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JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
NEW YORK (AP) - The NFL delayed the start of the free-agent signing period by three days Thursday, seven hours after the owners had seemed to end all hope for a labor contract extension.
The move came just as a number of teams far over the salary cap were about to dump high-paid veterans. It provides a cooling off period for the league and the NFL Players Association to reach a deal and keep those cuts under control.
What does this mean?
Without a new agreement in place, owners and players are unable to add the hoped-for $10-15 million to the 2006 salary cap. That means teams have much less cap room for players on their roster, and there could be a massive player purge.
Under the current agreement, 2006 is scheduled to be the last year with a salary cap. An uncapped year in 2007 means new rules that will force teams and agents to change their plans this year and could keep a lot of teams out of the free-agent market entirely.
Even more urgent are salary-cap ramifications for many teams, which anticipated a labor agreement and planned for a much bigger ceiling. Washington, for example, could be as much as $25 million over the salary cap after signings over the past few years that anticipated a salary cap figure well over $100 million.
A bizarre day of twists and turns began when the owners took just 57 minutes to rubber stamp a recommendation by their labor committee to turn down the union's final offer- a meeting so short that many people who expected a long session showed up after owners had already left.
"The situation is as dire as dire can be," commissioner Paul Tagliabue said after owners and team officials raced for flights that had taken them thousands of miles for a meeting of less than an hour.
Seven hours later, it wasn't quite as dire, although league officials cautioned that nothing had been done.
Still, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello noted in a statement that the union had agreed to push back the free-agency deadline "to provide time to resume negotiations."
That is an indication that despite the rhetoric, contact continues between Tagliabue and union head Gene Upshaw, who have always had a close relationship. The union is asking for 60 percent of the league's total revenues go to the players, the NFL is offering 56.2 percent.
The extension puts off free agency for a class led by two running backs: NFL MVP Shaun Alexander of Seattle and Edgerrin James of Indianapolis.
There are two years left on the labor agreement first signed in 1993 and extended continually before the deadline.
But unless there is an agreement, there will be no salary cap in 2007, which could create big-spending "haves" and low-revenue "have-nots," a situation that has prevailed in other sports such as baseball. That also has traps for teams and players: a player would be eligible for free agency only after six years instead of the current four; there would be no salary minimum, and annual raises would be limited to 30 percent.
That is complicated by an internal dispute over revenue sharing between big- and small-money teams, a battle that has accelerated as outside revenue has increased from sources from stadium naming rights to local radio. That money is expected to be included in the new labor contract for the first time.
Upshaw contends that internal dispute should be settled before the labor agreement is reached, but the owners didn't even discuss it Thursday.
"Sure we should discuss it," said Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson, one of the have-nots. "But we didn't."
The three-day respite gave a lot of club officials a little relief.
"Whatever the rules are, we'll follow them," said Tennessee general manager Floyd Reese, who spent the last three days trying to cut an estimated $18 million from the team's payroll. "I personally think it's healthier for the league to have a cap, but that's my opinion."
The ramifications of a low cap and a lot of players on the market - the likely situation if there is no agreement - go beyond free agency. If there is still no deal by Monday, cap problems will make it hard for teams to sign their draft picks, especially the high ones.
"We can always find creative ways to do things," said Leigh Steinberg, the agent for Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart, expected to be chosen no later than third in the draft.
"But I hope by draft time we will be beyond that. As teams peer into the abyss, as they peer into the apocalypse, sanity will return. When the NFLPA and management truly recognize the nature of no agreement, their intelligence and rationality will force them into making a deal."
Leinart wouldn't be the only one to wait. So will many free agents.
In addition to Alexander, James and Baltimore running back Jamal Lewis, among the most desirable players on the market include San Francisco linebackers Julian Peterson and Andre Carter; wide receivers Antwaan Randle El of Pittsburgh and David Givens of New England; cornerbacks Charles Woodson of Oakland and Ty Law, a Pro Bowler with the Jets last season, and linebacker Will Witherspoon of Carolina.
Then there is quarterback Drew Brees of San Diego, although his value went down when he injured his throwing shoulder in the final game of 2005.
