar left for

Houston and an AFL meeting. Ironically, it was the meeting in which Al Davis, then-Raiders head coach and GM, was named the new AFL commissioner. Schramm and Hunt did not meet again for a month. During the interim, the only related news was bad. The club spending on rookies continued and there were rumors that the AFL Jets and Chargers were up for sale. Meanwhile, 49ers president Lou Spadia, who had been brought into the merger loop because his team would have to share the Bay Area with the Raiders, was having second thoughts about that idea. Hunt and Schramm met again in early May; fortunately, both sides agreed that whatever obstacles were on the table could be overcome. That was the good news. However, at an NFL league meeting in Washington D.C. only days later, an impediment arose that neither league had foreseen. Giants owner Wellington Mara told his peers that he had just signed standout Buffalo Bills kicker Pete Gogolak, who had played out his AFL option with that team. It was the first time an AFL player was jumping to the NFL. I wasn’t in attendance but later was told it was one of the more emotional league meetings ever held. How could the Giants, who knew about the Schramm-Hunt talks, have thrown gasoline on a burning fire? What were the usually-NFL loyal Giants thinking? Mara defended the move by replying that Rozelle earlier had told him there was no legal reason Gogolak could not sign. When the league meeting ended, several of the most influential NFL owners met privately in the hotel. They agreed that the financial madness in player signings had to end. The group instructed Schramm to convince his close friend Rozelle, who leaned more to fighting than merging, to get onboard and bring these merger talks to a conclusion. Pete, who believed the AFL was spending itself out of business, finally agreed. Things moved rapidly after that Gogolak uproar. Hunt and Schramm met in Tex’s home on May 31 and again June 5 to iron out details. One of the last hurdles was removed when Hunt agreed his league would (reluctantly) pay the NFL a total of $18 million over 10 years. The two peacemakers then met on June 7 with Rozelle and the lawyers in Washington D.C. where Pete had gone to give a heads-up to key Congressional leaders. He knew the leagues eventually would need a Congressional anti-trust exemption to merge. The Washington meeting with Hunt went into the early hours of June 8 until, perhaps out of exhaustion, all sides agreed to the final terms. There was no time for a long legal document to be drafted and signed. A press release spelling out the terms would have to suffice. They flew to New York later that morning where a press conference was held on June 8, 1966 to formally announce the deal. I normally am a modest person but my role in that merger announcement cannot be overstated. I was the messenger who delivered a copy of the press release to the United Press International sports desk on 42nd Street, a few blocks from Times Square. Rozelle later told me he was thankful I didn’t get sidetracked on my way there. Many individuals in the sport were shocked, surprised or disappointed when the merger news broke. Al Davis was all three. He had been AFL commissioner for just a matter of weeks and he was a hawk when it came to battling the NFL. The AFL owners purposely kept him in the dark regarding the Hunt-Schramm talks for fear he would work to sidetrack them. The news that Rozelle would be the commissioner of the merged league had to hurt. I’ve always believed that was the root of Al’s decades-long battles with the NFL establishment. I spent many months during my career in courtrooms from Los Angeles to New York watching Al testify against his fellow owners in matters ranging from franchise relocation to him supporting Donald Trump’s failed USFL lawsuit against the NFL in 1986.

