As part of a broad look at succession planning, the NFL is considering "lowering the minimum percentage of a team that a control partner has to own under the league’s equity rules," according to Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Texans Owner Bob McNair said that any change, if made, would "pertain only to teams owned more than 10 years and would be done as part of an effort to keep a club in its ownership family." McNair said, “We are doing a lot of work on succession planning. We are concerned. We want to see the teams stay in the families.” McNair said that "at issue" are estate taxes, which can range between 40-55%, "depending on a team’s home state." In addition to considering lowering the equity threshold for heirs, McNair said that the league's finance committee is "looking closely at estate planning and trust mechanisms for recommendation." The committee is "not, however, looking at raising" the current $200M debt cap on teams, "largely because so many clubs are not even borrowing to that limit" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/26 issue).
ROGER'S RULES: ESPN.com's Mike Wells wrote NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "may have to be harsher" on Colts Owner Jim Irsay for his DUI arrest than he "may have been any other time on a front office official because his reputation is on the line with the players." Whatever punishment Goodell "decides for Irsay -- fine/suspension -- the commissioner must know it has to be good enough to appease the players" (ESPN.com, 5/23). THE MMQB's Peter King wrote Goodell "could choose to wait until the case is adjudicated; that has been his M.O." But there is "enough that's solid now for him to make his call, and there's the specter of letting an owner own while a damning case drags through the legal system." There is "one thing the commissioner must do whenever he comes down on Irsay: He has to include random testing" (MMQB.SI.com, 5/26). In Nashville, David Climer wrote the "only way to get your point across to a wayward NFL owner is to dock his team draft picks." Climer: "We'll leave it up to you to determine what round or rounds." Fines and suspensions "only go so far when you're dealing with NFL owners," and you "have to hit them where it hurts" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 5/26).