One star was guaranteed free agency in 2007 when Tennessee decided to pay $1 million to quarterback Steve McNair, voiding the final three years of a contract that would have kept him with the Titans until 2009. McNair will still count for a whopping $23.5 million against the salary cap due to previous bonuses in his contract.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) - NFL owners chose the certainty of a salary cap over the prospect of life without one, and they're paying for it.
The league agreed Wednesday to the union's proposal, including a revenue-sharing component that will cost owners nearly a billion dollars over the next six years.
The deal will carry the NFL's 32 franchises through the 2011 season. Two low-revenue teams, Buffalo and Cincinnati, cast the only votes against.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said $850 million to $900 million in players' salary will be added over the life of the deal because of the revenue-sharing component, which the union fought for throughout the on-again, off-again talks.
Now the league's free agency period, put off twice by protracted negotiations, will start either Friday or Saturday to give teams additional time to get under the newly elevated salary cap.
The spending limit for teams will be $102 million this year, $7.5 million more than it would have been without a deal. The salary cap for the 2005-2006 season was $85.5 million.
The cap will increase to $109 million in 2007, which would have been an uncapped year that would have widened the spending gap between teams even more.
"We want teams to get additional money to re-sign players, rather than cutting them," Tagliabue said.
The deal was put together by nine teams who began on different sides of the revenue debate, including such high-revenue teams as New England and Dallas.
"We were willing to make some sacrifices to get this thing done," said Dallas owner Jerry Jones, the most vocal opponent of revenue sharing. "The proposal from the union was a mean mother."
Daniel Snyder of Washington, Jones' ally among the high-revenue teams, was more upbeat.
"It's really a win-win situation," he said.
Added Oakland's ailing Al Davis, a longtime maverick who was one of Tagliabue's leading supporters during this debate: "The whole idea was that no one was totally dissatisfied. We had to have labor peace. That's why I came all the way here. I don't make many of these trips anymore."
The agreement comes after a week of on-again, off-again negotiations, culminating in a two-day owners meeting. Tagliabue predicted it would come down to the 11th hour.
It did and perhaps went beyond: Tagliabue said an agreement was reached at 6:59 and 59 seconds CST, a second before the deadline to notify the union. League spokesman Greg Aiello originally announced the deal had taken place at 7:35 p.m. after league officials said earlier the 8 p.m. deadline didn't specify what time zone.
The union didn't seem to care.
"This agreement is not about one side winning or losing," Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the NFL Players Association said in a statement. "Ultimately, it is about what is best for the players, the owners and the fans of the National Football League. As caretakers of the game we have acted in the manner the founders intended.
"Moving forward, this new agreement gives us the opportunity to continue our unprecedented success and growth."
The deal probably saved a lot of veteran players from being released for salary cap reasons. Even Brentson Buckner, a defensive tackle cut last week by Carolina, was upbeat.
"It's also good for the guys like me because now somebody has a little extra money and they can go after a veteran who might have gotten squeezed out in this," Buckner said. "I'm sure the veteran minimum is going to go up, so guys like me can go out and get a one-year somewhere and feel good about the situation they are going into."
The real debate was between the owners themselves on the important issue of expanded revenue sharing.
Low-income teams say high-revenue teams should contribute proportionately to the player pool because they can earn far more in nonfootball income from things such as advertising and local radio rights.
Under the new deal, the bottom 17 teams in revenue will not contribute to the pool, which will be funded with the top five teams contributing the most; the second five less; and the third five less than them.
Still, two of the lowest-revenue teams voted "no."
"I didn't understand it," said Buffalo's Ralph Wilson. "It is a very complicated issue and I didn't believe we should be rushing to vote in 45 minutes. I'm not a dropout ... or maybe I am. I didn't understand it."
That 45 minutes followed a series of daylong caucuses and finally came out of a fusion of plans that Tagliabue said was forged by nine teams.
One was proposed by the New York Jets and New England, a second by Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Then John Mara of the New York Giants, Pat Bowlen of Denver and Jerry Richardson of Carolina met with Tagliabue and put the ideas together.
Jones and Arthur Blank of Atlanta contributed a little more, and then Pittsburgh's Dan Rooney, whose brother Art helped on one of the plans, joined with Atlanta general manager Rich McKay for additional touches.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
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