NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue's decision to not have this weekend's games played will cost the league more than $57 million in gross ticket revenues alone, if the games aren't rescheduled.

ESPN.com approximated the losses by multiplying average ticket price, as calculated by Team Marketing Report, by last year's average attendance. Luxury seating revenue is not included in the average ticket price.

	AT WHAT COST?
	Listed below are the minimum revenue losses NFL teams will incur if the Week 2 games aren't played. Average ticket cost does not include luxury seating. Gross revenue figures do not include parking, souvenirs or concessions.
	Games scheduled	Avg. att.	Avg. ticket	Gross revenue
	Arizona at Washington	80,928	$81.89	$6,627,194
	Philadelphia at Tampa Bay	65,596	70.61	4,631,734
	New England at Carolina	72,936	60.30	4,398,041
	Green Bay vs. N.Y. Giants	78,010	55.93	4,363,099
	Cincinnati at Tennessee	68,440	60.94	4,170,734
	Buffalo at Miami	73,739	56.34	4,154,455
	Cleveland at Pittsburgh	65,000*	63.02	4,096,300
	Minnesota at Baltimore	68,961	50.14	3,457,705
	Atlanta at St. Louis	66,050	49.59	3,275,420
	Dallas at Detroit	63,045	50.01	3,152,880
	San Francisco at New Orleans	63,039	49.88	3,144,385
	Denver at Indianapolis	56,789	54.55	3,097,840
	N.Y. Jets at Oakland	57,814	51.74	2,991,296
	Jacksonville at Chicago	66,944	42.70	2,858,509
	Kansas City at Seattle	63,545	44.97	2,857,619
	15 games	1,010,836	$56.17	$57,277,211
	* Capacity of newly constructed Heinz Field

The Washington Redskins, averaging an $82 ticket and drawing more than 80,000 fans, generate more than $6 million in gross revenues with each home game. In the NFL, the home team keeps 60 percent of gross revenue, while the away team is given the remaining 40 percent.

The potential net loss of this weekend's games would be approximately 25 percent of the gross, according to Mark Rosentraub, a sports economist and dean of Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. And that's not counting losses from parking, souvenirs and concession sales.

NFL owners don't have to worry about paying the players should the games be canceled, not unless a new arrangement is reached with the league's players association. "It is safe to say that players will not get paid for this weekend. But the league is in the process of figuring out how to re-schedule these games, which means players should ultimately be compensated for this weekend," said NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis on Thursday.

University of Chicago sports economist Allen Sanderson said he anticipates that individual teams won't have to suffer.

"I suspect that there would be some implicit sharing of the pain, and economic loss between the parties, given that this is, we all hope, a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence," Sanderson said.

"Teams just don't care" about finances right now, said Kurt Hunzeker, editor of Team Marking Report, a sports marketing publisher. "These are things to worry about further on down the road in the wake of all of this."

In the past, there's been little reason for teams to take out insurance to cover costs incurred by event cancellations since postponed games are usually rescheduled, said Lowery Robinson of Marketing, Etc., an Atlanta-based insurance company that sells insurance to professional sports teams.

"Usually there's always a way to arrange to make up the games," Robinson said. "So it's usually not an issue."

If games are canceled, NFL teams that did purchase cancellation insurance could recover their lost revenue if they bought insurance that includes clauses that cover terrorism and acts of war. Those reasons for cancellation are normally excluded in most policies, but some professional teams have paid a higher premium to have that coverage included, said Mark Idelson, senior vice president of ASU International, which underwrites event cancellation insurance for professional sports teams.

COLLEGE COULD FEEL THE PINCH

Many college football programs could be seeing red if their school athletic directors are unable to reschedule this weekend's postponed games. Although the Big Ten is among the conferences that have allowed their schools to play games this weekend, Northwestern has canceled its Saturday home game against Navy and will be looking for another opponent, since Northwestern and Navy have no open dates in common. Since Northwestern had only five home games scheduled this season, the loss of one game would be a financial blow to the program. The school does not have insurance to cover lost revenue in the event of cancellations, according to Steve Green, Northwestern's associate athletic director for finance and personnel. "Some schools take a gamble and whether or not you take it depends on your university risk managers," Green said. "Some schools take insurance based on acts of God, like hurricanes, but there's certainly a better chance of that happening than something like this." Now, Green said, Big 10 member schools likely will discuss cancellation insurance in June at the season-end conference meetings. Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said that teams wouldn't be held back from playing in a bowl game if they couldn't reschedule a game and finished with a 5-5 record, meaning bowl revenue won't be compromised for a team that is unable to reschedule a postponed game this week. TCU has canceled its game against Marshall this weekend. In order to keep the money within the athletic department, the school has announced that fans can exchange their ticket to the game for another football game or a non-conference basketball game. -- Darren Rovell

Idelson would not disclose which teams may have such coverage, and it is not known whether the entire league is under a plan that would include the unusual clause. Terrorism and acts of war "are unlikely reasons for cancellations, but that's exactly what insurance is for -- to protect (against) the unexpected," Idelson said.

Teams usually carry contingency coverage that pays off in events of natural disasters and plane crashes. But Robinson said more teams might be willing to pay more in the future to include coverage for terrorism and acts of war.

"More teams will start to ask for it to be included," said Robinson, who claims he has received more calls than normal from professional teams asking about cancellation insurance since terrorists on suicide missions used hijacked passenger jetliners to topple the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York and severly damage the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

It is not known how teams will credit fans should the games be canceled.

"We are urging ticket holders to hold on to their tickets in the event that the game is made up. If it is not, (and) the decision is made not to play, we will issue an advisory at that point in time as to how to handle the situation," Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian said.

"I think the NFL has come to its senses by not playing," Sanderson said. "It strikes me that if the league and its owners want to continue to feed at the public trough and tout their presence as a source of civic pride, it then behooves them to act like responsible members of their communities.

"Otherwise, if it's just a business, then they should be encouraged to buy their own land, build their own facilities, and have ticket prices fans pay reflect whatever monopoly profits they want to extort, but not call on mayors or taxpayers for any subventions."

Darren Rovell covers sports business for ESPN.com. He can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.