NFL commissioner addresses issues

At Roger Goodell's news conference about an hour before Monday night's opening kickoff, he addressed the game's playing surface, the state of discussions on the collective-bargaining agreement and Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, among other topics.

The NFL commissioner was confident the non-heated, artificial playing surface at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium would perform up to NFL standards. The move outdoors was necessitated by the collapse of the roof at the Metrodome, the Vikings' home field.

“We've been working on the field along with the university,” said Goodell, who added it was important for the Vikings to play the game at home, unlike last week when they had to play at the Detroit Lions' Ford Field.

“We've had experts here, manufacturers have been here, both teams have had representatives here, the (players) union's been here.

“Obviously we expect the field to be in great shape, even though we've got some snow on top of that, but from what I understand the field's going to be in great shape.”

The talks on a new collective-bargaining agreement, which expires March 3, are not in great shape, according to Goodell.

“I've been very clear from the standpoint that we are not where we need to be in getting an agreement,” the commissioner said. “We're not as close as I would like to be.

“We've got a lot more work that needs to be done. We have time to get it done, but it's going to need a very concerted effort to get that done. I've said it publicly and I'll say it again that if everyone gives a little, everyone will get a lot, especially the fans.

“That's something we have to do. In every negotiation, not everyone's going to get what they want, but hopefully they'll get what they need and we can continue to grow the game.”

Goodell said the league takes seriously players' criticism of fines for hits that are considered dangerous.

“We have great respect for the players, and they're part of developing these rules and focusing on the techniques we think should be removed from the game,” he said. “We'll continue to make sure that the rules are enforced to make the game as safe as possible.”

Asked why the Vikings were allowed to list Favre as “out” Saturday and then change his status to “questionable” Monday and start him that night, Goodell was vague.

“I haven't gotten much of an update on that other than to say these are medical decisions on the current status of an individual that's based upon the medical reports,” he said.

“To my understanding, he wasn't capable of playing two days ago, and he's made tremendous progress physically, so if he's capable of playing then he'll be playing.”

Teams have been fined in the past for not being forthcoming concerning injuries, but Goodell indicated that wasn't the case with Favre.

“We don't allow people to play games with the injury list,” he said. “They have to be legitimate medical injuries.”