Were the Cowboys and Redskins Cheating?

A few weeks ago, the NFL handed out punishments to the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. The Cowboys will be docked $10 million in cap space and the Redskins by $36 million. In 2010, Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, announced that the year would have an uncapped salary space. However, he warned teams that they shouldn’t sign long-term contracts with the majority of the money being paid in 2010 so as to avoid spending cap space for future years. However, the Cowboys and Redskins did just that.

            The Cowboys and Redskins don’t think it’s fair that they are being punished. Although the NFL warned teams not to dump salaries into the uncapped year, it was not an actual rule. However, 29 of the other NFL teams voted in favor of the punishment. The Cowboys and Redskins have filed an appeal against the NFL’s ruling, and they will go into arbitration.

            Personally, I don’t think the Cowboys or Redskins should be punished. They didn’t technically cheat, but rather they strategically played the ‘game’. Even though the NFL warned teams beforehand, there wasn’t even a rule in place. The two teams are getting punished when they didn’t commit an actual violation. The NFL should have made an actual rule to prevent spending instead of arbitrarily deciding what to do after-the-fact. The teams are being punished for playing within the rules of the game and trying to gain a competitive advantage. I just don’t buy the argument that the two clubs shouldn’t have tried their salary dump strategy simply because the NFL warned them not to when it wasn’t a violation of any rule. Even in UC 256, we’ve talked in class about how strategizing to gain a competitive advantage, as long as it’s within the rules of the game itself, is a proper approach.

            Now you know where I stand on this issue, but what are your views? Do you agree with the penalties dished out to the Cowboys and Redskins? Or do you think they were playing fairly and shouldn’t be punished?