Reports: NFL owners consider proposal
ROSEMONT, Ill., June 21 (UPI) -- NFL team owners are considering a proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement with players, multiple reports indicated Tuesday.
The owners, who met at a hotel near O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, are considering a deal that would give players 48 percent of all league revenue, with a floor of 46.5 percent, ESPN reported, citing league sources it did not name.
The broadcaster said the deal would include a rookie wage scale as well as a 16-game Thursday night television deal starting in 2012.
The Washington Post reported the proposal was well received, with only a few owners objecting to it.
Some of the growing revenue pie would be dedicated to Improved benefits for retirees.
Players have been locked out of training camps since March 12. Their representatives and the owners' labor committee have met several times to negotiate in the last three weeks under court-appointed mediator Judge Arthur Boylan.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Tuesday said the continued meetings were a "tremendous positive."
Pujols placed on disabled list
ST. LOUIS, June 21 (UPI) -- St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols, who has a broken bone in his left arm, was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, the Cardinals said.
Pujols, 31, is expected to miss 4-6 weeks after being diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture of one of the bones in his left forearm. He was injured in a collision at first base Sunday in the Cardinals' win over Kansas City.
It is the third time in his 11-year career that Pujols, a three-time National League most valuable player, has been placed on the disabled list.
Pujols is hitting .279 -- well below his career average of .329 -- with 17 home runs and 45 runs batted in. He is in the final year of his contract with St. Louis.
The Cardinals recalled infielder/outfielder Mark Hamilton from Triple-A Memphis to take the empty spot on the roster. Hamilton hit .115 in limited action with St. Louis this season.
Mets' Jose Reyes won't talk contract
NEW YORK, June 21 (UPI) -- New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes has indicated he won't talk about a new contract until the end of the season, General Manager Sandy Alderson said Tuesday.
Alderson said agent Peter Greenberg rebuffed the team's efforts to talk about an extension for the 28-year-old free agent-to-be, who is having his best season with the Mets.
"He wants to focus on baseball," Alderson told MLB.com. "He wants to focus on what's going on on the field. So with that in mind, we will respect his wishes and hopefully pick up negotiations at the end of the season."
Reyes is batting .341, tops in the National League, with a major league-best 12 triples and 26 stolen bases, second-most in baseball.
His decision forces the financially-strapped Mets ownership to make a decision on whether to trade him before the season ends or risk having him walk away for little in return if they can't meet his demands after the season.
NBA owners push for 'flexible' salary cap
NEW YORK, June 21 (UPI) -- NBA team owners Tuesday proposed what they call "a very significant offer" for a flexible salary cap in talks with players on a collective bargaining agreement.
Commissioner David Stern said owners introduced the "flex cap" in their latest bargaining session. He said it included a targeted team payroll of $62 million that would be bracketed by minimum and a maximum amounts, NBA.com reported.
"We made what we think is a very significant offer to the players to avoid a work stoppage," Stern told the Web site. "This is virtually the best shot we think we have to both demonstrate to the players our good faith (and) our desire to go as far as we can to avoid a lockout."
However, Los Angeles Lakers guard and National Basketball Players Association President Derek Fisher called the owners' proposal a "hard" salary cap -- something players are determined to avoid -- in which teams are not allowed to spend above a certain amount under any circumstances.
"Today was productive," Fisher told NBA.com. "There was movement. But we're still very far apart."
The current bargaining agreement expires June 30, with a lockout likely the next day if no new agreement is reached.