THE DAWN OF THE 70s Fast forward to 1970. It had been agreed that the AFL would operate under its original name through the end of the ‘60s. Joint committees that included owners from both sides worked during those years on issues ranging from future scheduling to roster size to player medical benefits. However, a divisional alignment of the National Football Conference had to be decided only by the 13 NFC owners. It would be one of the final steps to the completion of the merger. On Jan. 11 that year, in the last game before the 26 teams would play as one league, Lamar Hunt’s Chiefs beat Minnesota in Super Bowl IV. Rozelle and the NFC clubs were on the clock to determine how those teams would be divided into three divisions. The traditional Colts, Steelers and Browns the previous year had surprised their fans and local media by agreeing (for a cash reward) to move over to the AFC. So AFC alignment into three divisions was set. However, the remaining NFC owners still were bickering about the best alignment for their conference, and themselves. Longtime traditional division rivalries were at risk. Some of the in-fighting concerned stadium capacities. Clubs much preferred road games in front of 75,000 fans who were paying high ticket prices rather than in smaller parks. In those days before billion-dollar TV contracts and expanded league-wide gate-sharing, the visiting team took home 40 percent of the game receipts and it was significant to its bottom line. A few owners did not want to play in a division where their rivals shared multi-sport stadiums in which dirt baseball infields might cause injuries. Also, other teams did not want to travel 3,000 miles to play division rivals. Progress on the issue was being made by inches, not yards. The commissioner was getting frustrated. Rozelle told us at a late December lunch, paraphrasing—it feels like each team wants the same three things: 1. To be in a division where their opponents have large stadiums and larger gate receipts; 2. At least one division rival in a warm weather city so not all away games happened in the brutal cold during the last quarter of the season; 3. To be in a division of pigeons. As a native New Yorker, I certainly knew what a pigeon was. However, why would Pete use that word when it came to football alignment? I, of course, nodded in agreement when Pete said pigeons, but I had no real idea. Over future decades, I perfected the art of “nodding in agreement” whenever the commissioner or an NFL owner spoke. It was one of the keys to my job survival. I later asked Jim Kensil, Pete’s right-hand man and the person who hired me in ’65. Jim said a pigeon in Pete’s vocabulary was a team that would be a perennial pushover and an easy win—or better, two wins—each year. In early January, the 13 clubs needed to get the new NFC divisions decided before a Feb. 1 deadline, which was spelled out in the 1966 merger agreement. Pete called an alignment meeting of the 13 NFC clubs on the day before Super Bowl IV in New Orleans. It was not a good idea. Several of the club executives appeared more interested in reservations for breakfast at Brennan’s or dinner at Galatoire’s than working out the thorny football details. The original AFL owners, who earlier had dubbed themselves “The Foolish Club” for daring to take on the NFL, were snickering: Who looks foolish now? The old-line NFL owners couldn’t even decide which divisions they would be in.

Pete was embarrassed. He told the NFC owners that afternoon before they left for Bourbon Street that they were going to meet again in New York the following week after the Super Bowl. He was not going to let them home until we had the new alignment. Representatives from all 13 NFC teams flew to New York and started meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 14. While there was more discussion, there still was no agreement. Pete recessed the meeting at 6:30 p.m. Several of the owners had dinner that night at the 21 Club or Toots Shor’s, the local sports hangout. On Thursday, the meeting started early and lasted until late evening with no resolution. Rozelle told the owners to get some sleep because on Friday he was going to have them meet all day and night in The Fish Room until a decision was reached. The largest conference room in our NFL offices was commonly known as “The Fish Room” because a large marlin had been mounted there a year earlier courtesy of one of Pete’s deep-sea fishing expeditions. It must have been a unique setting among corporate offices on Park Avenue because I could not picture IBM or Xerox having a marlin hanging in its wood-paneled conference room during annual board meetings. Rozelle decided to take a different approach on Friday, Jan. 16. He believed some owners had talked so much that even they didn’t know what division they wanted. He had received enough feedback during this entire process that he knew the rivalries that were critical to each owner and those which were secondary. That morning, Pete told the clubs that the 49ers, who via the merger agreement had a veto right to any alignment plan they did not like, had agreed to respect Pete’s authority to force an alignment. Pete then recessed the meeting for 20 minutes. He had a chalkboard that contained five different alignment scenarios labeled 1 through 5 wheeled into The Fish Room. Pete gave it one last shot. If there were no consensus on any one plan, he would draw the number of the winning alignment out of a hat and they all could go to the airport. Fifty years ago, hardly any owner had a private plane, or a yacht for that matter. They flew on commercial jets and ate peanuts just like the rest of us. The owners accepted this game-plan because they had become as tired of the arguments as Pete. In addition, it was Friday and they wanted to get out of town. Several had been on the road since the pre-Super Bowl activities in New Orleans the previous week. When the recess was over, Pete unveiled the board and the owners viewed the possibilities. Some got up and moved to the front of the room to see the board close-up. Others sat back in their chairs and looked at the combinations. Most were resigned to the fact that regardless of which plan was selected they would only get a slice of what they had been fighting for all these months. THELMA ENTERS STAGE LEFT Quietly, as was his style, Pete was ending the months-long drama. After I rolled the chalk board into the room—who did you think did it? George Halas?