PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE NFL : Arbitrator Sets Deadline on Salaries

NFL clubs have until Thursday to increase player salaries without the increases counting against the 1994 salary cap, under a ruling handed down Monday by an arbitrator.

The deadline, approved by the Player-Club Operations Committee made up of representatives of club ownership and the players’ union, was assigned to arbitrator John D. Feerick of the Fordham Law School after a grievance was filed by the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, among others.

Cincinnati and Tampa Bay had argued that the decision to extend the deadline from Dec. 15 to Dec. 23 was designed to keep the NFL’s free-spending teams from losing free agents next year to the Bengals and the Buccaneers. Joining the grievance later as supporters of the Bengals and Buccaneers were the Rams, San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears.

The Bengals and Buccaneers, with payrolls below the anticipated salary cap, had hoped to sign several free agents away from teams unable to afford them because of the salary restrictions. Cincinnati General Manager Mike Brown said he had cut the Bengals’ payroll in preparation for that eventuality.

“If the rules are permitted to be changed at this late moment, many fewer players will be in the free-agent market than we anticipated,” Brown said when the grievance was filed. “This will be a tremendous blow to us.”