Since the lockout began on March 12, various teams have acknowledged the implementation of plans aimed at cutting costs in light of the lack of revenue, a problem that only will get worse if preseason and regular-season games are missed.
A tipster tells us -- and we’ve confirmed it via a source with knowledge of the situation -- that the Ravens quietly adopted at the commencement of the lockout an across-the-board reduction in non-player pay of 25 percent. If no regular-season games are missed, the lost money will be paid to the employees.
Apparently, the information has previously leaked, but I somehow missed it or forgot about it. The team has not yet officially acknowledged the move. We’re surprised that there hasn’t been a bigger outcry, since there are surely plenty of team employees who are: (1) not happy about the concept of having their pay reduced; and (2) nervous about the increasing prospect of regular-season games being lost to the lockout.
Of all the owners in the league, we would have placed Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti at the very bottom of a list of owners likely to allow their non-player employees to be caught in the crossfire of the league’s first work stoppage in 24 years. With the uncapped year allowing teams to pocket a lot of money that would have otherwise gone to player salaries and/or specific benefits that disappeared, teams could have -- and should have -- set aside a chunk of that money to help finance the non-player workforce during the lockout.
If the league can plan for reduced revenues by finagling “lockout insurance” in the TV deals, the teams could have likewise made plans to ensure that employees who have no responsibility for this mess wouldn’t be affected.