NFL PRESS CONFERENCE

January 18, 2000

Paul Tagliabue

Robert Wood Johnson IV

PAUL TAGLIABUE: Our membership this morning approved the sale of the New York Jets to Mr. Robert Wood Johnson. I am very pleased to advise you of that and to congratulate Mr. Johnson and to introduce him to you. Mr. Johnson, congratulations. There is a football here some place, the official game ball.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: This is a pretty exciting day for me. Wow. Being approved, you never know until it happens. Fortunately I was just approved about 20 minutes ago, but I'd like to say a few things before I take some questions from you guys. The Hess family has owned the team for more than 40 years. I'd just like to say while this bidding process has been a rollercoaster and a difficult one, the Hess family has been so gracious. And I told John Hess this morning I will try to take good care of the team that he and his father started. I'd like to thank the NFL owners today for voting to let me consummate the purchase of the Jets. I am very excited about it. I'd also like to thank Chuck Dolan, who was also bidding for the team. He called me up from a family trip to congratulate us on the purchase of the Jets, a very gracious guy, a worthy competitor. I am sure the Hess family feels the same way. What I'd like to just say briefly, just a couple of remarks of what we are planning to do in the coming months and weeks and days. One is to keep the continuity of the Jets and trying to stabilize what is perceived as some instability in certain ranks. And to put a first class management in place and to bring a championship team to this area and really work very hard to develop that. We are committed to making that happen, and I think I am pretty sure we can do it. There is a couple of things that -- in terms of my relationship with the Jets -- that you should know, I think, and basically there are two things that I have to do in a short period of time. One is to get the operational elements in shape, and I have talked to Steve Gutman, who has been at the Jets for over 20 years and he has agreed to stay on -- graciously agreed to stay on. He is a terrific guy. He knows more about the NFL than almost anybody, and I am lucky that Steve willl stay on with the operation. Now, regarding the coaches' situation. I have met with or talked to Bill Parcells everyday except today. I had a long meeting on Wednesday. I had a long meeting on Friday; three hour meeting. We discussed with Bill Parcells the world is the only limit. He is a very unusual man and one that has brought a life to this team that we haven't had for a while. He is a winner in every way. He is not the easiest person to read; in fact, he is very difficult to read. But he is a quick study, very direct, very honest. He will be a great coach to continue with the New York Jets. That is for sure. No decision has been made. We will have a decision by the end of the week because the time crunch is on. This is when a lot of decisions concerning next year's team and the draft and everything are made. So we are looking at the role that Bill Parcells will play. We hope as large a role as he feels like playing, because he is a proven winner. I think that is all I have. I am just very excited by the opportunity to build this team into a winning team, a championship team and no matter which way this goes, I think we are going to be successful in doing that.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I don't know if you can justify the price, but I have been kind of a fanatical sports fan all my life. I played football, not well. I was second-string tight end, dropped a lot of passes and I remember playing on days kind of like today, and so when you hit the deck on a day like today, you feel it. But football is just to me the greatest sport in the country. It is one that is enjoyed by millions, I guess hundreds of millions of people not only in this country, but around the world, every Sunday. This opportunity came up. I knew the Hess family and thought this was an area I could add value to. That is basically it.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: We have had discussions and we have talked about what he wants to do. Yes, I think he would be a great coach as he has demonstrated. Those discussions are continuing.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Milbrook School, (laughs), small school.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: No.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I don't know. Eight years from now they will be playing somewhere else. Because the lease expires. So we would have to depart that facility, I believe. That is an area that I think would be very important ultimately for the Jets. The Jets have never had their own stadium. Every game they played for the last 39 plus years have been away games. They have never had the home-field advantage, so to speak. So I think that is going to be a critical decision we look at down the line after we get some of these other questions answered.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: We are going to look at all options I think is the best way to answer that.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I'd love to have him coach. Am I optimistic I can do it? We will know -- I guarantee you we will know by the end of the week.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: We have had private discussions, I'd rather not characterize them. But he is an impressive person, impressive coach.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: That is a good question. The matter has turned into a semi-legal and League matter; the way I understand it, it is in the Commissioner's office right now and when the Commissioner opens the door for me to enter and help make decisions on that, I will be available. But that is out of my jurisdiction. I really can't comment on it right now.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: The kind of person Bill -- the kind of general leader Parcells is, I don't think Parcells is going to desert the Jets. That is my impression.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: He already controls the team. I don't think it is financial, because I don't think he works for -- despite what one reads in the paper occasionally -- I don't think he is motivated by money. This is something else.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: It was probably the same as yours (laughs). This is a volatile environment. There is no question. So I think that my job, as involved with this thing now, will be to provide the kind of management that is capable of handling these and rolling with the punches. Steve is very good at it. I have spent the last week talking to him almost every day, and I am very impressed by his view and his stability and optimism. He is going to be a go-getter, believe me.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Well, our lease expires in eight years, 2008. Eight seasons.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I don't think that is going to be one of our options of choice. As I believe I mentioned the Jets have never had their own stadium. They have been in the Mets Stadium, Shea Stadium and now this since 1984, and we want to do everything in our power to provide them with their own stadium. Hopefully we can do that.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I would at some point. Not this week (laughter).

