NFL to Cut Revenue Sharing Program | IXGAMES

As early as September, news that the NFL is planning to do away with its revenue sharing scheme, which amounts to $100 million, has been circulating. However, most of these news items were actually dismissed.  As a matter of fact, Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was punished with a $100,000 fine for blurting out this news and violating a gag order in the process. The NFL has notified the union of players that starting March of 2010, the league’s owners are pulling the plug on the revenue sharing program.  This program has been responsible for subsidizing clubs that have lower revenues.  The move is set to have an impact on the balance of competitiveness among teams and the money that goes to up-and-coming free agents. Possible consequences of cutting the revenue sharing program The announcement has prompted the association of NFL players to question the validity of the move.  They claim that owners cannot kill the revenue sharing program without asking the consent of the player’s union.  According to them, this stipulation is in the labor agreement of 2006, which is still in effect until March of 2011.  NFL management responded by saying the stipulations only apply to the seasons where a salary cap is implemented.  This will not be the case for 2010, which is uncapped.  The players have forwarded their concerns to Stephen Burbank, an NFL arbitrator, who is also a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania and chief resolver of collective bargaining disputes between the NFL and the players’ association. The move is going to affect approximately 12 teams that usually qualify to get funds from the NFL supplemental revenue pool.  All clubs share about $6.5 billion in revenue, and the $100 million fund is just a small portion of it.  The spokesman of the FLPA, George Atallah, has been quoted as saying that the pulling out of the fund can spell blackouts for a number of teams. The revenue pool has taken effect since 2007, in which teams with high revenues share money with teams that are not so wealthy in compensation for differences in revenues that are related to stadiums.  An example would be the $1 billion dollar stadium of the Dallas Cowboys and the antiquated venues that house other small NFL teams. The news should be advantageous to other teams aside from the Cowboys who plan to recruit new players by the lure of huge, uncapped salaries and new venues–Philadelphia will be playing in a new stadium, and so will the Patriots and Broncos.  Alas, the news will not be so sweet with the nine teams that are qualified for the supposed 2010 dole out.  When March 2010 comes, the nine teams will have to look for funding elsewhere.