Report: Sides resume meeting

Times staff, wires
Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Owners and players met Wednesday in the Boston area in the latest attempt to work out a new collective bargaining agreement, the Associated Press reported.

Commissioner Roger Goodell and members of his labor committee resumed negotiations with players association chief DeMaurice Smith and several players, the AP said. A day earlier, owners were briefed on recent progress on a new agreement.

Two days of meetings were scheduled, but it was not clear whether the talks would continue today.

Both sides seemed optimistic about reaching an agreement after owners were briefed on a proposal that would net the players just under 50 percent of total revenue.

A league-imposed lockout has been in place since March 12. Training camps are scheduled to open in late July.

The owners spent five hours Tuesday listening to updates on collective bargaining issues. Afterward, the league's chief negotiator, Jeff Pash, said "we're eager to accelerate the pace of the negotiations."

In the latest proposal, the players' share of revenue would approach the 50 percent the union has said it has received throughout the last decade, the AP reported. But the expense credits that the league takes off the top — about $1 billion last year —would disappear.

Also, there would no longer be "designated revenues" from which the players would share, the AP said. Instead, the players would share from the entire revenue pie.

A salary floor keeping teams within 90 percent of the cap also would be included. The players have been concerned that some teams whose revenue streams don't match up with the richer clubs would try to hold down salary spending.

Ex-Bucs employee arrested in sex sting

A former luxury suite sales manager for the Bucs was among 32 men arrested in a sex sting operation, the Leesburg Daily Commercial reported.

Brian Weiss was among the men ranging in age from 19 to 63 who arrived at a Clermont vacation home with the intent of having sex with girls age 9 to 14, the Lake County Sheriff's Office told the newspaper. Instead, they were met by sheriff's deputies in a predator sex-sting operation that began June 14 and ended Sunday.

Weiss was charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex, obscene communication using a computer, and lewd and lascivious behavior. If convicted, he could 25 years in prison.

Bucs spokesman Jonathan Grella declined to comment but said Weiss no longer works for the team.

To lure Weiss and others, undercover detectives pretended to be children in chat rooms looking for men interested in having sex. When the men showed up at the vacation home, they were arrested.

"These suspects came with the intention of having sex with a child," Sheriff Gary Borders said at a news conference Tuesday. "Instead, they went to jail,"

This is the fifth Bucs-related arrest in the past 11 months. Jay Kaiser, 37, assistant to head coach Raheem Morris, was charged with driving under the influence. Pro scouting coordinator Shelton Quarles, 39, and then-defensive line assistant coach Chris Mosley, 32, were arrested on DUI charges. Defensive back Aqib Talib was indicted last month of charges of aggravated assault with deadly weapon in connection with a shooting in Texas.

Ravens: Uncertainty over the lockout forced the team to move its training camp this year to its facility in Owings Mills, Md., from McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., vice president of operations Bob Eller said.

Times staff writer Rick Stroud contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/report-sides-resume-meeting/1176824

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