—I lingered in the back for this historic moment. The commissioner told me to ask Thelma Elkjer, his secretary, to enter the room. She was known to many of the owners since she had worked with Rozelle when both were employed by the Rams in the ‘50s. She moved East when Pete was named commissioner in 1960. She would be the one to break the deadlock by blindly picking one of the slips of paper. The owners trusted her. Finally, the big moment arrived. Thelma entered the room, but quickly left to get an empty flower vase to hold the five pieces of paper. Pete had shown the numbered slips to a couple of the owners to confirm that there were five different numbers which corresponded to those on the board. He didn’t want an upset owner to subsequently accuse him of having the five slips all contain the identical number which

would reflect Pete’s own preferred alignment of teams. (That’s a trick they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School!) At this juncture, the only two Americans the owners trusted were President Richard Nixon (pre-Watergate) and Thelma. Without even a drumroll, Thelma reached in, pulled out a slip and announced that the winning plan was number 3. Owners squinted at the chalkboard to see where their teams were in Plan 3. Tex Schramm let out a little cheer and smiled at Cowboys owner Clint Murchison who was beside him. Plan 3 was the ONLY combination that had the Cowboys in the same division as the Giants, Redskins and Eagles. Schramm, the former public relations and television executive, knew the added exposure his team received by playing teams in those three large markets twice a year. The Cowboys since their inception had played most seasons (but not all) with those three teams in their division. They made it clear they did not want to lose those rivalries. Despite the odds stacked against them, they got their way at the end. (Did I mention that Thelma worked alongside Tex when both were with the Rams in the 50s? Strictly coincidental, Cowboys Haters.) A couple of the NFC Central teams mumbled their discontent because the combination of Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota meant they would not get that much-desired, warm weather break toward the season’s end. Little did they know that half of those teams would be playing in cozy domes just a few years down the road and that expansion Tampa Bay would join their division later that decade. However, everyone in the room was relieved that pro football’s long nightmare was over! They adopted the plan and rushed to the exits. Ms. Thelma, who died in 2000 after moving back to California to work in Pete Rozelle’s retirement office in Rancho Santa Fe, did such a good job by selecting number 3 that the basic alignment lasted more than three decades. Even when the NFL split into eight divisions in 2002, many of those traditional rivalries were maintained. TV INCLUDING MNF AND COSELL The planning for the 1970 new-look league continued after those realignment meetings. Everyone was looking forward to having all our regular season games televised for the first time on the only three major networks (CBS, NBC and ABC) that existed in 1970. Of perhaps equal importance, Rozelle insisted there would be language in the TV contracts that the games would be promoted often during the week on morning shows, afternoon soap operas and evening programming. The addition of ABC’s Monday Night Football that year would be precedent-setting. One of the major selling points was that those prime-time games would be televised in full color. That was a major breakthrough 50 years ago. As it turned out, another major breakthrough of sorts occurred once those MNF games began. It was the first time most viewers were exposed to lawyer-turned-broadcaster Howard Cosell, who was an acquired taste to those outside his native New York. Some viewers enjoyed listening to him but many did not. In either case, both groups watched. During each Monday night contest, ABC carried a very popular 5-7 minute package of highlights from the previous day’s games. Cosell, in his distinct nasally voice and with a multi-syllabic vocabulary, delivered the commentary. For most fans, it was the first time they had seen those exciting plays. Rozelle, better than any exec in or outside sports back then, understood the promotional power and impact of network television. He had been working to get NFL games in front of more diversified prime-time viewers in a weekly series. However, most network honchos still thought prime-time football would

attract only a niche sports audience. They much preferred movies and comedy series such as NBC’s “Laugh- In” and CBS’ “The Doris Day Show” as programming that would attract all demographics, especially females. Fortunately, young Roone Arledge, the president of ABC Sports at the time, shared Pete’s vision of prime-time football. The two men agreed to a multi-year deal and the ABC series became an instant TV ratings bonanza. Movie theaters suddenly closed on Monday nights in the fall and bowling leagues, which were very popular back then, shifted to a different night. Millions of fans, including women, wanted to stay home and watch the NFL. MORE INNOVATIONS IN THE 70s By 1970, pro football had overtaken Major League Baseball and college football as America’s favorite sport. While baseball was “America’s Pastime,” football was on its way to becoming “America’s Passion.” The NFL was ready to compete successfully with not only other sports but also all forms of