U.S. District Court Judge David Doty of Minneapolis issued a
preliminary injunction yesterday that keeps the NFL's salary cap
at $40.75M, reaffirming his order of February 15 that the level
be raised by $2M. The NFLPA had claimed that projections by an
independent auditor, which set the cap at $38.773M, improperly
exempted the league's two expansion teams. The NFL plans to ask
Doty to reconsider this week. Other options include an appeal to
the 8th Circuit Court in St. Louis or a "trial on the merits"
before Doty. From the NFL's statement: "Judge Doty's
preliminary ruling is puzzling since it rejects the judgment of
independent auditors selected by both union and management to
make these calculations" (USA TODAY, 2/27).
CLEVELAND UPDATE: Cleveland Mayor Michael White presented a
final draft of his agreement with the NFL to the City Council,
along with a "stern warning." White: "I've played my share of
political chicken in my life, but I will say that these people
(NFL owners) aren't playing. They want to do a deal on March 11,
or they're not going to do a deal, period." The NFL has given
the Council a March 8 deadline to pass the proposal (Akron BEACON
JOURNAL, 2/27).
