NFL: No Funds Lacking

By JIM HODGES

Jan. 14, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

When the numbers of Steve Young’s contract with the San Francisco 49ers were learned, minds were boggled.

But not those of people with an economic inkling of what was going to happen.

When George Young signed cornerback Jason Sehorn and fullback Charles Way to long-term deals before the season, he saw it coming.

“We bet on the future, on the idea we’d have more money in ‘98,” said Young, then general manager of the New York Giants, now with the NFL office.

He wins the bet. There will be a lot more money.

The NFL salary cap, $40.8 million per team in 1997, could increase by as much as 25% next season after television-rights negotiations brought in a four-network, eight-year, $17.6-billion package.

On Tuesday, Disney agreed to pay $9.2 billion to keep “Monday Night Football” on ABC and give ESPN cable exclusivity for Sunday-night games.

Though the actual annual payout schedule was not known Tuesday, the salary-cap formula was. The players get 62.5% of the teams’ gross revenues, and the boost from the new contracts is expected to be enough to keep the 49ers from wincing at the idea of paying Young $10 million next season, up from the $3 million he earned in 1997.

Perhaps even enough to allow the Green Bay Packers to pay running back Dorsey Levens, a free agent after this season, enough money to stay. Or enough to keep the NFL’s defensive player of the year, Dana Stubblefield, in San Francisco.

The 49ers already are obligated to a $62-million player payroll for next season and the Oakland Raiders to one totaling $59 million. Both will have to release players to get under the salary cap, but a new, bigger cap could mean less turnover.

Who needs to go somewhere else when there are millions to keep you at home?

“I think it will promote more team stability,” said Marv Levy, who retired as coach of the Buffalo Bills two weeks ago. “You’ll be able to keep players for longer, and that makes for more cohesive play.”

That could help answer one of the complaints of the free-agent football era: ragged play as free agents move from team to team.

But there is a dissenting opinion.

“I don’t think it will impact movement,” said Doug Allen, assistant executive director of the NFL Players’ Assn. “The teams bidding for players will have more money to bid. Everybody will be impacted the same in terms of total money, though teams with cash-flow issues may find them resolved.

“You have to remember, one of the misconceptions in player movement is that free agency accelerated it. Actually, rosters turned over 30% a year before free agency.”

One of the other misconceptions is that the salary cap is forever. Actually, it is in place for only two more seasons, and 2000 is an uncapped year.

The new TV contract also could promote player unrest as long-term contracts that already have been signed are viewed through eyes clouded by the numbers: $17.6 billion. Renegotiations will be requested, with an impact on training camps.

“One thing we do know is that, historically, TV money increases have generally gone to the players,” Allen said. “That’s been true of the last two contracts.”

If Allen is right, nothing changes on the field. The players are merely better paid.

If Levy is right, the on-the-field product improves.

Two things are known.

* The fields just became more expensive. The value of an NFL expansion franchise is expected to surpass $300 million, more than double the $140 million the owners of the Jacksonville and Carolina teams paid to get into the league.

That affects Cleveland, expected to get an expansion team for the 1999 season. And it will affect Cleveland’s twin, the other city expected to be awarded an expansion team for ’99.

At one time, that was expected to be Los Angeles, with the No. 2 television market in the country. But NFL officials said the city’s football future was not a factor in the TV negotiations, perhaps weakening its expansion bid.

* The games will be longer, with more time to visit the refrigerator.

As part of its deal with the NFL, CBS will show an average of 59 30-second commercials per game, up from the 56 spots in the previous contract.

Staff writer T.J. Simers and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

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NFL TV Contracts Through the Years

Breaking down the NFL’s new package:

NFL (1998-2005): $17.6 billion

Fox (NFC): $4.4 billion

CBS (AFC): $4.0 billion

ABC (Monday night): $4.4 billion

ESPN (Sunday night): $4.8 billion

1998: $17.6 billion