entertainment. The combined total revenue for the 26 teams in 1970 was $130 million, astounding for the time. A typical team payroll was between $2 million and $2.5 million. Fifty years later, total league revenue for the upcoming 100th anniversary was projected (pre-pandemic) to be $16.5 billion (with a ’b’). Overall player costs this year will surpass $240 million per club. The 1970 season also featured for the first time a postseason wild-card team in each conference. The 2020 season will have three wild-card entrants in both the AFC and NFC playoffs. A four-year collective bargaining agreement was reached in 1970 between the clubs and the expanded NFL Players Association led by Hall of Fame legend John Mackey. Likewise, a 10-year agreement was approved this past March by the owners and union. Labor peace is something no one really appreciates until it’s not there. New policy changes in 1970 included player names on the back of all jerseys. The AFL had this policy in the ‘60s to help promote its players. However, the NFL owners over the years had assumed their fans would know Johnny Unitas from Gale Sayers so this was a change for them. Heck, the league now has come so far players are allowed suffixes next to names on their jerseys. The 1970 season also was special for me (all politics being local) because it was my first complete year as a full-time employee in the commissioner’s office. The well-tanned Rozelle was starting his second decade on the job and I was the pale-faced PR assistant at the opposite end of the organizational chart. Pete never had the patience for office staff meetings so he would have occasional staff lunches for his senior execs on Fridays at a Mexican restaurant. As accomplished as he was, Pete still had at least three vices: he smoked too much, drank glasses of Coke for breakfast, and enjoyed Mexican food. Although a new full-time worker, I was invited to many of the staff meals because I had been an office intern and had traveled to postseason games while in college. Rozelle and the small group of execs knew me—and trusted me to keep private business confidential. What was said over margaritas and guacamole stayed in el restaurante. Lo entiendes? The first topic for discussion at lunch often was the quality of our officiating. You can see some things have not changed. We usually had the same waiter whom I later learned always asked to serve us. Inevitably, he would ask Rozelle before we finished our meal whether Pete “liked” the Packers or Dolphins that Sunday. Pete would give some non-answer and smile. Imagine. A sports fan who bet games.

THE YEARS FLY BY Pete Rozelle and the club owners in the 1970 season believed in the strength and future of their sport. Many of them had devoted their adult lives to football. They were above all, football men. The owner of any business wants to make money but these individuals were as passionate about their teams as the coaches and players they were paying. The years turned into decades and Rozelle shocked the sports world in 1989 by announcing his retirement. His wife Carrie wanted badly to return to southern California and so they built a beautiful home north of San Diego where Pete spent his final years. I always wished he had stayed in the New York area where most of his longtime friends were. I stayed in touch with him after he retired. My family and I owed him so much. Life isn’t always fair and neither he nor Carrie had a healthy last decade of their lives. I recall stopping at his home in early 1996 when I was on my way to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. He would die of brain cancer later that year. He wasn’t 100 percent healthy, so I did most of the talking. We laughed at all the fun times Pete had both with the Rams and during his 30 years as commissioner. We joked about the expensive thoroughbred that his friend and former Chargers owner Gene Klein had named after him. The colt was called “Commissioner Pete.” Whenever I asked him years earlier how the horse was doing, Pete would say with a straight face, “He’s resting in his stall.” “Commissioner Pete” never made it to the races. I asked Pete in a serious moment during my house visit if he could ever have anticipated the league’s spectacular growth 25 years earlier when the post-AFL era made him the commissioner of a 26-team NFL. After all, when he was named NFL commissioner in 1960 at age 33, there only were 12 teams. Dallas and Minnesota were added two days after he took the job. Did he ever foresee in 1970 the manner in which his creation of a neutral-site Super Bowl would capture the country and become a cultural phenomenon? Pete took a drag out of a Marlboro (or Vantage) cigarette like I had seen him do hundreds of times over the years. He smiled, shook his head and quietly weighed his words in the same manner he had since I had known him. The then-69 year old Rozelle emotionally replied that it was impossible to imagine back in 1970 all the growth, excitement, and interest the league would enjoy, and the entertainment and competition it would provide its fans. I retired from the NFL in 2016. I had attended 50 straight Super Bowls. The only one I missed was the first one. I used to kid Pete that it may have been just coincidence but the only Super Bowl that did not sell out was the one he did not invite me to work. I had a helluva 50-year ride (I called it an “internship”) in communications, public relations, government affairs, community endeavors and alumni coordination. I worked with dozens of NFL owners and their staffs. Pete Rozelle; the new Pro Football Hall of Famer Paul Tagliabue; and Roger Goodell all understood the broader significance of the sport and brought together the club owners and players at key times to make the NFL more popular and appealing than ever. Whenever folks ask how I survived at the NFL all those years, I first point out that having only three commissioner-CEOs over 50 years didn’t hurt. There’s something to be said about continuity.