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I think I would be better prepared to comment on that after the Commissioner kind of lays it out for us rather than now.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I have talked to Governor Whitman and Governor Pataki. They just called to congratulate us in this and just were very gracious. Does that answer your question?

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: We haven't really gotten that far. We have been preoccupied with trying to purchase and trying to organize what we consummated today for the last few months.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I will probably talk to him today.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I will talk to him tomorrow face-to-face or the next day, tomorrow or the next day.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I wasn't. I was not confident. No, I was not confident at all. The only thing that gave me ultimate confidence was when John Hess walked in the room, and I saw his hand kind of reaching in my direction. Because even this morning, this was not a sure thing. Charles Dolan was very, very competitive all the way down the line and I think would have been a fabulous owner.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: It was just the strategy. We wanted to secure it and that was our strategy.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I think with any good leader selection, you have to look at all opportunities. So we will be very careful in trying to assess what is best for the team and the fans and our objective trying to create this thing. We will look inside and outside. Address everything.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: That is less continuity, but you know, you have continuity in winning as well, and I think that is the continuity that at the end of the day the fans like more than anything else. They want to see a product. They want to see their team doing well. They have been doing well as of late.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I think Bill would certainly be -- I'd like to have Bill's decision and his recommendation would certainly be listened to, maybe determinative, because he knows this business.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: In Spanish? Would uno mas work? (laughter).

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I'd say that if it worked. Yeah, I mean, I'd love to have Bill Parcells coach another year, no question. He is a great coach. He has got two Super Bowls on his lawn, and that says it all.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Have you met Parcells?

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: So you know the answer to that. He is not a guy -- if he doesn't want you to know, you don't know.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: No. No, he hasn't, but we have decided that by the end of the week we are going to resolve this decision.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I see my role as -- basically my No. 1 role now is selecting leaders to take this organization forward. That is kind of the key to it. And adding value in other areas where I think I can add a unique value; otherwise, you want a guy like Parcells as the coach. He knows how to coach better than do I. That is what he is going to do. So you want somebody who can make those decisions and run that area.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: With a guy like Parcells there, yes. I think you do. You have got a proven winner in the slot. Capable of making good decisions.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: No. No. No. I mean Bill has his own life. He is a tremendous man, it's a free country, and I don't think there is any debt here that I know of.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Well I have been going -- it is hard to get Jets tickets. I just bought a couple of tickets last couple of days, but Jets season tickets are impossible to get, as you guys know. I went to games with the Hess family. I have gone by myself. I have gone with my kids. We love the Jets.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: This is basically the moment that I had the stars lined up for me to be able to do it.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: No.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Well, Bill didn't say yes, he would coach, put it that way.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: No. We are going to continue to hammer this out one way or the other to find out what role Bill wants to play on the team. And as I said, the bigger role he wants to play, the better.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I don't remember making such an offer.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I don't want to get involved -- to get into the negotiations of or the discussions, really, that I am having with Parcells.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I think I am going to be pretty hands-on right at the beginning. Helping select the new coach, and getting the football operations set up; getting the operation element which is a huge element for one of these teams is where I am going to be concentrating.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: There will be other issues going forward. But basically I am not going to go into the operation and pick the dixie-cup-holder-type-of-deal, or tell the coach how to run his plays, no, no.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I am sorry, was I surprised by the --

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Not really.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I think it is or I wouldn't have paid it. I think it is worth what I paid for it.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I think ultimately you have to love the sport to be in the sport. If you don't love football, don't buy a football team. But you have got to be able to pay for the players and you have got to be able to pay the salaries of the coaches and so on. So there is a financial engine that has to be adjusted.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: As limited partners we don't know yet. The answer is we don't know that we will be looking for limited partners. We will decide that down the road.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Most managers I have worked with are on a day-to-day basis because they are not under contract. So that doesn't bother me a bit. Steve Gutman is a tremendous resource. He really knows this business. He is a great guy. I personally have a great rapport with him. I think, hopefully, it is reciprocal. I think it is going to be a good match.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: I have met him. I met him briefly.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Yeah, in the last week. I wasn't allowed to talk to anybody until last week.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: We looked at a -- back when I was about 30 we looked at the Tampa Bay -- which wasn't called Tampa Bay back then, but it was the Tampa expansion team and we met with Rozelle - a great Commissioner he was - and didn't really carry the bid very far. We didn't carry it at all. We didn't make a bid.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Other than motor cycling? (laughter) no. No other sport, no other franchise.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON IV: Correct.

