OT - No salary cap - Will you still be a fan?

[Shogun]

Without a salary cap, I'd die a little inside.

But at least I'd be able to get more stuff done on Saturdays.

 

[joeshmo]

Let me first say that an uncapped year would not be the death of football and the players do not want the uncapped year. Teams will not be able to spend willy nilly and the haves compared to the have nots is not that wide of a margin. I can say all of that with certainty because “uncapped” means way more rules. The biggest rules being –

1. To stop the haves from loading up and talent and spending willy nilly, the top 8 teams prior to free agency cannot sign a free agent unless they lose one first.
2. The top players will be hindered in even getting these uncapped dollars because teams now have the right to franchise not one but two players now.
3. The top young players will be hindered in even making these uncapped dollars because they cant become free agents until they put in 6 years of service. If you don’t have six years of service you will be a restricted free agent and only make 2 mill. Example, last year was an uncapped year we could have just slapped a RFA tender of 2 mill on Dansby instead of the 8+ mill franchise tag.
4. The amount of money in free agency will dwindle because teams no longer have to spend a certain amount of money on free agents. Because of the Cap teams are forced to spend money, with no cap they are no longer forced to do as much. For example – Lets say teams will be forced to spend at least 100 Mill in cap dollars this year, next year in an uncapped year that same team can cut their payroll down to 50 mill if they wanted to. And in this uncertain economic time you better believe the poorer of the teams in the league will do just that.

So in summary, this uncapped year will not be a free for all for the richer of the teams and the players will actually have more restrictions then ever to make money, far fewer opportunities and far less overall money on the market. Lets not even mention that the Owners will call for a lockout in 2011 if there isn’t a new CBA in place.

 

[HeavyB3]

Let me first say that an uncapped year would not be the death of football and the players do not want the uncapped year. Teams will not be able to spend willy nilly and the haves compared to the have nots is not that wide of a margin. I can say all of that with certainty because “uncapped” means way more rules. The biggest rules being –

1. To stop the haves from loading up and talent and spending willy nilly, the top 8 teams prior to free agency cannot sign a free agent unless they lose one first.
2. The top players will be hindered in even getting these uncapped dollars because teams now have the right to franchise not one but two players now.
3. The top young players will be hindered in even making these uncapped dollars because they cant become free agents until they put in 6 years of service. If you don’t have six years of service you will be a restricted free agent and only make 2 mill. Example, last year was an uncapped year we could have just slapped a RFA tender of 2 mill on Dansby instead of the 8+ mill franchise tag.
4. The amount of money in free agency will dwindle because teams no longer have to spend a certain amount of money on free agents. Because of the Cap teams are forced to spend money, with no cap they are no longer forced to do as much. For example – Lets say teams will be forced to spend at least 100 Mill in cap dollars this year, next year in an uncapped year that same team can cut their payroll down to 50 mill if they wanted to. And in this uncertain economic time you better believe the poorer of the teams in the league will do just that.

So in summary, this uncapped year will not be a free for all for the richer of the teams and the players will actually have more restrictions then ever to make money, far fewer opportunities and far less overall money on the market. Lets not even mention that the Owners will call for a lockout in 2011 if there isn’t a new CBA in place.

Good thing you posted this. I was about to post the rules.

An uncapped year would be bad for players, especially in today's market.

 

[WildBB]

So in summary, this uncapped year will not be a free for all for the richer of the teams and the players will actually have more restrictions then ever to make money, far fewer opportunities and far less overall money on the market. Lets not even mention that the Owners will call for a lockout in 2011 if there isn’t a new CBA in place.

So why would the NFLPA vote for that? Is there any hope of avoiding a lockout?

 

[ajcardfan]

Just to back up what joeshmo said, I heard an AGENT interviewed a couple of weeks ago who said the players definitely fear the uncapped year and the removal of the minimum spending limit.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

If I'm alive, yes, I'll be a fan.

Dumping the draft would be a good start. Other pro sports the world over do fine without a draft. Other than that, I can't comment on what the NFL would be like without knowing the rest of the league's rules and operating struture in that future time.

Which ones?

MBL - draft
NBA - draft
NHL - draft
NFL - draft

 

[WildBB]

Just to back up what joeshmo said, I heard an AGENT interviewed a couple of weeks ago who said the players definitely fear the uncapped year and the removal of the minimum spending limit.

