Smaller market teams in line for help

[Sound_n_Fury]

Ralph's league-wide stature is underrated. All the more reason why he should be in the HOF:

 

http://www.nola.com/printer/printer.ssf?/b...00674253460.xml

 

Smaller markets in line for help

NFL owners putting minds to work on spreading wealth

 

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

By Josh Peter

Staff writer

 

WASHINGTON -- Financial help could be on the way for small-market teams like New Orleans, NFL owners said Tuesday.

 

A committee set up last year to study plans to reduce the financial gap between the league's small-market and big-market teams is moving closer to identifying a solution.

 

"The real goal is to determine what it is that we have to do to see that everyone can be competitive," said Bob McNair, owner of the Houston Texans and chairman of the committee. "That's the goal. We know that parity in the league is very attractive."

 

Saints owner Tom Benson cited the financial gap as the primary need for financial help when in 2001 the state of Louisiana agreed to give the club a total of $186.5 million in inducements. That deal expires in 2011. The gap between the small- and big-market teams remained an issue when the Saints and negotiators representing Gov. Kathleen Blanco were discussing a long-term deal before the team recently cut off talks.

 

The NFL committee studying the issue released a report that showed the gap continues to grow, said Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt.

 

"There's no surprise the revenue disparity between the top and bottom teams has gotten greater as the years have gone by," Hunt said. "And they seem to be accelerating, in particular in relation to stadium revenues. So that's the main thing."

 

Since 1992, work on 18 new or renovated NFL stadiums has been completed, and those teams have kept the majority of local revenue generated by new amenities such as upscale luxury boxes and club seats. Four more teams -- Dallas, Indianapolis, the New York Jets and the New York Giants -- have discussed plans for stadiums this week at the league meetings, Benson said.

 

In the most recent negotiations with the Saints, Blanco has proposed a $168 million renovation of the Superdome, but has asked the Saints to contribute $40 million toward the project and accept a reduction in inducements. Benson has balked at the plan, offering to contribute $17.5 million toward the project and insisting that the state pay him the full amount promised as part of the deal signed in 2001, according to the state's negotiators.

 

On Tuesday, Benson said any new revenue-sharing plan would not affect his stance on the terms he wants as part of a long-term lease with the state.

 

Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills, recently called attention to the issue when he said a new revenue-sharing plan was essential to keep the Bills financially viable and competitive with big-market teams such as the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles.

 

"I feel strongly that Ralph's right, and we have to have a better revenue-sharing system," said Pat Bowlen, owner of the Denver Broncos. "How that is going to work, I'm not sure."

Though Bowlen said an effective revenue-sharing formula is critical to preserving the league's financial health and popularity, he predicted the issue would be difficult to resolve. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Redskins owner Daniel Snyder are among the big-market owners in favor of keeping money generated from sources such as luxury suites, stadium-naming rights and local radio deals.

 

"There's lots of different ideas and lots of different agendas," Bowlen said. "So it's not something that's going to come very easy."

 

McNair seemed to be making that very point when he said he was willing to help small-market teams but could do only so much after paying a $700 million expansion fee for the Texans and contributing $100 million toward a stadium for his team.

 

"There are limitations as to what we can do because we incurred a lot of debt when we paid a big price to buy a big market," McNair said. "And that's one of the considerations that has to be kept in mind.

 

"Other teams have built stadiums in order to generate a lot of local revenue, and they incurred a lot of debt to do that. By the time you take the high-revenue teams and subtract from their income what it costs to service their debt, the difference between the high-revenue teams and the low-revenue teams is not that different."

 

The Saints, for example, rank near the bottom of the league in gross revenue but have no stadium-related debt.