NFL owners forced to keep revenue pool in place…a victory for the players?

A win is always a win…except when it might not be a win.

Last week Special Master Stephen Burbank ruled that league owners wouldn’t be allowed to dismantle the supplemental revenue sharing pool (SRS) in 2010.  The pool will be valued at roughly $220 million dollars in 2010.  The NFLPA viewed the ruling as a victory,

“The Special Master basically rejected every single argument that management made and regardless of how the league characterizes the decision, this is a victory for players, for low-revenue clubs and the fans,” said Jeffrey Kessler, the lead counsel for the union in the case.

Kessler said that the ruling, if upheld, should motivate low-revenue clubs to participate in spending on their own players and potential free agents, regardless of whether those free agents are restricted by any means allowed in an uncapped year. (via ESPN)

While the NFL is looking to appeal the decision,

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said, “Today’s decision involves a small sliver of the NFL’s overall commitment to revenue sharing. The NFL for decades has shared more than 80 percent of league and club revenues. In the 2006 collective bargaining agreement that expires in 2011, the NFL clubs also agreed to a small percentage of additional revenue sharing because of the new CBA’s significantly increased salary cap. The agreement calls for no salary cap in 2010 and that additional piece of revenue sharing to which the clubs had agreed in 2006 is therefore no longer required in our view. Although the Special Master disagreed with our interpretation on that issue, we are hopeful that Judge Doty, who will look at the issue anew, will see it differently.”

It’s a victory for the NFLPA, right?  Eh, not quite.  Since 2010 is going to be an uncapped year, the NFL basically ends up with a situation akin to MLB; namely no salary floor.  If you own the Jacksonville Jaguars (Wayne Weaver) and you are losing money on a yearly basis, are you going to take your SRS money and spend it on more players or just pocket the money to make your bottom line look better?

Is there really any incentive for the owners to spend their money on the players in an uncapped year?  Maybe MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates can answer that question for you (…for the last 17 years.)

In this case, it looks very likely that the players may lose…even if they win on appeal.

Tags: CBA, Collective Bargaining Agreement, NFL, NFLPA, revenue sharing, salary cap, supplemental revenue sharing, uncapped year

Category: Football