Report: Cowboys, Redskins lose battle over salary-cap penalties

In a rare instance, NFC East rivals the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins joined forces to fight the NFL over salary-cap penalties imposed this spring.

And today it was announced the Cowboys and Redskins have lost.

According to Judy Battista of the New York Times, NFL general counsel Jeff Pash announced that the grievance filed by the clubs has been dismissed by Stephen Burbank, the arbitrator assigned to handle the matter.

So, don’t be looking for any salary-cap relief for the clubs. The Cowboys were fined $10 million against the cap in 2012 and 2013 while the Redskins were slammed with a $26 million penalty in the same period.

Dallas and Washington were penalized for dumping money into the uncapped year and, in the estimation of the league and the 30 other clubs, circumvented the cap rules. The teams didn’t break any rules, per se, and the contract moves at the time were approved by the NFL Management Council.

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune