Penn Law professor to hear NFL arbitration

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Penn Law professor Stephen Burbank, the "Special Master" of the NFL since 2002, will arbitrate the salary cap allegations between the NFL and the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys.

Burbank worked extensively last spring and summer during the NFL lockout and in the months leading up to the lockout.

If you haven't been following along, the NFL penalized the two teams for overloading contracts in 2010 in order to take advantage of a salary cap loophole. Teams were reportedly advised against this salary dumping, but the rule was never in writing. The league has decided to take away a combined $46 million over two years and distribute it to the remaining teams (with the exception of New Orleans and Oakland).

Burbank will have his hands full in the arbitration, as the NFL has essentially struck down hard on a salary cap violation when there was technically no salary cap in place. And here's one more kink to be ironed out: John Mara, owner of the New York Giants and division rival of the Redskins and Cowboys, chairs the committee that docked the salary cap space. According to The New York Times, Mara asserts that "the penalties imposed were proper"