Perhaps another young employee in the league office right now will chronicle the future innovations and advancements that lie ahead for pro football in the next 50 years. I hope he or she enjoys their experience as much as I did. Numbers Game How a 38-0 loss led to five Super Bowl appearances One last note about the historic 1970 NFL season: My friend Greg Aiello is the former longtime league office spokesman. For more than two decades, he was quoted more often than even the White House Press Secretary. Greg started his NFL career working with the late legendary coach Tom Landry in the Cowboys front office. Greg recently wrote me: On the night of Nov. 16, 1970, the St. Louis Cardinals crushed the Cowboys 38-0 at the Cotton Bowl on Monday Night Football. Hardly a memorable game at the time. At one point, Cowboys fans chanted for their retired QB Don Meredith who was in the ABC booth helping to call the game. The party was over early that night. Coach Landry and the team were embarrassed. Landry reportedly told the players he was disappointed in them and himself and it looked like they wouldn’t make the playoffs for the first time in five years. Then he showed one of the qualities that made him a Hall of Fame coach. He did something completely unexpected and out of character in the days following that loss. Landry eased up on the team to take the pressure off the players. He let them have fun playing touch football in practice. He simplified the game plan. The players responded to the challenge that Landry put to them. They reeled off seven straight victories to reach their first Super Bowl against the Baltimore Colts. Unfortunately, the Cowboys blew that game when the Colts kicked a game-winning 32-yard field goal with five seconds left. However, the next season Roger Staubach took over as starting quarterback and the Cowboys went back to win their first Super Bowl. They were in the big game again in 1975, again in 1977 and again in 1978. Who knew that a drab 38-0 loss would turn around a team and ignite a spark that drove the Cowboys under Coach Landry to FIVE Super Bowl appearances in one decade? King Of The Road I know you probably heard this same thing from at least 500 of your closest friends but I REALLY was at the original Ice Bowl in Green Bay in late December 1967. I was between semesters my senior year in college and traveled as an NFL intern to the Cowboys-Packers thriller at Lambeau Field. A couple of NFL office execs and I were there for the week. The winner of this NFL Championship Game would advance to Super Bowl II. I was sent on Thursday to Austin Straubel Airport outside town to pick up a carton of promotional materials sent on a commercial flight from LaGuardia. We didn’t trust the U.S. Post Office to deliver the books on time and FedEx wasn’t founded until four years later by Fred Smith, one of the Washington Redskins current minority owners.

While I was waiting for the box at the baggage carousel, I recognized famed Newark Star Ledger columnist Jerry Izenberg, who had arrived on the same flight. I meekly introduced myself and asked if I could give him a ride to the Hotel Northland where the media was being housed. On the way back into town, Jerry sat in the passenger seat as we talked and traveled the icy roads. “Son, how long have you been driving,” Jerry asked after the car skidded (just a little) to a stop at a red light. “Oh, I got my license earlier this month on Dec. 7,” I proudly said. “Dec. 7. That makes sense,” Jerry replied. “That was the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. If you don’t drive more slowly, we too are going to die. Please be more careful.” I am pleased to say both of us survived. Jerry, who now lives outside Las Vegas, turns 90 this September and still writes occasional columns for the Star Ledger. After 15 non-fiction books, he currently is writing his first novel. 10 Things I Think I Think 1. I think I was a little surprised by the timing of the news that quarterback Cam Newton signed with the Patriots. Having the story break on an offseason Sunday evening is not the smartest way to generate favorable publicity. However, it all quickly made sense when I heard later Sunday night that the Pats again were being fined and disciplined by the league office for filming an opponent’s sideline during a game. You learn in Public Relations 101 that you always try to overshadow really negative news by putting out a positive item at the same time. In this case, I think the chatter in league and team offices this week will deal less with the signing of the injury-plagued Newton and more with the Patriots once again breaking NFL rules. 2. I think Major League Baseball has a great opportunity to try something different during this abbreviated COVID-19 season. MLB could maximize national interest and use a once-a-week formula—similar to Monday Night Football. For example, the Cubs could play the Cards early on Monday night on ESPN followed by the Rockies at Dodgers on TBS or Fox in the late game. The Phillies could face the Mets in the early Tuesday game followed by the White Sox vs. the Angels. You could play two nationally televised games on six nights and a triple-header the seventh night so all 30 teams would be featured in a nationally-televised game each week. It would give even small market teams much needed national exposure. Baseball purists such as Peter King might think it’s a crazy idea but this is a new abnormal. What does MLB have to lose? 3. I think Burgess Owens, who started at free safety for the Raiders in their Super Bowl XV win, has a good shot at also winning Tuesday’s Republican primary in Utah’s 4th Congressional District this week. Owens played for the Jets and Raiders from 1973-82 and was voted to the Pro Bowl in 1981. If he is successful in making it to Washington D.C., Owens will join two other NFL alumni—Colin Allred (D-Texas) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio)—who are freshmen Congressmen running this November for re-election. Allred was a Titans linebacker from 2006-10 while Gonzalez played five seasons as a Colts receiver from 2007-11.

