ORLANDO, Fla. -- Among the various trappings that connect the elite fraternity of NFL owners, accumulated wealth is at the top of the list. And of all the elements that separate one franchise owner from another, foremost is the manner in which they disseminate their money.

Different strokes of fortune for different NFL owners? You bet.

"Some of us just get absolutely irresponsible, admittedly, in spending money on these (players)," said one NFC owner here this week at a posh resort hotel for the annual league meeting. "And then there are (owners) who really do practice restraint on a pretty regular basis. For a league where everyone is so competitive, it's hard to believe that there are so many different approaches to trying to win."

	2001 NFL Payrolls
	Team	2001 Payroll
	1. Denver	$93,952,426
	2. Green Bay	$84,368,193
	3. Cleveland	$83,294,273
	4. Miami	$78,265,992
	5. Pittsburgh	$75,199,265
	6. San Diego	$74,607,029
	7. Tennessee	$74,288,974
	8. Chicago	$72,193,080
	9. Oakland	$71,237,163
	10. Atlanta	$71,017,054
	11. Carolina	$69,626,459
	12. Tampa Bay	$69,365,052
	13. N.Y. Jets	$68,902,563
	14. Cincinnati	$68,404,513
	15. St. Louis	$67,648,150
	16. N.Y. Giants	$66,815,212
	17. Baltimore	$64,542,238
	18. Arizona	$64,170,471
	19. Seattle	$62,915,944
	20. Jacksonville	$62,620,679
	21. New Orleans	$61,955,902
	22. Detroit	$61,788,354
	23. Kansas City	$61,158,629
	24. Philadelphia	$60,051,342
	25. Minnesota	$59,046,396
	26. San Francisco	$58,941,469
	27. Buffalo	$58,801,547
	28. Indianapolis	$58,695,258
	29. New England	$55,473,772
	30. Washington	$53,463,023
	31. Dallas	$44,244,354

Hard to believe, too, that in a league with a salary cap there would be a disparity of nearly $50 million between the team with the highest overall compensation for the 2001 season (Denver at $93.952 million) and the club with the lowest payroll (Dallas at $44.224 million).

Harder still to fathom that a team with the third lowest payroll in the NFL, the New England Patriots at $55.473 million, won the Super Bowl. Or that they defeated in Super Bowl XXXVI a St. Louis Rams team that not only was heavily favored but that also laid out about $12 million more in player costs than did the frugal Patriots.

According to NFL Players Association documents obtained by ESPN.com, the disparity in payroll spending between the top of the league and the bottom was wider for the 2001 season than in nearly every campaign since the salary cap was implemented in 1993. And the big dollars invested didn't necessarily correlate to the victories banked by each team.

"We all spend a lot of money, some more than others, but it's still a substantial amount that goes to player costs," said Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams, a longtime member of the NFL finance committee. "But the nature of our game is that you can't buy a championship, and history really has shown that, if you look back. We're not like baseball, you know, where the standings almost always reflect the spending."

Indeed, only five of the top 10 payroll teams from 2001 qualified for the playoffs. Three of the 10 lowest payroll franchises were in the postseason. The Broncos, who joined an elite group of free spenders who cracked the $90 million payroll mark over the past three seasons, were viewed as one of the season's biggest disappointments. The Cowboys, who had one of the lowest payrolls ever for a team in this era, certainly overachieved by winning five games.

Most owners surveyed here this week agreed that victories aren't always a function of payroll. Several pointed to the approach of the Patriots in 2001, making modest acquisitions through free agency and adding veteran players who fit well into coach Bill Belichick's system. That said, there were plenty of head coaches who insisted that having more money to spend, especially on those high signing bonuses that attract premier players, afford a team a better chance of winning.

"Let's be honest," said Arizona coach Dave McGinnis, "finances play a big role in determining this game."

The overall payroll for a team differs, of course, from the salary cap. The latter is simply a bookkeeping mechanism, with the 2001 limit set at $67.4 million, and can be manipulated with large signing bonuses prorated over the length of a player's contract. A team's payroll, though, represents the sum paid out for salaries, bonuses and incentives.

"As much as you watch cap, you look at the payroll even more, because that really represents your outlay," said New Orleans owner Tom Benson. "That's the key number."

The league's 31 teams spent $2.077 billion on player costs in 2001, or an average of $67 million per team. The average player salary was $769,957, according to the NFLPA documents.

Notable was that the franchises that spent more than $90 million on their payrolls for the 2000 season, Baltimore and Washington, dramatically reduced their player costs in '01. Despite their recent roster purge to squeeze under the 2002 salary cap spending limit, the Ravens ranked only No. 17 in 2001 payroll, at $64.542 million. The Redskins had the second lowest payroll in the league, at $53.463 million, for 2001.

"Let's just say I'm learning," acknowledged Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, who demonstrated far more restraint last season and is continuing to spend judiciously this spring in free agency.

That isn't necessarily true for all his brethren, some of whom pursue the Vince Lombardi Trophy as if it were the Holy Grail and available via auction. Although there is no direct connection between payroll and salary-cap figures, the clubs who frequently rank high in the former often have problems with the latter.

To possess an exorbitant payroll ostensibly means having awarded a number of large signing bonuses -- the top-rated Broncos, not surprisingly, also invested a league-high $47.897 million on signing bonuses in 2001 -- in a given year. The signing bonus investment by the Broncos last year was more than the five lowest-rated payroll teams doled out in upfront money combined.

Given the current evolution of the game, the teams with the highest payrolls often are those with the newest stadiums. The so-called "stadium-generated revenues" are what help create disparity in payroll because the sweetheart deals negotiated by owners with new facilities translate into more funds to spend on players.

One owner allowed that when you have more money, you want to spend more money. He noted that there is no feeling quite like walking into the initial session of the league meeting in March after having won the Super Bowl. The eyes of all of the other fraternity brothers, he suggested, are on you and those eyes are green with envy.

"At that point," he said, "you don't give a damn what you spent on payroll. Of course, then you get back home from the (league) meetings, look at the ledger, and wonder where all the money went."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.