Giants and Patriots owners helped end lockout - Ingles

If they handed out a trophy for saving the 2011 NFL season, then Giants co-owner John Mara and Patriots owner Robert Kraft would be standing on the podium together accepting the award from the 2,000 players in the league.

So, it’s appropriate the Giants and Patriots are playing in Super Bowl XLVI.

Only one of them will be on the podium Sunday night at Lucas Oil Stadium hugging the Vince Lombardi Trophy, but Mara and Kraft played invaluable roles as lead negotiators in ending the lockout and allowing the Super Bowl to even be played this year. They helped find a middle ground in the treacherous waters filled with hard-line owners and players, each of whom wanted to break the other in labor negotiations contaminated by mistrust and venom.

More than anybody, Mara and Kraft put an end to the torturous 136-day lockout that had threatened the season. They knew the owners and players needed each other and it was a partnership. They were the voices of reason.

“I don’t think anybody on the 10-member labor committee spent more time on it than John Mara,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told the Daily News. “During all the sessions we had in Washington, I think he was there for 20 of the 23 days. Then he was obviously in Minnesota and every other significant moment. He played a very critical role throughout the process, right to conclusion.”

Mara has since been named chairman of the powerful NFL Management Council Executive Committee/Labor. He was there as the drama unfolded in Washington, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston and New York and only jury duty in April kept him away. Kraft, one of the smartest businessmen in the NFL who built his $325 million stadium with his own money and without PSLs, played a huge role despite having a heavy heart as his beloved wife Myra — he still called her “my sweetheart” after 48 years of marriage — was struggling with cancer.

She died at the age of 68 on July 20, five days before the lockout ended. Kraft stood in front of the NFL Players Association offices in Washington when the 10-year deal with no opt-outs on either side was announced on July 25. Kraft was given a heartwarming hug by Colts center Jeff Saturday, one of the most important players during the ordeal.

“Robert was obviously dealing with very stressful and personal issues with the health of Myra at the time,” Goodell said. “Those six months, he was always there when he was called upon. Whenever I asked him, when we had an important meeting, his first priority was Myra. He never compromised that. But he always tried hard to be at crucial meetings.”

The turning point in the labor talks came in June when the negotiating committees were reduced to five representatives for the owners and five for the players. “John and Robert were both a part of that,” Goodell said. “Those sessions created the foundation for the agreement. The level of understanding and respect got to the point of creating solutions.”

The Krafts and Maras and the Tisches, who bought 50% of the Giants from Tim Mara in 1991, have had a bond for years, but the friendship between John Mara and Robert Kraft was cemented during the tense labor negotiations.

“We grew pretty close,” Mara said. “I learned a lot just working with him. He’s a very smart, savvy businessman. He speaks his mind and gets right to the point. I think the players respect that. Obviously he was going through a tough time. I remember him saying on several occasions that it was good for him to get out and it took his mind off what was going on at home. I developed a great deal of respect and admiration for how he conducted himself during the entire process. He was a key factor in getting a deal.”

Training camps were able to open on time the weekend of July 29-31. If the talks had continued to drag on, then the start of the season would have been pushed back. But Kraft thought it would get much worse. “It really saved the season,” he said by phone from Foxborough. “We would have lost the season. I am convinced of that.”

Wellington Mara was always known as the voice of reason in labor talks and his oldest son John has inherited that quality. He was not viewed as the enemy. Neither was Kraft.

“John was awesome,” Kraft said. “His whole family tradition means so much to the history of the NFL. He carries the name that means so much. He also understands the game and is really respected among the owners. He is very levelheaded and firm. He knows when to push back, but he also knows when to give in. You can tell the people on the other side trusted him and that was so important.”

Kraft is the chairman of the television committee and knew big deals with the networks were imminent and the players would get their share. He showed the players how they would benefit. Nobody stood to gain if the season was canceled. After the lockout ended, the NFL signed eight- and nine-year extensions with its four network partners worth about $5 billion per year. The players get about 48% of the money.

“We promised them we wouldn’t let them do a bad deal,” Kraft said. “Then, to do these media deals, they are the beneficiaries.”

Mara remembers when he came off the podium four years ago after the Giants beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII that Kraft and his son Jonathan had come out of the locker room to offer their congratulations while the celebration was still going on. “It was such a classy move,” he said.

K raft said the Maras and Tisches “are two of my favorite owners in the league. It makes it a little more fun when you are playing people you respect and like. I am very fond of both of them.”

Now their teams are playing for the championship of a season Mara and Kraft helped save.

This article was written by Gary Myers and appeared in the New York Daily News.