4. I think golf may be the next betting craze. I was with my friend Hank (The Hammer) Goldberg at Joe’s Stone Crabs in Miami Beach 10 years ago. As you TV sports fans know, Hank is not reluctant to place a wager on a horse race or football game. Well, Hank was in a particularly bad slump at that time and was crying in his key lime pie. “Hank, why don’t you change your luck and switch sports,” I said trying to console him. “Why don’t you bet on hockey or golf?” “Golf? Golf? I know there’s Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and a bunch of other guys. How could I possibly bet on golf,” he exclaimed. Fast forward to 10 days ago. Hank, who turns 80 on July 4, moved from Miami to Las Vegas in 2017. Where did you think he was going to relocate? Idaho? I called him to see which horse he liked in the Belmont Stakes. “The favorite (Tiz The Law) can’t lose,” he replied. However, before he hung up, Hank volunteered that he also had placed a substantial bet on golfer Webb Simpson to win the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head. “I got 26-1 odds, too,” he added. Now it was my turn. “Golf?” I asked. “What do YOU know about golf?” Hank said that Simpson had played well in his last round the previous week but missed the cut. I watched the tournament out of curiosity. Simpson (and Hank) won the tourney by one stroke. By the way, golf without fans is a plus for TV viewers. You get to listen to the golfer-caddy pre-shot conversations. Viewers also get a real sense of how beautiful the course is without thousands trampling on the grass and you have unobstructed views of the surrounding scenery. Most importantly, you don’t have idiot fans shouting after almost every shot “Baba Booey” or “You da man” or “In da hole.” 5. I think Philadelphia Eagles super fan, season-ticket holder and TV business personality Jim Cramer of CNBC’s popular ”Mad Money” would be a great addition to ESPN’s Monday Night Football halftime. ESPN reportedly has been rejected in its search for a new MNF analyst by big-name personalities such as Peyton Manning and Tony Romo. Cramer, who never has thrown a TD pass, would be a welcome addition to handle a 3-5 minute halftime segment giving stock tips, talking NFL and discussing related business. If fans lost money on Sunday’s games, they could make up for it Tuesday by listening to someone who (usually) knows what’s going on in the market. Cramer is an often-times controversial, unorthodox, entertaining, big-name TV personality in the world of stock trading, media and business. His irascibility plays well on TV since half his audience enjoys him and the other half glares at him. In television, the networks usually don’t care whether or not you like the on-air talent so long as you watch. 6. I think Paul Tagliabue’s (now delayed until 2021) enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is deserved and overdue. I first heard his name 50 years ago. He had accompanied then-Commissioner

Rozelle in May 1970 when Pete testified in federal court in Curt Flood’s lawsuit challenging baseball’s reserve clause. Tagliabue was a young outside attorney for the NFL back then. I have been thinking of Tagliabue because the well-publicized campaign this month to make Juneteenth a paid holiday reminds me of the brave step Tagliabue and the owners took back in March 1991 involving the MLK holiday in Arizona. A Super Bowl had been awarded with assurances by local political leaders that Arizona voters would approve a paid MLK holiday for state employees later that year. Arizona and New Hampshire were the only states at the time that did not observe the day as a paid holiday. Despite those assurances, the vote failed in November. Tagliabue told the NFL owners that the league should get that Super Bowl out of Arizona. The decision to move the game to Los Angeles was a controversial one. Paul took a great deal of heat from many Arizona residents and others around the country. He was accused of pandering to MLK supporters and playing racial politics. The truth was the exact opposite. Paul shifted the game to get away from the hotly contested political debate that had been swirling around the issue in Arizona for several years. After the league’s unprecedented move, the MLK issue again was placed on the ballot in 1992 and passed with 62 percent of the vote. Thanks in large part to Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill, the league has enjoyed playing three Super Bowls in Arizona since that time. 7. I think the latest moves by Commish Goodell to hire former Super Bowl referee Walt Anderson and longtime coach Perry Fewell to improve on-field officiating make sense. When I worked in the league office, I often (but not always) publicly defended our referees whom I believe are the best in any sport. However, in 1991, there was one Sunday in November when it seemed like half the games had blown officiating calls in key spots. When a national