NFL teams are looking at different stadium financing methods after the auction-rate securities market collapsed, according to Bloomberg News.

The Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Indianapolis Colts are all converting bonds from auction-rate securities as their new stadiums come online (see renderings of the new Cowboys and Colts stadiums). The change hits owners much like homebuyers with variable interest rates that could potentially add millions of dollars in interest to stadium development.

The Dallas Cowboys are converting $126 million in bonds from “Bank of America Corp. that lets it change the auction-rate securities to variable-rate demand bonds, another type of floating-rate debt in which rates are set by banks instead of through bidding.”

The New York Giants last month redeemed $100 million in auction debt sold to finance The new Meadowlands Stadium project that is shared with the New York Jets in East Rutherford, New Jersey, after interest rates reached as high as 22 percent.

In Indianapolis, the Indiana Finance Authority told bondholders in March it was converting some of the $611 million in auction-rate securities it sold for the Indianapolis Colts' new stadium, opening next season, after interest rates reached as high as 15 percent.

All of this plays into whether owners will look to opt out of the current CBA next week with many analysts seeing the opt-out as almost certain at this stage.

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Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer.

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