NFL Owners Lose Supreme Court Appeal

NFL owners lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday in their bid to avoid paying about $18 million to a pension fund for players.

The justices, without comment, let stand a ruling that the owners are not entitled to reduce their contributions to the fund even though all of the payments were not immediately tax deductible because the pension plan was overfunded.

Under the 1982 collective bargaining agreement, owners agreed to pay $12.5 million a year for five years into the pension fund “provided that such contributions are allowable as deductions” on the owners’ federal income taxes.