GREEN BAY, Wis. -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was happy to be back on a football field Thursday evening rather than being in a courtroom.
Six weeks removed from the end of the NFL lockout of its players, Goodell was all smiles as the Green Bay Packers kicked off the 2011 season against the New Orleans Saints
He worked the sidelines before the game greeting former players, corporate sponsors and signing autographs for fans. He spent several minutes chatting with former Packers Super Bowl MVP quarterback Bart Star in the moments before kickoff.
"It is good to be talking about football again, rather than courts and bargaining agreements," Goodell said in an interview with The Business Journal on the field. "This is a great atmosphere and one that I’m glad we are getting to experience."
Goodell said he was glad the league was able to secure a 10-year collective bargaining agreement with its players because it gave the NFL the security it needed.
"We can now move ahead on major priorities know that we are going to have labor peace for the next decade," he said. "It was a good deal for both sides, one in which we both did not get everything we wanted. But we got something done that was in the best interests of the league.”
Goodell said the new collective bargaining agreement was important to teams, such as the Packers, because it maintained the league’s revenue sharing to allow teams like Green Bay to compete against bigger markets.
"It was important for us as a league to ensure that all of our teams will be successful and I believe the players realized that,” he said. "Green Bay has always been a big part of this league and this agreement will only help them continue to compete in the long run."
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