Arbitrator Rules in Favor of Falcons. Vick Must Repay $20 Million.

According to several news sources, University of Pennsylvania law professor Stephen B. Burbank has ruled that Michael Vick must repay to the Atlanta Falcons almost $20 million in “signing, option and roster bonuses” on the grounds that the bonuses constituted payments for future services which Vick cannot provide while under suspension (or as a guest of the federal penal system). Burbank had previously ruled that the Denver Broncos could not require wide receiver Ashley Lelie to repay certain bonuses already paid to him when he attempted to opt out of the last year of his contract because Lelie had not breached his contract.

The NFL’s CBA allows Vick, and the NFL Players Association to appeal to a federal judge in Minnesota.