GREG AIELLO: We are going to have the Commissioner come up and answer a few questions. We will have a complete transcript of this press conference shortly afterwards. We will get it to you. Any questions?

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: I don't see that it is a problem. The season is only over in, what, two weeks. I think that the purchase is very timely and I think he is coming in ready to make the decisions he has to make, so I think the team will be in good hands; keeping Steve Gutman on board is a very positive thing and I think the Jets' fans can be assured that the whole franchise is in good hands right from today forward.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: I don't currently plan to do that, no. My current thinking would be to try to resolve the Belichick arbitration by the end of the week. I have some more to do here this afternoon with the membership so we will be tied up a good part of today, so I don't expect to get to it until tomorrow, but certainly by the end of the week I will expect to get to a decision.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: As Mr. Johnson said, I think it would be much better if the Jets had their own facility, could be a part of multi-purpose facility here in New York in the City as part of the convention complex. It could be other parts of the New York area. It could be in New Jersey, but I think it is a big advantage in today's environment, particularly for the fans who as Mr. Johnson said to our Finance Committee this morning getting that last ounce of adrenaline out of the players onto the field sometimes falls to the fans as the 12th man and he feels very strongly that if they had their own stadium, that would be something that would energize the Jets' fans even more than they are energized and give his team the advantage of the 12th man that we saw in the playoffs in the last two weeks.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: We said early on I think on the 3rd or 4th of January that based on the contract we had and the circumstances that we were aware of, there was a binding contract. Now we had the hearing last Thursday. We have had extensive submissions on behalf of both sides, and once I go through it, by the end of the week I will know whether there is anything new or whether it is what we had assumed at the beginning of last week.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: We are working with all four of those teams on their stadium situations and in Philadelphia there was a recent announcement with the mayor elect. Arizona, we are going to be talking a little bit about that situation here this afternoon. So we are working on all four of those situations.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: All four of them.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: No, I think they are isolated incidents. George Allen and George Halas had a contract dispute during the '60s, so this is nothing new to sports. New England Patriots and Chuck Fairbans had a dispute that ended up in the courts in the '70s. So occasionally you have disputes and you resolve them.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: Yes, unanimous.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: No, there were two teams absent, Atlanta, and I think St. Louis hadn't arrived yet. I noticed that Georgia Frontiere came in, but that was after the vote. It was 29 to zero in favor; two teams were absent.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: We are looking at a reorganization to take account of what everyone is taking account of, which is cyber space and the telecommunications revolution. I think the biggest challenge we have as a League and I think it is true of the other leagues as well is to evolve our media, our television from the current broadcast television and cable television distribution system into the digital era. I noticed just this week David Stern made some organizational changes in the NBA; baseball is making some changes with Bud Selig; we are looking at some changes that are primarily responsive to that telecommunications revolution. We had made a number of changes in the early '90s which I think were suited to the issues we faced then getting out of court with the players, getting a Collective Bargaining Agreement; we completely reorganized our Management Council function in the early '90s; brought in Neil Austrian to hold the position of president and chief operating officer which we never had before. I think back to many of the owners giving me advice that if you reinvent your organization every two or three years you will be well served. We are reinventing it not every two, three years, but we are certainly reinventing it now at the beginning of a new decade, but most importantly of a new era and nothing more has punctuated this than the announcement last week, of the AOL Time Warner deal; which I think is a signal that content providers are marrying distribution systems and distribution systems are going to be looking for content providers as partners. That is the No. 1 issue for sports that I see in the next decade.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: No, he just asked me this morning when we had the Finance Committee meeting what was my timetable. I told him what I had indicated to you earlier today.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: Taking counsel from our attorneys and reviewing the material that they developed. I was in the hearing for about an hour last Thursday, then it continued for a number of hours after that; then we got lengthy written submissions which I need to go over.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: I don't think so. This question comes up year in and year out, but our experience in the last several years going back to Jerry Richardson and Wayne Weaver coming in as the owners in Jacksonville and Carolina has been extremely positive with individual owners. Since Carolina and Jacksonville we have had Al Lerna (ph), Bob McNair, now we have Mr. Johnson. Other owners such as Mr. Glazer had a real positive impact as evidenced by the fact that they are playing for the Conference Championship this Sunday in Tampa -- I mean in St. Louis with Tampa Bay playing. So we feel that the individual owners are not only interested and capable of purchasing NFL teams but they make extremely good operators. That continues to be our preference.

COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: We had a brief status report from Art Modell as to just the nature of the transaction. I think most of the owners that -- only read about it when it was reported in the press. We had not given the owners any kind of a status report in writing or otherwise. Mr. Modell gave that today, but it is not going to be taken up for any action today.