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Packers address Favre, finances with shareholders

GREEN BAY — Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy was cheered when he brought up the dreaded F-word—Favre—at Thursday’s annual meeting with the team’s shareholders.

The warm reception could be a sign many fans are backing the way the Pack has handled its indecisive ex-quarterback.

Speaking to about 7,500 fans who hold shares in the NFL’s only publicly owned franchise, Murphy praised the way the Packers handled Brett Favre’s unretirement saga and subsequent trade to the New York Jets last year.

“We felt we had to act in the best long-term interests of the Packers,” he said.

Murphy reiterated the team’s pledge to eventually retire Favre’s No. 4 jersey, but again was not willing to guess when the rift between the team and one of its most popular players might heal.

With that, Murphy said the Packers are moving on.

The former Washington Redskins safety, who joined the Packers in January 2008 after a stint as the athletic director at Northwestern, expressed optimism about the upcoming season but detailed to shareholders his concerns about looming economic trends and labor issues.

The Packers posted a $20.1 million operating profit for the fiscal year ending March 31. Even taking into account significant investment losses the Packers still managed $4 million in net income.

Such economic issues are expected to drive upcoming labor negotiations between NFL owners and the players’ union.

Balking at a system that pays players about 60 percent of the league’s gross revenue, owners voted last year to opt out of the current agreement. If the two sides don’t agree to a new deal, the league could face a work stoppage in 2011.

“To me, there’s no question: The biggest issue that we’re going to face, as well as the league, is our collective-bargaining situation,” Murphy said.

The union could try to use the Packers’ ability to turn a modest profit in a rough economy to show that NFL owners can prosper under the current system; other teams are privately owned and don’t make their financial information public.

But Murphy said the current system will be “hard to sustain,” even for the Packers.

“When you really dig in and look at the numbers, it shows the issues that we have with the union. Just the last two years, our player costs have gone up $14 million—at a much higher rate than our revenues,” Murphy said.

Murphy, who has a law degree and worked for the union after his playing days were over, took time during Thursday’s meeting to make a 17-minute presentation on the history and future of NFL labor relations.

And yes, he saw some glazed-over eyes staring back at him.

“I actually cut it back a little bit,” Murphy joked. “They would have been REALLY bored.”

Packers sign Matthews

The Green Bay Packers have signed first-round draft pick Clay Matthews III, leaving only fellow first-rounder B.J. Raji unsigned with the Packers poised to report to training camp today.

Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

After taking Raji, a defensive tackle out of Boston College, with the No. 9 overall pick in April’s draft, the Packers traded up to acquire the 26th overall pick and take Matthews, an outside linebacker from Southern California. Matthews is expected to play outside linebacker in the Packers’ new 3-4 defensive alignment.

The Packers also released wide receiver Jamarko Simmons.

Vikings’ Udeze retires to fight his cancer

Minnestoa defensive end Kenechi Udeze, diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia in February 2008, made it clear he would beat the disease but also remained confident he would return to the football field in 2009.

That remarkable goal seemed to be coming closer to being a reality this spring when Udeze took part in the Vikings’ offseason practices.

However, it was during that time that Udeze began to realize that neuropathy in his feet, a side effect of his chemotherapy treatments, meant a return to the NFL likely wouldn’t be possible.

Udeze was placed on the Vikings’ reserve/retired list Thursday.

Udeze, who underwent a bone marrow transplant last July, issued a statement.

“My leukemia is still in remission and I am well,” said Udeze, who is in Idaho visiting family.