Post by CEO on May 31, 2005 12:02:30 GMT -5
www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/8504227
By Clark Judge
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Ralph Wilson, you may have your wish.
Ralph Wilson wants all teams to have a near-equal chance to field a winner. Owner of the Buffalo Bills since their inception, Wilson has been one of the voices crying out for a settlement by NFL owners on revenue sharing, and until this week he believed he wasn't heard.
But then came Wednesday, and now there seems to be sufficient progress on the subject to give Wilson hope.
"I think we have a more broad consensus where one or two or three structural changes could work," said commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
In essence, all would involve compromises to accommodate small-revenue clubs like Buffalo, which tries to stay competitive despite a shrinking population and a depressed local economy.
It hasn't been easy, but the Bills manage on the field -- barely missing the playoffs last year after an 0-4 start, losing out only when they dropped their season finale.
But Wilson wonders how the Bills remain competitive if, under a future labor accord, big-revenue owners such as Dallas' Jerry Jones or Washington's Daniel Snyder not share portions of locally generated money.
After hearing what Tagliabue had to stay after this week's annual spring meetings he may not have to worry.
"The sharing I envision," Wilson said, "is not Russia where every team makes the same as the other team, but where every team should be able to make enough money so it can field a competitive team."
Jones and Snyder have different perspectives on the subject, and that, folks, is where we had an impasse. While the league's players association wonders why it can't start hammering out an agreement with the league, NFL owners came to this week's meetings wondering why they couldn't hammer out an agreement among themselves.
The problem is this: Some of the NFL's clubs, one owner said, spend as little as 40 percent of their gross revenues on player costs, while others spend as much as 65 percent. The Bills' Wilson believes that's unfair and will disrupt the league's competitive balance, and he's not alone. Kansas City's Lamar Hunt is behind him. So is Pittsburgh's Dan Rooney. And the Colts' Jim Irsay.
But the Cowboys' Jones wonders why, in a league where he said 85 percent of the profits are shared, he must split profits from locally produced revenues. After all, if he's working harder than, say, Cincinnati to sell jerseys or corporate sponsorships why should he share money that could exceed $100 million over another clubs.
Wilson has an answer.
"Dallas is in a bigger market than Buffalo," he said. "Certainly they can sell more T-shirts and caps and paraphernalia, and that's fine. I don't begrudge any franchise from making all the money it wants. The only thing I take issue with Jerry on is that he worked harder than anyone else.
"He's been saying he's an entrepreneur. It's not just now; he's mentioned that in meeting for years. He's doing a good job, and we're friends. I like Jerry. But I don't agree that he works harder than we do. We work just as hard in the smaller market as he does in the larger market."
Wilson is part of a group seeking a compromise on the subject, a deal that would force high-revenue teams like New England, Philadelphia, Washington and Dallas to share part of their locally generated revenues with others. The plan is controversial, but, from Wilson's perspective, the intention is not all that different from when he loaned the Oakland Raiders $400,000 in 1961 so the club could stay in business.
"If that franchise folded the whole league would've folded," said Wilson.
The NFL is not in danger of folding, but Wilson believes its future is jeopardized if there's no agreement to share revenues generated from locally generated sources like corporate sponsorships, concessions, parking, stadium naming rights, local TV and stadium advertising.
"This is very complicated," he said. "I know I couldn't understand it for a long time, and I'm sure a lot of other owners couldn't either. They're beginning to understand it now, and they're understanding it because their margins or profit and cash flows are decreasing the last two or three years."
Jones and others counter that teams generating the most profit usually are teams that carry enormous debt service from recently constructed stadiums -- debt that they shoulder alone. And that's why they're defiant.
You see what I mean? What we have here is a failure to collaborate, but stay tuned. Tagliabue is optimistic owners an internal agreement could be reached by late October.
"We're not trying to break the bank," said Wilson. "We have graphs that show the teams that make the most money are the teams that make the playoffs the most times. The teams that have the most revenue far exceed the other teams in making the playoffs. What we'd like to do is just have a compromise."
Patience, Ralph. It just might happen.
Shit I'd rather be the Yankees of the NFL personally. Although the salary cap won't be lifted anytime soon, I'd rather not have the money the 'Skins earn go to every team in the league. If they were funneled back into D.C. maybe we could have some sort of advantage.
