Kevin Geisen: The NFL peers into the dark side

Another NFL offseason, and Vikings fans have many questions: Will Brett Favre return? What will the Vikings go for in the draft? Can we make another run at the championship?

Unfortunately, there is another question that needs to be answered: What happens when supplemental revenue sharing and the salary cap end after this season?

In Minnesota, we're well-versed in the small-market-vs.-big-market debates that have plagued the Twins and Major League Baseball. Every season the Yankees and Red Sox throw around ludicrous amounts of money, effectively spending their way to the playoffs. In the NFL, revenue sharing requires the top 15 revenue-producing teams to distribute money to lower revenue-producing teams. Combined with the salary cap, this prevents certain teams from simply outspending their competition, creating parity within the league. Through revenue sharing, teams like the Vikings have a chance to compete. This system has allowed the NFL to flourish unlike all other professional leagues.

News reports say that the Vikings have received between $15 million and $20 million per season through revenue sharing. As many observers have noted, that figure is coincidentally just enough to cover Brett Favre's contract this season.

So why should we be talking about revenue sharing now? Because the NFL owners are threatening to end it along with the salary cap beginning next season, paving the path toward a lockout in the 2011 season.

As a bar owner in St. Paul who struggled through the 2005 NHL lockout, I saw firsthand what this will mean for local businesses. As a direct result of that lockout, we were forced to lay off 95 percent of our staff. We lost 65 percent of our total revenue for the year. Two days before the NHL announced the end of the work stoppage, our bank called to give us notice that our loan was being foreclosed upon.

The lockout had an impact throughout the community. Every vendor from our T-shirt supplier to our garbage service felt the pinch. We need to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

You wonder why they want to mess with something that has enjoyed so much success. This year's NFL playoffs were a testament to how the NFL system is working. TV ratings were through the roof. The owners depend on high ticket sales and television ratings such as those of the Vikings this year. Believe me, local economies throughout Minnesota depend on the Vikings as well.

The NFL is the envy of professional sports. In what other league do teams and fans in small markets like Minnesota, Indianapolis and New Orleans consistently expect to compete with franchises in large markets like Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston or New York?

It is difficult for me to imagine how Zygi Wilf and the Vikings ownership can ask for public funding of a new stadium if they plan on supporting measures that will ultimately lead to a competitive disadvantage for our home team, while very possibly leading to a canceled season in 2011. Take away the rules that help teams like the Vikings sign a Brett Favre or Jared Allen, and you virtually guarantee that fewer fans come out, spend money and stimulate the economy.

If the Vikings want to take drastic measures that will assuredly hurt small businesses like mine, don't coming asking us for help in building a stadium.

There is still time for common sense to rule the day. The owners have opted out of revenue sharing for the short term, but that does not mean it has to be done away with for good. As negotiations continue, it is up to owners like Zygi Wilf to appeal for common sense.