That's why Boldin , Dockett ect. are pressing now for new deals

 

[joeshmo]

So why would the NFLPA vote for that? Is there any hope of avoiding a lockout?

The NFLPA would do that becuase the League and Owners are more powerful thenthe NFLPA Union. Unlike other sports. Also they may have liked the idea of it to begin with and thought it would be a way to get the Owners back to the table again. Sort of like players contracts that go up huge in the last year to force a new contract, but it backfired because of my answer to your second question.

There is hope if the Union gets their heads out of their butts and announce a new NFLPA leader. There hasnt been a real leader since Upshaw died and they are all infighting and throwing mud at each other making the process take so long, with no hope in sight of announcing one anytime soon. Until they are done fighting amongst themselves they cant even start negotiating a new deal, which usually takes 1 year max to get ironed out.

 

[WildBB]

The NFLPA would do that becuase the League and Owners are more powerful thenthe NFLPA Union. Unlike other sports. Also they may have liked the idea of it to begin with and thought it would be a way to get the Owners back to the table again. Sort of like players contracts that go up huge in the last year to force a new contract, but it backfired because of my answer to your second question.

There is hope if the Union gets their heads out of their butts and announce a new NFLPA leader. There hasnt been a real leader since Upshaw died and they are all infighting and throwing mud at each other making the process take so long, with no hope in sight of announcing one anytime soon. Until they are done fighting amongst themselves they cant even start negotiating a new deal, which usually takes 1 year max to get ironed out.

This doesn't bode well to avoid a strike. I would think the NFLPA would want the status-quo with some minor tweaks.

The owners who you say have the power want it totally revised. WE shall see who prevails. At any rate the 2011 season is fully in jeopardy.

 

[Savage58]

The cap indirectly may change my view of the game. That is if the Sunday Ticket becomes to expensive to justify, tickets become exceedingly more expensive.

If the game's rules keep changing towards offense, it will become more sickening that it is now for this fan.

Note: I don't care about fairweather fans, or basketball fans who want to see alot of points on the board, sorry I'd rather they just go watch basketball, and let the football fans enjoy football, yes 10-6 is a great football game, with a CAPITAL IF you know football, enjoy blocking, hitting, scheming, jumping flat routes, mirroring, spying etc. If you know what to look for we don't need all these rules to help the offense IMO. Gearing the league towards the casual fan is the death of football. Just one mans humble opinion.

Lets not move completely to an arena league rules system. That will be this fans exit ticket, and unfortunately I can possibly see it going this way in the next 10 years. I just hope not.

 

[slanidrac16]

Keep this in mind. The OWNERS opted out of the current plan which means an uncapped year would benefit THEM, not the players.

Baseball has turned into a joke. Teams like the Royal receive MILLIONS of dollars from the "luxury tax" and are not required to spend it. How stupid is that.
I would think baseball would be better off going to a system like the NFL.


The one thing I will never understand about the NFL is how any union could allow a 1 sided contract where a team can in essence cut a player at any time and cancel the contract. Why not just go after the owners and demand contracts to be honored. That would eliminate all the crap with bonuses and pro-rated bonuses. A contract would be what the contract says it is. Instaed of paying a guy 50m for 5 years with 20 mill guaranteed, just give him a fair annual salary 6 mil a year ( 30 m) and have all of it guaranteed? Almost every player NEVER see's the end of a contract because of the inflated dollars at the end of the 5 year deal.

Seems to me this would keep players with their teams for perhaps their entire careers.

 

[NuttinButTDs]

I think the players WANT an uncapped league and you can bet most of them are licking their chops...

For every great player that wants uncapped year, there are a lot of players that dont want and uncapped year. No salary cap also means NO ceiling. Teams dont have to spend a miniumum amount every year. There will be no minimum salary either.

If the CBA isn’t extended, six years of service will be required to become an unrestricted free agent in the uncapped year. This effects a whole lot of players that thought they were going to be un restricted free agents based on 5 or 4 years contracts they had signed.

I think there are more players that will lose out than players that will make huge gains. Not every team has more than 10-12 great players.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

Which ones?

MBL - draft
NBA - draft
NHL - draft
NFL - draft

Water Polo - NO draft.