Advertisement "We are no longer negotiating a marketing deal. Those talks are over," a Packers source said Sunday afternoon. "Once he boards that plane, his intentions are clear."
According to a source close to the situation, the Packers have come off their commitment to Rodgers as their starter and are now open to having a quarterback competition in camp. Coach Mike McCarthy was in the process of talking to Rodgers about the shift in plans Sunday afternoon.
The team also released a statement from president and CEO Mark Murphy, who had gone to Hattiesburg, Miss., last week to discuss the 10-year, $20 million marketing deal with Favre and his agent, James "Bus" Cook.
"Sixteen years after Brett Favre came to the Packers, he is returning for a seventeenth season. He has had a great career with our organization and although we built this year around the assumption that Brett meant what he said about retiring, Brett is coming back. We will welcome him back and turn this situation to our advantage.
"Frankly, Brett's change of mind put us in a very difficult spot. We now will revise many actions and assumptions about our long-term future, all predicated on Brett's decision last March to retire. As a result of his decision, we invested considerably in a new and different future without Brett and we were obviously moving in that direction. That's why this wasn't easy. Having crossed the Rubicon once when Brett decided to retire, it's very difficult to reorient our plans and cross it again in the opposite direction - but we'll put this to our advantage.
"Brett will be in camp tomorrow. Although there has been uncertainty regarding Brett's return, Ted Thompson and Coach McCarthy had previously discussed this and have had a plan in place. Coach McCarthy will talk to the team and the quarterbacks about the plan moving forward, and after he has done that we will share it publicly.
"No matter what, I look forward to another successful season for the Packers and our fans. This has been a tough situation, but the Packers will make the most of it."
It is still unclear whether Favre will make an appearance at tonight's Family Night Scrimmage. The sold-out event will draw 60,000 people to the stadium, with pre-scrimmage festivities set for 6:30 and on-field drills set for 7:30. There is no practice on Monday.
"He's welcome (to come)," Packers spokesman Jeff Blumb said. "Whether he does or not is up to him."
Goodell to reinstate Favre
The latest twist in the Favre saga followed news that Favre will be reinstated to the Green Bay Packers' roster by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at noon Monday.
ESPN, which has been used throughout the ordeal by the Favre camp to leak developments from its side, breathlessly reported the breaking news Sunday morning that Goodell had reinstated Favre -- even though the NFL office is technically closed on Sundays.
Asked via email by the State Journal shortly after the ESPN report whether the report was true and Favre has indeed been reinstated, NFL senior vice president of media relations Greg Aiello replied via email, "Commissioner Goodell will reinstate Brett Favre to the Green Bay Packers' active roster, effective at noon on Monday, August 4."
At that time, the Packers will have to make a roster move to create room for Favre on the 80-man roster. A league source told the State Journal that Goodell called Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy Sunday morning to let the Packers know his plans to reinstate Favre, starting the Packers' 24-hour clock to put Favre back ont he roster.
ESPN later changed the semantics its initial report, saying "Favre first informed ESPN's Ed Werder of his pending reinstatement Sunday morning in Hattiesburg, Miss."
According Werder, Favre was scheduled to fly to Green Bay later this afternoon, arriving at about 5:30 p.m. Favre, his wife Deanna and agent James "Bus" Cook are flying to Green Bay together.
Team boosted licensing offer
The network didn't say whether the move was the result of negotiations breaking down between Favre and the Packers on the long-term marketing and licensing contract the club offered Favre last week.
A source close to the negotiations told the State Journal that Favre and the Packers, whose initial proposal was for 10 years and $20 million, were talking about a $25 million contract, but apparently that higher payday didn't get the deal done, either. The source said the Packers had come up from their original offer while Favre's side at one point floated a number of more than $30 million.
However, the source told the State Journal that those talks aren't dead, despite Sunday's developments. In fact, there are some who believe Favre is coming to Green Bay as part of a power play to force the Packers to meet his asking price.
Werder also suggested that Favre still could be considering signing the marketing deal, saying that Favre thinks the Packers believe Favre is bluffing about reporting to camp. And Favre is, in turn, showing them he is serious.
Friends to Favre: 'Go play'
In an interview with sportswriter friend Al Jones of the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald on Saturday, Favre said, "I don't know how this will be resolved yet. I do know if I am going to play this year, I need to get in camp. I would love to play again. Everyone says, 'Brett, go play.' My question is, where?"
Regarding the marketing and licensing deal, Favre told Jones, "When I retire, (the Packers) lose all marketing rights. They cannot sell anything with my name on it. That's a big deal to them. It's just like an endorsement with Nike. We have been working on that (deal) for some time."
Favre signed his reinstatement paperwork on July 27 but did not report to training camp, agreeing to wait after Packers general manager Ted Thompson asked him to give the team a few days.
Favre then waited to fax his reinstatement application to the league office until Tuesday afternoon, and on Tuesday night, Murphy flew to Hattiesburg.
On Wednesday, Murphy met with Cook for eight hours (Favre attended the first three hours of the meeting) to discuss the personal services contract offer. Murphy then returned to Green Bay Wednesday night, and the sides continued to negotiate the parameters of the deal Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
On Saturday, Goodell said he expected to make a decision on Favre's status on Monday -- putting the Packers and Favre on notice that the sides had to either come to an agreement on the marketing deal or figure out where Favre will play in 2008.
"I think the discussions are moving ahead. I would hope we'll have something resolved by Monday," Goodell said in an interview on the NFL Network from Canton, Ohio, where the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony was being held. "I think we have to force it. I think it's come to the point where there needs to be some decisions made on the behalf of the Packers, on behalf of Brett and on behalf of all the fans."
Favre has wife's blessing
A source that has been in regular contact with Favre told the State Journal that Favre's wife, Deanna, doesn't want him to accept the settlement.
Deanna Favre is also quoted in this week's Sports Illustrated essentially saying just that.
"You're a football player," she told her husband, according to Peter King. "You need to play football."
If Favre signs the marketing deal, it would rule out the possibility of him coming to the rescue during the season if new starter Aaron Rodgers were to suffer an injury and rookie backups Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn weren't ready to take over.
According to the NFL's "stockpiling" rule, there is only a small window of time in which a player who has a non-playing contract with a team can still apply for reinstatement to active status.
An NFL spokesman said the rule states any player on the reserve/retired list who was employed by a club off-the-field would not be eligible for the roster after the cut-down to 75 players, which this year is on Aug. 26.
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