PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Mark Murphy's first trip to the NFL meetings hasn't solely been a meet- 'n '-greet. It just sort of feels that way.

The Green Bay Packers' new president and CEO has spent a significant share of his time at The Breakers being introduced to the other 31 teams' owners and various other league officials, with retired president and chairman emeritus Bob Harlan familiarizing everyone with "The New Guy."

"My wife (Madeline) and I are really just trying to work with the Murphys (Mark and wife Laurie) to introduce them to different people. I've had a couple owners come up to me and say they want to meet him and get to know him," said Harlan, who attended his first NFL annual meeting in 1977 and is now at his last.

Harlan went through a similar process last year with John Jones -- "I just told (former Packers executive and current Tennessee Titans GM Mike) Reinfeldt I might come back next year and see if I can get the hat trick," Harlan said -- before Jones was deemed unfit to ascend to the top of the Packers' administration last May.

Jones, however, had worked in the league office and been with the Packers since 1999, so he knew many of the principals, whereas Murphy had been the athletic director at Northwestern and Colgate before coming to the Packers.

"This is a little different for Mark coming in brand new," Harlan said. "I'm anxious to sit down and talk with him and see what he thinks. He called me last week and we discussed things to look forward to at this meeting and what to expect."

Even though Murphy, who played safety for eight seasons with the Washington Redskins, was part of the NFL Players Association's negotiating team as the group's assistant executive director, he'd never been to an annual meeting before this week.

"We weren't welcome here," he said with a laugh, referring to the contentious owner-player relationship of his playing days in the 1980s.

Now, the 52-year-old Murphy could find himself smack-dab in the middle of another ugly labor fight, albeit from the other side of the aisle. Owners can vote to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement with the players this fall, and while no decision has been or will be reached during these meetings, the feeling is the league will choose to re-open the CBA, perhaps as early as November.

If they do, and a new deal isn't reached before the 2010 season, there will be no salary cap that year, a potential disaster for the small-market Packers.

Commissioner Roger Goodell, while acknowleding the league agreed to the current CBA just two years ago, claimed the downturn in the economy and the souring of the bond market has caused "thinner margins" for ownership.

"It was only two years ago, but I think we're starting to realize that (the economics of the CBA) has swung significantly toward the players, and that is a big concern for our ownership," Goodell said. "When you get into an economy that we have gotten ourselves into, where margins are tight and you might have interest rates flare very quickly with respect to stadium financing, that can really hvae a significant impact on clubs.

"The uncapped year? I hope it doesn't come to that. I hope that we can reach an agreement that is satisfactory to the players and to the ownership. ... There are a lot of owners that aren't concerned about an uncapped season because the salary cap (currently $116 million) is so high right now."

Murphy was unwilling to talk about how reopening the CBA could impact the Packers -- "I think there's a lot of analysis and study that needs to be done," he said -- and admitted getting acclimated is his first priority.

"I think it's like anything else when you're new in an organization: I think you really need to make sure you understand the issues, as well as all the players -- and by players, I mean everybody that's involved from the league, the teams, the committees -- to learn as much as you can," Murphy said. "I've really enjoyed it. I've had a lot of good discussion. I'm trying to reach out to as many of the owners and people from other teams and try to establish good relationships. Bob's been helpful in terms of (meeting) some of the people.

"There's a lot to learn. I've been out to the league office a couple of times to visit with the different league departments, so I came into it with a pretty good sense of some of the issues, but having it all at once has been really helpful because I feel like I'm learning so much."