Around the league
* Monday is the deadline for NFL employees at the league office in New York, the NFL Network in Los Angeles and NFL Films in Mount Laurel, N.J., to accept the buyout package the league offered last month.
The league is cutting a total of 150 jobs at those three operations. According to sources, they aren't going to come anywhere close to reaching that figure in buyouts. Which means there will be layoffs. The league, which is using the struggling economy as an excuse for the buyouts and layoffs, even though it is making lots and lots and lots of money, already laid off almost 10 percent of NFL Films' work force last March. The league's severance package for layoff victims is an embarrassment. They are offering just 1 week of salary for every year of NFL service, plus 50 percent of the employees' season performance bonus, which is a minimal number.
A good number of the job cuts are expected to come at Films. The league, which clearly is trying to phase out Films, even had the audacity to include Films president Steve Sabol on the list of employees who are eligible for the buyout. Sabol and his father Ed founded Films 45 years ago. The company has been instrumental in making the NFL the immensely popular - and profitable - product it is today. Steve has been more important to this league than Paul Tagliabue ever was and Roger Goodell ever will be.