By the way I didn't read all of that shit.
By Clark Judge
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Ralph Wilson, you may have your wish.
Ralph Wilson wants all teams to have a near-equal chance to field a winner. Owner of the Buffalo Bills since their inception, Wilson has been one of the voices crying out for a settlement by NFL owners on revenue sharing, and until this week he believed he wasn't heard.
But then came Wednesday, and now there seems to be sufficient progress on the subject to give Wilson hope.
"I think we have a more broad consensus where one or two or three structural changes could work," said commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
In essence, all would involve compromises to accommodate small-revenue clubs like Buffalo, which tries to stay competitive despite a shrinking population and a depressed local economy.
It hasn't been easy, but the Bills manage on the field -- barely missing the playoffs last year after an 0-4 start, losing out only when they dropped their season finale.
But Wilson wonders how the Bills remain competitive if, under a future labor accord, big-revenue owners such as Dallas' Jerry Jones or Washington's Daniel Snyder not share portions of locally generated money.
After hearing what Tagliabue had to stay after this week's annual spring meetings he may not have to worry.
"The sharing I envision," Wilson said, "is not Russia where every team makes the same as the other team, but where every team should be able to make enough money so it can field a competitive team."
Jones and Snyder have different perspectives on the subject, and that, folks, is where we had an impasse. While the league's players association wonders why it can't start hammering out an agreement with the league, NFL owners came to this week's meetings wondering why they couldn't hammer out an agreement among themselves.
The problem is this: Some of the NFL's clubs, one owner said, spend as little as 40 percent of their gross revenues on player costs, while others spend as much as 65 percent. The Bills' Wilson believes that's unfair and will disrupt the league's competitive balance, and he's not alone. Kansas City's Lamar Hunt is behind him. So is Pittsburgh's Dan Rooney. And the Colts' Jim Irsay.
But the Cowboys' Jones wonders why, in a league where he said 85 percent of the profits are shared, he must split profits from locally produced revenues. After all, if he's working harder than, say, Cincinnati to sell jerseys or corporate sponsorships why should he share money that could exceed $100 million over another clubs.
Wilson has an answer.
"Dallas is in a bigger market than Buffalo," he said. "Certainly they can sell more T-shirts and caps and paraphernalia, and that's fine. I don't begrudge any franchise from making all the money it wants. The only thing I take issue with Jerry on is that he worked harder than anyone else.
"He's been saying he's an entrepreneur. It's not just now; he's mentioned that in meeting for years. He's doing a good job, and we're friends. I like Jerry. But I don't agree that he works harder than we do. We work just as hard in the smaller market as he does in the larger market."
Wilson is part of a group seeking a compromise on the subject, a deal that would force high-revenue teams like New England, Philadelphia, Washington and Dallas to share part of their locally generated revenues with others. The plan is controversial, but, from Wilson's perspective, the intention is not all that different from when he loaned the Oakland Raiders $400,000 in 1961 so the club could stay in business.
"If that franchise folded the whole league would've folded," said Wilson.
The NFL is not in danger of folding, but Wilson believes its future is jeopardized if there's no agreement to share revenues generated from locally generated sources like corporate sponsorships, concessions, parking, stadium naming rights, local TV and stadium advertising.
"This is very complicated," he said. "I know I couldn't understand it for a long time, and I'm sure a lot of other owners couldn't either. They're beginning to understand it now, and they're understanding it because their margins or profit and cash flows are decreasing the last two or three years."
Jones and others counter that teams generating the most profit usually are teams that carry enormous debt service from recently constructed stadiums -- debt that they shoulder alone. And that's why they're defiant.
You see what I mean? What we have here is a failure to collaborate, but stay tuned. Tagliabue is optimistic owners an internal agreement could be reached by late October.
"We're not trying to break the bank," said Wilson. "We have graphs that show the teams that make the most money are the teams that make the playoffs the most times. The teams that have the most revenue far exceed the other teams in making the playoffs. What we'd like to do is just have a compromise."
Patience, Ralph. It just might happen.
Shit I'd rather be the Yankees of the NFL personally. Although the salary cap won't be lifted anytime soon, I'd rather not have the money the 'Skins earn go to every team in the league. If they were funneled back into D.C. maybe we could have some sort of advantage.
By the way I didn't read all of that shit.