It isn't your money

[acr731]

Prior to the CAP days, the Super Bowls were most often lopsided boring affairs. The CAP has actually increased the entertainment value of the NFL by creating more competitive playoff and Super Bowl games over the past 30 years. That is the reality for the NFL - even if the Cowboys have been frozen out of playoff success over that same period of time.

Jerry jones was instrumental in getting the salary cap era started, but he started something he didn't know how to get around. Essentially, it's Jerry's fault the team has been frozen out of playoff success the past 30 years.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Because there is a cap, how a team budgets said cap has an effect on competition. Fans who care about winning have a skin in that game.

 

[gtb1943]

Prior to the CAP days, the Super Bowls were most often lopsided boring affairs. The CAP has actually increased the entertainment value of the NFL by creating more competitive playoff and Super Bowl games over the past 30 years. That is the reality for the NFL - even if the Cowboys have been frozen out of playoff success over that same period of time.

Many SBs are not really competitive. Our two with the steelers in the 70's were certainly exciting. The niner/bengals SB went to the end. I really doubt that the percentage of truly competitive SBs have changed that much since the CAP and FA showed up

 

[Praxit]

Actually, the money is generated from fans, so it may not be "our money" but fans are a huge part of the process of making them "their money".

That said, the only reason I care about contracts is because if one or a few players use up a lot of the salary cap, it means the team will have to go cheap in other areas.

I am not a fan of big contracts until players have proven they can help you win Super Bowls, and even then you have to weigh how it will impact and limit the team's other positions.

For example, if you give one player $30 million, then that's 12% of the 2024 salary cap for one player, who could be injured on any play or fail to live up to that contract for whatever reasons. That leaves 88% of the salary cap for the remaining 52 players.

Then you pay your quarterback (no matter who it is) $50 million per year and that's close to 20% of the salary cap on one player.

That means with two players, you have used up 32% of the salary cap leaving you with only 68% of the salary cap for the remaining 51 players.

I have no problems with players trying to get as much as they can. Their careers are short so they need to capitalize on their performance as much as possible.

I just don't like the team having to let players go or be prevented from signing players that would help the team simply because one to three players are eating up so much of the salary cap.

...Dang mate, good points all around.

I guess WE all feel, gotta leave some pie for everyone. ..

 

[Jumbo075]

This is a terrible analogy. I am also an engineer. I have no doubt that you are great at what you do. Having said that I have seen more than my share of engineers who have been going at it for years and years and are flat out terrible at what they do. Just because these guys have been having fun playing with their favorite toy for a long time now in no way means that they are good at what they do. They have been building a turd year after year for a long long time now. If you consider their mandate to be "build a championship football team" then they are terrible at what they do.

You are making my point. Stephen may not be a good football guy, but he is a football guy. The NFL (and other sports teams) are littered with failed GMs. Have you ever heard of Jon Daniels? I don't have an issue with anyone criticizing Jerry or Stephen for their lack of success. But the attempt to label them as non-football guys is just ridiculous.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

I believe the CAP was placed on the league to protect the lower income teams from the higher income teams. It was initially established to create equality amongst the teams, I believe.

I believe there is some truth to that, but no one could foresee how lucrative this business would become, so I think the owners LOVE the fact that there is a cap with all the money there is to be made. At the end of the day.....only ONE team wins every year, so you might as well get rich.

The issue is....it seems like the fans have a bigger issue with PLAYERS getting rich, and the way the owners behave, conduct themselves, leak damaging information around contract time etc... I get the sense they love the fact that the players come off looking like the bad guy the majority of the time.

 

[ChuckA1]

I believe there is some truth to that, but no one could foresee how lucrative this business would become, so I think the owners LOVE the fact that there is a cap with all the money there is to be made. At the end of the day.....only ONE team wins every year, so you might as well get rich.

The issue is....it seems like the fans have a bigger issue with PLAYERS getting rich, and the way the owners behave, conduct themselves, leak damaging information around contract time etc... I get the sense they love the fact that the players come off looking like the bad guy the majority of the time.

