And although he chose to focus on telephony, he has treated it as a bargaining chip in his financial game, to be sold to Germany's Mannesmann to help pay for his bid.
Rather than address the challenge of improving the collective-bargaining agreement for the benefit of the game, the union-financed lawsuit attacks virtually every aspect of the current system including the draft, the salary cap and free-agency rules, which collectively have been responsible for the quality and popularity of the game for nearly two decades.
The NFL will present a proposal including the 18-game season and a more modest rollback of the percentage share allocated to players from the previous collective bargaining agreement.