In a bad look for the NFL, the league must return over $100 million to a shared revenue pool after withholding money from its players.
Arbitrator Stephen Burbank ruled in favor of the NFL Players Association by finding that NFL owners withheld “roughly $120 million” by mischaracterizing a ticket sale revenue exemption, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“They created an exemption out of a fiction, and they got caught,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told The Wall Street Journal.
The ruling will increase the 2016 salary cap by $2 million per team, making it roughly $156 million, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The New England Patriots have around $13 million in cap space entering the offseason.
The NFL cried no harm, no foul by telling The Wall Street Journal it was a “technical accounting issue under the CBA involving the funding of stadium construction and renovation projects” that caused the withheld funds.
Thumbnail photo via Mitch Stringer/USA TODAY Sports Images
