National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed his involvement in the ongoing retirement stalemate between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, saying he is trying to help the two sides reach a settlement.
Goodell said he was asked to become involved in "various discussions" between Favre and the Packers while making his first public comments on the issue on Monday.
"I'm glad to see that there are productive discussions and they're talking directly to one another," Goodell said from Buffalo Bills training camp. "They're both important to the league going forward, and I'm hopeful they'll reach a proper resolution."
Favre is considering filing for reinstatement with the NFL and reporting to training camp with the Packers this week, a move that might pressure Green Bay to release or trade him. Favre agreed to delaying his arrival to camp after conversations with general manager Ted Thompson over the weekend, a scenario Goodell said he was not involved in.
"From my standpoint these are decisions that the team and Brett are going to have to make individually based on what their desires are," said Goodell. "The most important thing is that they're communicating properly and they both understand what's important to one another."
The Packers filed tampering charges against the Vikings, believing that much of Favre's decision to file for reinstatement was prompted by interest from Minnesota.
Goodell said the league is in the middle of its investigation and working toward a resolution.
"We take every tampering charge seriously," said Goodell. "As you know, we did discipline a club earlier this year for a violation of the tampering policy. It's been an important policy so we will enforce it."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report
