The NFL and NFLPA are exploring "setting aside a so-far
unspecified chunk of future TV money" for a reserve fund,
according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. NFL
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue: "We have a healthy economy. ...
We have prospects for substantial revenue increases from
television. In a rainy-day fund, you'd maybe defer some TV
money the first year, and then if you need it, you have it,
and if not, it would be redistributed to the players." That
payment to players would come as an increase to the pension
fund or in a lump-sum payment. Tagliabue: "Right now it's
just a concept" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/16).
PALM DESERT POST-MORTEMS: In Baltimore, Vito Stellino:
"It's starting to dawn on NFL owners that they're committed
to giving Cleveland an expansion team in 1999 if a team
doesn't move there by then." Stellino added that "several
owners seemed surprised" when Tagliabue said in Palm Desert
that "there won't be a vote to give Cleveland an expansion
team." Vikings Chair Roger Headrick: "I'm not sure, frankly,
there's overwhelming support among the owners for expansion.
But if it isn't expansion, who's going to move to Cleveland
or Los Angeles? And we need to know what that means in terms
of economics, in terms of realignment, the impact on the next
TV contract." Stellino: "The league didn't address those
issues last week. Tagliabue always seems to wait until the
crisis arrives before dealing with it rather than do any
long-range planning" (Baltimore SUN, 3/16).
