The Cowboys and Redskins have challenged the NFL's recent agreement with the NFL Players Association to set the salary cap for 2012 and to reallocate certain salary cap room from Dallas and Washington to 28 other clubs.
The reallocation aspect of the agreement is intended to address competitive issues arising from contract practices by those clubs in the 2010 League Year intended to avoid avoid certain salary cap charges in 2011 and later years.
Under the agreement with the NFLPA, the two clubs will be charged at total of $46 million in cap room in the 2012 and 2013 seasons ($18 million per year for Washington; $5 million per year for Dallas). That room, instead, will be reallocated to 28 other clubs in the 2012 or 2013 season as determined by the Club. (The New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders, which engaged in similar contract practices in 2010 at a far different level, will not receive any additional cap room. Those two clubs have not challenged the agreement with the NFLPA.)
The agreement will promote competitive balance without reducing the salary cap or player spending on a league-wide basis.
The arbitration will be heard by Professor Stephen Burbank of the University of Pennsylvania. No date has been set for a hearing. The clubs were advised of the proceeding at today's league meeting. The NFL and Clubs will have no further comment at this time.
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