By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Several NFL owners, including Bengals president Mike Brown, said Monday they fear that small-market teams might soon be at a competitive disadvantage similar to the economic disparity in Major League Baseball.

And that could be bad news for a league whose popularity is based on an acute competitive balance.

There is a growing concern among owners - both of small- and big-market teams - that the rapid growth in unshared revenue will give large-market teams such as Washington and Dallas a significant edge.

Unshared revenue includes profits generated by luxury suit tickets, club seats, and local radio rights, advertising, sponsorships, parking and concessions.

The rub for teams such as the Bengals, Indianapolis and Jacksonville is that those revenues in Washington and Dallas count as total league revenues, which help determine the salary cap number. The more revenues Dallas and Washington generate, the higher the cap figure the small market teams must pay.

And Brown says that's the crux of the problem.

"What we're asking is that we don't imbalance the league revenues to the point where we make teams uncompetitive," Brown said Monday. "We don't complain about (other teams) making money. The problem is we complain about the cap cost. When they make money, we get cap costs. But we don't get any money.

"People in Cincinnati don't really understand how different it is to have a franchise in Cincinnati and one in New York or Chicago."

A vote this week on the NFL Trust, which expires Wednesday and which covers revenue from NFL merchandise with logos - about $4 million a team - will be the first skirmish in the larger battle over revenue sharing.

While the owners are expected to vote to maintain the trust, and to share the revenue among all 32 teams, owners in Oakland and Dallas would prefer to keep all of their teams' merchandise money.

And the fear is if the spirit of revenue sharing erodes, the NFL will become akin to Major League Baseball.

If the league moves away from revenue sharing, said Steelers owner Dan Rooney, "It could turn into (baseball) quickly."

Teams share three pools of revenue - television contract money worth roughly $80 million annually a team, 40 percent of a team's ticket revenue and merchandise sold on NFL.com and through other collective enterprises.

Television money that 10 years ago accounted for 70 percent of a team's revenue now makes up between 50 percent and 60 percent.

The Bengals are 25th in the 32-franchise league with revenue of $140 million.

Brown isn't the only owner worried about the trend.

Art Modell, the former Browns and Ravens owner, on Monday pleaded with owners not to abandon the revenue sharing policy he and former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle crafted in the 1960s.

"(Revenue sharing) led to the collective bargaining agreement, which led to the salary cap," said Modell, who will transfer Ravens ownership April 8 to Steve Bisciotti. "It's a series of events that made the game as great as it is."

Owners Daniel Snyder of the Redskins, Jerry Jones of the Cowboys and Robert McNair of the Texans are widely considered three who would like to secure more individual revenue. Part of the problem in Houston is McNair's huge debt service from buying the expansion franchise.

"Somewhere along the line someone's ox is going to be gored," said New York Giants president Wellington Mara, the league's senior team owner. "Someone is going to have to give up something they don't want to because . . . diversity in revenue is getting greater and greater every year. Even though we have a salary cap, it's tough to compete when another team is making so much more money than you are."

Revenue sharing traditionally has allowed teams such as the Steelers, Packers, Jaguars and Colts to remain competitive. The NFL, unlike Baseball, has greater turnover in playoff teams. Baseball's half-dozen big-market teams, such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves and Dodgers are able to afford significantly larger player payrolls than the Reds and Pirates and dominate the postseason.

"(Cincinnati fans) should want a National Football League that has competitive teams everywhere," Brown said. "Or you reach a point where you go down the baseball path and what you've seen in other leagues, and that's not good."

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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