NFL GETS A DEAL DONE LABOR AGREEMENT IS EXTENDED FOR SIX YEARS.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

After an up-and-down, on-and-off 10 days of negotiations that put the labor in labor talks, the NFL and its players union reached agreement Wednesday night on a six-year contract extension.

Naturally, they needed all day to do it.

The owners, meeting near Dallas for the last two days, approved the latest proposal by the NFL Players Association, 30-2, with Buffalo and Cincinnati dissenting.

But the vote didn't come before a vigorous debate and plenty of lobbying on several revenue sharing plans - something the union had demanded be included in a new agreement and a subject that pitted the high-revenue clubs against many of the others.

``It was a good compromise,'' said Jim Irsay, owner of low-revenue Indianapolis. ``We're happy with it - 30-2 is a good vote.''

The vote ended a dispute that had threatened the prosperity that players and owners have enjoyed as revenues, salaries and franchise values have continued to soar under the previous 12 years of the labor contract.

If an agreement had not been reached by 9 p.m. PST, new rules would have kicked in, severely limiting what teams could pay under the salary cap rules. The end result would have been the release of many veterans as teams scrambled to get under the cap, and much less money available for rookies.

``There was certainly a palpable degree of anxiety,'' said agent Leigh Steinberg, though he maintained through all the wrangling that a deal would be done. ``There were many anxious players.''

Steinberg said without a new labor deal former USC quarterback Matt Leinart, expected to be one of the top few picks, it ``would have been impossible to realize much more than half the guaranteed money'' that last year went to Alex Smith, the quarterback who was guaranteed $24 million by the 49ers.

Instead of a salary cap of $94.5 million with much more restrictive rules, the cap next season will be at $102 million, with it raised to $109 in 2007. Last year, the salary cap was about $85.5 million per team.

``It's happy days,'' Steinberg said of the 20 percent increase in the cap from a year ago.

It's also good for many teams. Without an agreement, the Colts had no chance to retain Pro Bowl running back Edgerrin James. Now, Irsay said, they'll try to pay him what he deserves.

Free agency, which has twice been postponed in the last week as NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue asked his counterpart, NFLPA president Gene Upshaw, for more time, is slated to start today at 9:01 p.m. PST. However, there were reports that it could be pushed back until Friday night.

If this was viewed as a dispute between players and owners, the real debate was over increased revenue sharing.

The NFL's economic model, implemented in the early 1960s when the television contract revenues were shared, has allowed Green Bay to compete on and off the field with New York. In recent years it has become the envy of other pro leagues, as the NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball have instituted lockouts in an effort to institute a type of salary cap.

But thanks to the explosion in unshared revenues from suite sales, naming rights and local sponsorships - all fueled by the boom in new stadiums - the gap between teams has grown. The Redskins, who according to Forbes Magazine last September were the highest grossing team with $287 million in revenues, brought in nearly twice as much money as the lowest, the Cardinals, who grossed $153 million.

The low-revenue teams say high-revenue teams should contribute proportionately to the pool for player salaries.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

Billy Witz, [phone]

billy.witz(at)dailynews.com