**** Trouble in NFL-Land ????

[4bubba]

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A part of an article by an ESPN writer:

Updated: Mar. 11, 2005

Fifty-six players topped $100,000 for '04
By Len Pasquarelli, ESPN.com




.......With no extension to the collective bargaining agreement, and the potential of an uncapped year looming, it becomes even more dicey to put big money into tailbacks.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2010303


I hope this wont be another NHL. If anyone hears anything, post it.


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[GM]

They've got lots of time to get things resolved. The league's CBA doesn't expire until after the 2008 draft (April '08). The uncapped season, if it does happen, would be 2007. The owners then would not be in a legal position to lock out the players before this, as far as I know. And if there's an uncapped season there's no way the players are going to walk out. However, if salaries do boom in '07...could be trouble I guess.

All three other major leagues deals expire(d) before this. As for the other leagues, here are the key dates. Mark 'em on your calendar!

NBA - CBA expires June 30, 2005
MLB - CBA expires December 17, 2006
(And of course, NHL - September 15, 2004 - R.I.P)

 

[4bubba]

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Great post GM, you have done a super job @MJs.


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[4bubba]

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Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- The NFL is considering expanding instant replay to cover "down by contact" plays that previously were not included in reviews.

Atlanta general manager Rich McKay, chairman of the league's competition committee, said Wednesday the change will be considered next week in Maui at the annual league meetings.

In the past, replay has not applied to plays ruled dead because an official has blown a whistle calling the runner down.

"Those plays have been misunderstood," he said. "What we're considering would allow for a recovery if replay shows the ball came out before the play was down -- even if the whistle has blown."

This will be one of the few years that instant replay itself will not be discussed. It was extended last year for five years, although a proposal to put it in permanently was not approved.

"This is why we wanted to have it in for a length of time," McKay said during a conference call to preview the agenda for the meetings. "It gives us time to tweak some things we have in there without having to discuss the entire process."

Next week's meeting will include a variety of business items, but few definitive moves.

The owners will discuss the slow pace of talks with the NFL Players Association about the current labor agreement, which runs out in 2008. Also on the agenda are the stalled negotiations on the prime-time television package in the new TV contract, which runs out after next season.

CBS and Fox already have renewed their AFC and NFC contracts for a total of $8 billion over six years.

But the Sunday and Monday night packages remain under discussion with ABC, the current Monday night rights holder, and its subsidiary ESPN balking at the NFL's asking price. At some point, other networks could move into the prime-time discussion.

The league also could award the 2010 Super Bowl to New York contingent on a new stadium being built for the Jets on the West Side of Manhattan.

The main interest, however, is in on-field rules changes.

One emphasis will be on safety.

McKay noted that injuries were up last year and said he expects the committee to recommend additional guidelines that could lead to more calls of unnecessary roughness. The guidelines could address chop blocks -- although those would still be allowed inside the "tackle box," the area around the line of scrimmage; blind-side hits on screen passes; and hits on quarterbacks, punters and kickers otherwise out of the play.

McKay said a number of injuries came on non-contact plays last year and noted there is some concern that lighter shoes might be playing a role.

"We're not sure why injuries were up last year, but they were," he said. "It might be a one-year thing, but in our meetings with players and their union, they have made it clear that they are concerned."

The committee also will ask officials to continue the emphasis on illegal contact that began last season.

Illegal contact calls increased from 79 in 2003 to 191, although defensive pass interference calls went down from 238 to 202.

"That's a lot of fouls. We'd like that number to come down," McKay said. "There was a similar spike in '94 when we had an emphasis and it came down. We hope it does again -- by conduct."

The committee is also considering a proposal by the Kansas City Chiefs to change to the college rule on pass interference. That mandates a maximum of 15 yards on defensive interference or a spot call if the penalty is less than 15 yards. In the NFL, the ball is spotted where the interference takes place or at the 1-yard-line if it is in the end zone.

The Chiefs' proposal includes one slight difference from the college rule: on a flagrant foul, the ball would still be spotted where the penalty took place. That would presumably eliminate players from fouling when they know they are beaten and taking a 15-yard penalty rather than a play of 30 or 40 yards or more.

 

[4bubba]

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Signing rookies may be tricky this year


By Pat Kirwan
National Editor, NFL.com


(May 10, 2005) -- The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is up for an extension and I have very little doubt that the extension will happen. If it happens in time to negotiate and sign the 2005 draft picks is another story.

In the next few weeks, you are going to start hearing about the ripple effects of negotiating rookie contracts without a CBA extension. It can have an impact on how deals are structured and it can put stress on a team's salary-cap situation if they are not creative.

Last year, for example, a rookie contract with a big signing bonus could be spread out over six years for salary-cap management purposes. If a player received a $6 million signing bonus and signed a six-year contract, you simply divided the years into the bonus to determine the cap charge -- $1 million of cap space per year for the $6 million dollar bonus. That is not the case this year, which can be problematic for cap management.

This year, no matter what the bonus is, the most you can spread it out over is five years. If you take the same $6 million bonus you gave out last year to a first-round pick and divide it by five, the cap charge is $1.2 million a year. So what's the big deal about an extra $200,000 of cap space? Well, let's take a look at the impact for a team's entire draft class.

To be fair, second-day draft picks usually sign shorter deals and it has no effect on them, but the shorter amortization period can impact the first three rounds, where the real money is spent any way.

Let's use the 2004 Oakland Raiders rookie contracts for the first three rounds:


Marcus Spears was one of two first-rounders for the Cowboys, which could stress their salary cap.
All three of their picks (Robert Gallery, Jake Grove and Stuart Schweigert) received six-year contracts. Their combined signing bonus equaled $11.37 million. The Raiders are paying off that bonus money at a rate of $1.89 million a year. If they gave the same amount of bonus money out this season, it would be a $2.27 million cap hit. An extra $380,000 against the cap is starting to be significant and it gets more stressful. Let's assume the rookie contracts go up five percent, which is about the normal growth, although it could be more. All of sudden, teams could be hit for close to an extra $500,000 of cap space to sign the rookies. That is the price of one decent player on your roster.

Of course, teams are discussing ways to work around the extra cap charges by giving some option bonus money in the second year and less signing bonus in the first year. Many teams will still want to get players signed to six-year deals and suffer the lack of ability to spread out signing bonus.

Finally, it is important to point out if the CBA were not to be extended, then players who finished four years and expected to become unrestricted free agents looking for a huge pay day would find out that in uncapped years, they would not be unrestricted free agents after four years. In uncapped years, players need five years minimum to gain free agency. There are reasons for both sides to work diligently to get the extension done.


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[4bubba]

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NO NO. 1s
To date, no first-round draft choice has reached agreement on a new deal. And while we should start hearing about some contracts for some first-rounders next week, deals for the top choices are expected to trickle in this summer. The biggest reason is that, due to the current collective bargaining agreement, and the lack of a new one, this year's rookie contracts cannot be any longer than five years. Now, instead of cramming the signing bonus into the six-year contracts that first-round picks signed last year, and the seven-year contracts they signed the year before, now they must be squeezed into five years. This complicates negotiations. Now players, agents and teams are expecting deals that have lower signing bonuses and larger option bonus payments, to try to give the players the money they want and the teams the salary-cap relief they crave. But many around the league are bracing for plenty of holdouts from first-round picks.

ATL QB Vick signed a seven year bomus before this year. Now it looks like the bonus will divide by five instead of seven. that will really hurt their salary cap. It is their own fault in that they gambled the CBA would be done before this.

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