reporter called me the following day to see if our office had any comment, I responded in part: “There were several highlights during the 12th weekend but, unfortunately, the officiating was not one of them.” My quote was carried in media around the country. The head of the referees association wrote Commish Tagliabue wanting my head. After he received the written complaint, Paul walked down to my office and politely placed the letter on my desk. He quietly said: “Read this. You said it; you handle it.” It was his way of telling me, “Don’t be such a smart ass next time.” I responded in writing to the association, and the matter fortunately blew over. 8. I think there’s a misperception that most retired NFL players are unemployed or unemployable. The opposite is true in my experience. I admit not every player is as successful a businessman as Roger Staubach or John Stallworth but thousands of NFL alumni work in occupations ranging from lawyers to coaches to CEOs to civil servants. For example, four former players currently are members of the Phoenix Fire Department and have been busy on the front lines fighting the COVID-19 health crisis. The four alumni are Chaz Schilens and Matt Shaughnessy, who played three years together on the Raiders in 2009-11; Roy Lewis, who earned a Super Bowl XLIII ring as a cornerback for the Steelers; and former backup offensive lineman Mark Tucker, a Falcons 1991 draft choice who also spent time with Cardinals. No, not all former players are wildly successful after their playing days and not all appear in commercials or on network pregame shows on Sunday. However, the vast majority are community-minded guys who

have full-time jobs to support their families and, in cases such as the Phoenix FD crew, to protect your family as well. 9. I think I am very proud of the leadership and decision-making several former NFL colleagues have shown as chief execs guiding other leagues through difficult times these past few months. If Miami University (Ohio) is the Cradle of Football Coaches, then the NFL office is the cradle of pro sports leaders. • Roger Goodell started his career with us in the NFL public relations department back in the early ‘80s and rose up the ranks through hard work to become commissioner in 2006. He is tough, talented and driven to keep the NFL as America’s favorite sport. • Don Garber was with the NFL for 16 years before being named MLS commissioner in 1999. Like Roger, Garber has spent his entire business career in professional sports and been extremely successful. • Steve Phelps was named NASCAR’s president in 2018 after being in charge of that sport’s marketing-sales for a dozen years. He has faced several highly publicized challenges as president, including a changing fan base and the latest incident in Bubba Wallace’s garage. Phelps worked with the NFL under Paul Tagliabue before he left to join NASCAR. • Lisa Baird is the rookie of the group. She left our office to take over marketing at the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and was named commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League last February. Her honeymoon on the job ended 10 days ago when COVID-19 forced one of her teams to withdraw from the league’s opening tourney. If you young readers want to run a sports league down the road, working in the NFL office as a first step should be your initial goal. 10. I think if I were to get into a different occupation, I would buy into the public self-storage business. Okay, sure, it might not sound as inviting as the football career I had meeting VIPs including the late President Ronald Reagan, Walter Payton and Wellington Mara, but I know there’s money to be made. When I left the NFL, I brought 110 cartons of files with me. I put 100 boxes into a self-storage unit near my home and took 10 cartons with me into my new agency office. I didn’t look at the 100 cartons for the first year of NFL retirement. The only time I even thought of them was when $270 was deducted each month by the storage facility. When I began going to the unit to remove boxes, I noticed the facility owner sitting in his office watching the Fox Business Channel. He was not exactly killing himself. To paraphrase the late, great Robin Williams: “Maintaining a storage unit often is God’s way of saying you have too much money.” I finally wised up, started going through the boxes and quickly cleared out of the facility. I tossed a good deal of what at one time seemed like crucial material. I saved only what I thought would be helpful for special occasions like, say, Peter King asking if I would sub for him and write about 50-year old NFL history. I very much appreciate the invite and, more than ever, appreciate what Peter puts himself through each week to produce the most entertaining, informative and updated weekly column in sports media.

The Adieu Haiku The Seventies rocked. Then things got even better. Best is yet to come.