NFL Labor: Bob McNair's Words Ring Hollow while NFL Books Still Closed

According to Houston Texans' owner Bob McNair, the NFL needs a bailout, and NFL teams are running out of money.

When asked why teams were not spending on free agents, McNair replied, "Most teams are stressed economically and do not have the money."

In today's economy, this is a believable statement, even coming from one of America's richest men.

Bob McNair was wealthy long before the Houston Texans—electricity, real estate, and biotechnology investments gave him more than enough money to bring the league's 32nd team to Houston.

Since that time in 2002, the Texans have not won a championship, and are just now developing into a playoff-caliber team. Yet, even without great success on the field, the team has been extremely successful financially.

Forbes.com estimates the worth of the Texans at $1.2 billion—thanks in large part to the success of the Houston economy and the new car smell that still permeates Reliant Stadium.

But, that dollar amount is an estimate. The real worth, operating income, expenditures, and other concrete figures are unknown.

The NFL, a collection of private companies incorporated into one entity, refuses to open the financial information of the individual teams or league as a whole to the public or even to the Players Association.

In a perfect world, this is not a big deal.

In the real world, no one has any reason to take McNair at his word when he says teams are being stingy because of the economy.

League owners can walk into meetings with every free agent and blame the economy. If every owner agrees to do that, every owner can get free agents for cheaper than in a capless free market.

That is called collusion.

Could the NFL owners be colluding to underpay a free market value of free agents?

No one can say for sure. It is impossible to make that accusation because the NFL refuses to reveal its bottom line. No matter how many times the Players Association and its executive director, DeMaurice Smith, have asked for it.

It gets worse.

The entire upcoming collective bargaining agreement has a lot to do with economics. In a perfect world, that is all it would deal with.

In the real world, the labor agreements also have a lot to do with trust.

Does the NFLPA trust the NFL in saying that is it really paying its fair share—60 percent?

The only number that the NFLPA knows concretely is the total revenue—the number used to calculate the salary cap. However, the number in question is how much of that total revenue is expenditure and how much is operating profit.

The only open books in the NFL are those of the Green Bay Packers—publicly held by shareholders (i.e. the people of Green Bay, Wis.). The Packers had an operating profit of $20.1 million in the 2009 fiscal year.

The Packers are a small-market team, ranking 17th in the NFL in terms of total worth.

Forbes estimates the operating income of the Washington Redskins, the second-ranked franchise, at $90.3 million.

But the NFLPA can't go off of Forbes' estimations and is forced to accept what the NFL says it owes. As the NFL continues to grow—exponentially by many estimations—the NFLPA has no idea what their share should be.

So, the NFLPA has to take the NFL at its word and Bob McNair at his.

And the free agents—the players who actually make the NFL what it is—have to hope that they aren't getting a raw deal.

The time for trust, hope, and empty words are over.

NFL, open the books.

What could you possibly have to hide?