SI/Lombardi on Uncapped Season

by vherub on May 28, 2008 4:27 PM EDT Comment 6 comments

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/michael_lombardi/05/27/uncapped.strategy/index.html Interesting insights, and a bit more involved than the cookie cutter analysis of owners going wild with ceiling-less spending. There are huge unknowns approaching the game. Some of it is the nuts and bolts under the hood that many fans don't care about. But it will have an impact and maybe a large impact. Also, the comments regarding the draft were the first I had read on the subject. Yikes! It almost seems as if the owners have chosen chaos rahter than pay slight salary premiums.

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interesting

thanks for sharing.

i have an interview coming up real soon with an expert on the CBA and the law and business of sports more generally. I’ll ask some questions about some of the more confusing parts of that article.

Use this thread to ask any other questions you might have and I’ll try to work them in during the interview. Don’t just ask the basics either. Here’s our chance to get some really good first-hand info on this stuff (he’s involved in the rookie symposiums and other stuff like that for NFL players that relates to finances, etc.)

by Blitzburgh on May 28, 2008 4:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Rookie contract

I’d love to see why the NFLPA doesn’t want a pay-scale since that money would still go to them based on the Cap rules.

I’d also like to understand why the revenue was divided in that way without worrying about small-cap vs. large-cap? Why not allow the “basement” to be lower for teams that bring in less ad/ticket revenue?

Is there any comparison to other sports as to what percentage goes to players compared to owners?

by Chicago Steeler on May 28, 2008 5:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

gotcha..will ask

by Blitzburgh on May 28, 2008 5:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was under the impression...

...that the “basement” resembles the amount of money the NFL distributes to each team from total league television revenue/merchandising. (For example, league television revenues were $3.75 billion in 2006 which, spread over 32 teams and taking out league expenses resembles about $100 million per team (the salary floor in 2008 is 98.8 million. It makes sense, I guess, that the money that’s “given” to teams by the league should go to the players.

Then, each owner/franchise makes his actual profits from ticket sales and whatnot.

In comparison, the NHL spends about 75% of league revenues on salaries (which is really high; same link as above). Based on this article, it appears the NBA took in $3.5B this year and paid out approximately 1.5B in player salaries ($55M cap per team times 30 teams).

For some nifty data (some of which appears to be estimates) on the money of various sports, check this out.

by HinesField on May 28, 2008 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just got time to read that article

It almost seems like he is promoting essentially the same system that the Steelers run today, at least from the standpoint of having the right mix of youth and experience. The Steelers have had a relatively young team for a while now. I remember after the SB win, I looked at the roster on www.steelers.com, and it seemed like half the team had 3 or fewer years of experience.

Over time, I could see an uncapped system creating an NFL where the most successful teams will remain so, because they could always keep all of their best players, while the other teams had to let some go each year. But, it would seem that in the short term, this shouldn’t be the case.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on May 29, 2008 2:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

A question

I’d like to know how the Cowboys signed Barber and Newman to long term deals after the owners opted out.

I read in the Dallas News that part of this was because “The Cowboys turned Romo’s $6.5 million base salary into signing bonus, dropping the 2008 base salary to $605,000. Instead of carrying a cap figure of $8.416 million this year, Romo’s new cap number is almost $3.5 million, hence a saving of about $5 million and enough room to get Newman and Barber done and then some when added to the roughly $3.5 million they already had.”
Was this business as usual, or are the Cowboys- and any other team, able to overcome salary caps now by paying in later uncapped years?

by vherub on May 30, 2008 10:44 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs