No, Kraft is no venturing into engineering. He wants to repair the fractured relationship between NFL owners and the players' union in an effort to get a new collective bargaining agreement in place before 2011, when there could conceivably be a lockout. Kraft went on WEEI's Big Show this week and discussed his feelings on a new CBA.
"It's in the best interest of everyone if ownership goes out and takes risks to grow revenue and it's shared appropriately," Kraft told the radio program. "Right now, we made a mistake [with the last CBA]. People make errors, people make mistakes. The deal doesn't work for both sides. What I'm talking about is a deal where we’ll have competitive balance."
Kraft's biggest fear from a new deal is losing the NFL's competitive balance, not just on the field but financially too. He pointed out the success of the Super Bowl between Indianapolis and New Orleans, two the teams from relatively small markets.
Kraft acknowledges the NFL's successes under the expiring CBA.
"I just think since we bought the team, I think the salary cap was like $34 [million], and now with fringe benefits it's $150 [million]," Kraft said. "So in 16 years, income has gone up 500 percent."
But Kraft considers the deal too one-sided.
"We just did a bad deal," Kraft said on WEEI. "I'm sure many of the listeners are small business people or larger business people. In the end, you can't do business without doing a deal that’s good for both sides."
With a business like the NFL, you have to worry about both sides as well as the consumers. One of the richest men in America, Kraft understands the business complexities that come with the CBA and understands that NFL could suffer greatly if it can’t figure things out and are forced to lock out the players.
"I think our fans and fans around the country, the last thing they want to hear is squabbles between well-to-do players and well-to-do owners," Kraft said. "It's not like we’re in a dying industry. We're in an industry where people want to see our product, where people want to be part of it and we can't forget and abuse that."
There could be a lot of posturing from both sides that could hold things up and make the negotiations difficult, but he thinks everyone should be able to reach a deal that is mutually beneficial. The deadline may be almost a year a way, but Kraft already has begun to build as many bridges as possible and get the deal done.
"As long as business people are looking at the facts and making the decisions, we'll get a resolution to this," Kraft concluded.
NFL fans are hoping he's right.
