NFL Owners May Wind Up Owing the Players at Least $300 Million

The NFL owners gathered this week in Chicago to face the music. They had better like rap because they have been rapped on the head by the NFL Players Assn. to the tune of at least $300 million in courtroom decisions.

How does that calculate? Take $42 million in pension-fund losses. Add $30 million for the practice-squad tab and throw in another $30 million for the 1987 back-pay check. That’s $102 million.

Then, there’s the estimated $200 million it will take to settle the case involving the class of 1,000-plus players who were affected by the Plan B free-agency system. There’s your $300 million, plus change.

What makes it all hurt is that the NFL owners may have to pick up the legal tab for the players because that generally is the ruling in antitrust defeats. That figure could range from $10 million to $15 million, and the NFL’s own attorney fees could soar near $20 million.

No, this was not a happy group of owners who met this week. This was supposed to be the fall meeting at which two finalists were chosen for expansion in 1994. Instead, expansion has been postponed until 1995 at the earliest.

The owners also were bracing for more bad news: On November 12, U.S. District Court Judge David Doty will hear arguments on the Reggie White vs. the NFL lawsuit. White is representing the 1993 class of potential free agents.

That means the owners pretty much have to present their substitute plan for “Plan B” to Doty.

“Whatever you do, don’t call it ‘Plan C,’ ” Dallas Owner Jerry Jones says.

Sorry, Mr. Jones. For now, it’s Plan C.

It’s likely the owners will implement a system similar to the one they offered to the players before the verdict was announced in the Freeman McNeil case.

The big difference is that the owners cannot present a salary cap to Doty and expect it to be approved.

But Doty, in earlier rulings, and the McNeil jurors have said that some sort of restrictive system would be acceptable.

The owners apparently will present a system in which all players will become free agents at some point in their careers. This is where it gets tricky. At what point? Six years? That doesn’t cover all players.

The owners also might ask the judge to allow for a system in which each team would have the right of first refusal in the case of one or two players. That could mean that someone such as White, the Eagles’ great defensive end, could get a $2.5-million offer sheet from a team, but Philadelphia would have the right to match it.

Players would be subjected to a right-of-first-refusal scenario no more than once in their careers.

Still, we still hear talk of a settlement. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and players’ attorney Jim Quinn met last week.

What is the players’ incentive to settle?

Concern about the future, for one thing. As an NFL Players Assn. official has said, the league’s $300-million tab almost is too high. If a settlement isn’t reached and there are flat revenues in forthcoming years, the league could well become one of haves and have-nots.

The players also realize the owners have a breaking point. Push too hard, and they’ll push back by reducing the number of jobs.

So although a “Plan C” system could be revealed next month, a settlement remains the goal by next February 1.

With expansion put off until at least 1995, there has been more and more speculation about the possibility of the New England Patriots moving to St. Louis.

New Patriots Owner James Orthwein, the big money man in the St. Louis expansion group, is not hiding his unhappiness with his 0-6 team.

Because the team rebounded to 6-10 last season (after the ’90 disaster of 1-15), Orthwein hoped that the Patriots would be marketable enough to find a new buyer after he took the club off the hands of the NFL and former Owner Victor Kiam.

After selling the Patriots, Orthwein then would have been able to return to the St. Louis group and lock up an expansion franchise.

But the Patriots are in such a sorry state that Orthwein may not be able to find a suitable buyer in the New England area. The region is not making any move toward providing a new stadium the Patriots need so badly.

New England Chief Executive Officer Sam Jankovich also is in a precarious situation. Nobody in the league expects him to be around after this season. There have been disturbing front-office shakeups. Personnel chief Joe Mendes was forced out awkwardly and vice president of public relations Pat Hanlon decided he had taken all he would from Jankovich and resigned.

That happy honeymoon enjoyed by Jankovich and Coach Dick MacPherson last season is over. Definitely over. You will hear many, many rumors and reports involving this club in the coming months.

The Falcons are having discussions with cornerback Deion Sanders about a contract extension that would once again make him a full-time football player.

Sanders is standing pat until he can consider what happens on the baseball front. First, Sanders wants to see if the Atlanta Braves protect him for the expansion draft November 17.

If Sanders is exposed, it’s possible that the Florida Marlins (remember Sanders grew up in Fort Myers, Fla.) or the Colorado Rockies will make a play for him.