Quote:
|
Originally Posted by skinsguy
LOL! With chocolate sprinkles! 
Santanaman:
Never said the idea was fool proof, but at the sametime, why penalize the owners who have the money to pay the most to their players? It's the idea of having a free market. They way it stands now, to me, it's like a communist approach to the NFL.
By having the players' salary capped, the franchises aren't having to pay out such outlandish salaries while the players are still making a pretty darn good living.
This is where it would get sticky: finding a salary limit that all owners could deal with and that would get the approval of the players' union. In theory, this would be ideal and would still give all nfl franchises equal opportunity to attract players to their team, while loosening the stranglehold of the agents. |
I think you're right about the sticking point: the NFLPA would never agree to a player salary cap, wherein individual player salaries would be limited to a maximum annual figure. With the NFLPA, you're talking about an organization that works hand-in-hand with the players' agents to ensure that players have unlimited compensation potential throughout their careers. Their raison d'etre is to maximize the players' income-- not limit it.
That's why the current team salary cap system is in place. It's the only system that both the owners and players could agree upon when the current CBA was negotiated.
You also have to keep in mind that the NFL has experienced unrivaled and unprecedented success among sports leagues worldwide, since this particular "communist approach" was implemented over a decade ago. This is because the CBA provides for a competitive market, by ensuring that the players and the teams they play for are competing on a level field (or, at least, a reasonable approximation of such).
Like you said, the idea isn't foolproof, but I don't think the current system is as communistic as you suggested. There's certainly a free market dynamic at play here, as free agency allows players to command salaries commensurate with their value on the open market. If teams want to curb the inflation of those values-- which are sure to soar if star players and one-year wonders are allowed to re-write their deals every year-- the first step teams need to take is to refuse to renegotiate contracts unless it will help their salary cap situation. Thus far, that's generally what teams have done. But this current assault on the system by Rosenhaus and his high-profile clients will certainly test the mettle of even the most fiscally-disciplined franchises.