Revenue Sharing On Owners' Slate

NFL team owners will try to resolve a long-standing debate over revenue sharing when they meet this week in Phoenix. If they can't, it probably will be left to Commissioner Roger Goodell to resolve it for them.

The owners are scheduled to vote on a proposal that would establish the criteria by which teams would qualify for additional funds under the plan for bolstered revenue sharing approved last year as part of the labor settlement, according to an executive familiar with the deliberations.

"There's a proposal and there's going to be a vote," said the executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the revenue sharing debate remains contentious within the ownership ranks. "If this proposal doesn't get it done, it will probably just be up to the commissioner."

The participants began gathering over the weekend for the annual league meeting that's scheduled to open today with an address by Goodell to the owners, executives and coaches. A league spokesman said last week that Goodell might announce a new player-conduct policy tomorrow. That issue has been at the forefront since approximately three dozen NFL players were arrested last year, and NFL Players Association chief Gene Upshaw said the new conduct policy will include a provision for Goodell to impose a suspension of up to one year on a player with repeat criminal offenses. The player then would have to apply for reinstatement to the league, according to Upshaw.

The owners also are to vote this week on a series of proposals by the competition committee, including one to allow one defensive player per team to have a radio receiver in his helmet to connect him to a coach during a game.

To some owners, however, a revenue sharing resolution would be the week's most significant development. Last March, with the threat of a labor confrontation with the union looming, the owners voted, 30-2, to approve a proposal by Upshaw giving the players 59.5 percent of league revenues under the salary cap system. At the same time, the owners approved a revenue sharing deal that was to transfer about $900 million from high-revenue franchises to lower-revenue teams over a six-year span.

Not all of the details of the revenue sharing system were in place when the owners approved the accord, though. The owners determined that the 15 wealthiest clubs would pay, but they didn't establish the criteria by which teams would qualify to receive money. Then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue appointed owners to a committee to advise him on the issue, but it was understood that the commissioner would make the final decision if the owners couldn't reach an agreement.

The deliberations on the qualifier issue have moved slowly since then, and Goodell inherited the debate along with the commissioner's job from Tagliabue in September. Owners have been critical of the labor deal, saying it's too expensive for the teams. Owners and executives from lower-revenue clubs say they are being hit particularly hard and they need the qualifier issue to be resolved so the new revenue sharing plan can go into effect and provide some financial relief. There remains significant unrest between the owners of the wealthier and the needier franchises.

The qualifier proposal needs at least 24 votes among the 32 teams to be enacted. According to the executive familiar with the discussions, the proposal would have 17 to 18 teams receiving additional revenue sharing funds annually. It's possible, he said, for a team to be both a payer and a receiver of funds in the same year. He said it's not certain the proposal will be approved but he thinks the chances of that are relatively good.

"I don't think anyone is completely happy with the proposal," the executive said. "That's probably a good indication it's fair to everyone."