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XFL, NBC marriage stuns NFL owners
Posted: Thursday March 30, 2000 11:46 AM
The marriage of wrestling boss Vince McMahon's new pro football league, the XFL, to NBC stunned NFL owners. NBC and Time Warner failed to get a spring football league off the ground; the network's partnering with McMahon immediately gives the XFL a much-needed shot of credibility. As one NFL owner told me, "I'm shocked. I didn't think that league would have any legs, but now, who knows?" Denver looking to deal upAt least three teams, including Denver, have approached the Ravens about dealing the fifth overall pick in April's draft. Denver coach Mike Shanahan is willing to deal his top two picks -- Nos. 10 and 40 overall -- to move into Baltimore's slot, perhaps to snag versatile linebacker/safety Brian Urlacher of New Mexico, or Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington. But Baltimore owner Art Modell tells me he's determined to hold the fifth pick, barring an incredible offer. Modell said he's learned one thing from Branch Rickey -- sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. Instant replay could become permanentAfter teams resoundingly returned replay to the NFL field for a second straight year Wednesday, the system's proponents were already thinking of making replay a more permanent part of the league's landscape. Minnesota coach Dennis Green, the co-chair of the NFL's competition committee, said he's hoping to propose instant replay as a fixed rule in 2001. Instead of having the system be so tenuous every season, Green would like to install it for good in order, he said, to tinker with and improve it without risking its downfall each year. If a vote to make replay permanent comes to pass, its opponents would be forced to muster 25 votes to kill it, which is highly unlikely in any season. Bringing peer pressure to bearOn the final day of the annual meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., coaches and brass focused on preventing players from being involved in violent crimes. But the league adopted no new measures here. Instead, coaches will try to increase peer pressure on troubled players. Green trying to leverage BristerFinally, Denver's waiving of unhappy backup quarterback Bubby Brister puts a little more heat on Jeff George to take the Vikings' one-year, $750,000 offer. Dennis Green told me he's definitely interested in Brister if George balks. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN's NFL Preview.
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