I think most fans understand there is a finite amount of money and are afraid paying one guy a huge amount will affect the team's ability to sign great players at other positions. It takes a team, after all.

 

[gtb1943]

You are making my point. Stephen may not be a good football guy, but he is a football guy. The NFL (and other sports teams) are littered with failed GMs. Have you ever heard of Jon Daniels? I don't have an issue with anyone criticizing Jerry or Stephen for their lack of success. But the attempt to label them as non-football guys is just ridiculous.

OJT I guess one can say the Jones boys are football guys in that they certainly have the experience. Just not all that great at it,
And being an excellent former player certainly did not mean anything as regards Matt Millen for Detroit; arguably one of the worst GMs ever

 

[MyFairLady]

You are making my point. Stephen may not be a good football guy, but he is a football guy. The NFL (and other sports teams) are littered with failed GMs. Have you ever heard of Jon Daniels? I don't have an issue with anyone criticizing Jerry or Stephen for their lack of success. But the attempt to label them as non-football guys is just ridiculous.

My bad then when I read your post it seemed to imply that they were somehow qualified and good at it because of how long they have been doing it. Sure call them football guys.

 

[irishline]

That's true in a lot of cases but you're missing the real point like say AT&T it was half paid by the Cowboys half by Arlington yes by the taxpayers however you're missing what this really means for the city the Dallas Cowboys are then paying the city of Arlington Elise to use the stadium and the city of Arlington uses a stadium for many other events and when all those big events like the world soccer championships are coming here I don't even know what it's called but there are so many activities that go on at these stadiums that the city benefits from and for sure the business owners of all the restaurants and the hotels and all that other stuff are getting lots and lots of revenue...

When you look at this in black and white ohh yeah the city paid for half and then see nothing else you really don't pay attention in this case Jerry Jones not only paid for half of it he's then leasing back the stadium for his use so technically it's owned by the city of Arlington, so they got a stadium for half price and all the benefits that come from it...

They literally are attracting big businesses like Lowe's hotel, PBA, Esports, and some of the other things that opened up since the stadium was built in 2009 that would never have been in Arlington it also cleaned up Arlington I live here I'm part of the Chamber of Commerce that area they crushed the build that and everybody was up in arms about all the way to 360 they cleaned it up there are no more real clubs or any these special bars if you know what I mean they're all gone it's almost all just restaurants now...​

Oh yes, you are correct. Sorry to put you through that, I was simply referring to the fact that most teams cannot mortgage their stadium because it was publicly funded. Didn't go anywhere beyond that in my head.

Great information though and I completely agree. Thanks for taking the time to type it out. Wish I could give you more than one like.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Generally speaking these deals for top stars end up being percentages of that cap. People wring their hands about the price going up year to year but this recent Jefferson deal is from a cap percentage perspective about the same as deals from Tyreke Hill to Calvin Johnson in their respective years.

I don't have any issue with Lamb and Parsons wanting off cost control. Dak has already earned $160M and gamed the system to his advantage.

It's long been known that the Cowboys budget for premier positions. Stephen straight up said at the draft that the tradeoff from having these 3 elite premier positions to pay is they cannot account for 3 premium slots on the OL.

It means that they will likely continue to draft OL more moving forward to fill those 3 fluid OL spots.

 

[FanofJerry]

So roster building and asset allocation isn't related to football? Let's pretend the cap doesn't exist and these decisions don't matter to the success of the team?

Its way past that...its all anyway talks about anymore.

Sports is for highlights these days...not getting behind a team where every fan message board is over-run with unreasonableness.

Talking math ruined the game...and allows hate to emerge by unreasonable posters wanting to claim nobody is worth anything because of no trophies.

Its just hate Jerry, hate Dak. Jerry sucks and managing, Dak isnt worth it. CAP this, CAP that. Nobody is worth anything blah blah blah. And disgusting undertones that scream of wanting to take advantage of players pay wise.

Jerry and Co. have put good talent on the field. They need to hire a coach that leads this talent with great playoff game planning.

The World creates playoff yips to allow unreasonable posters to hate. Dak doesnt have clutch yips. Dallas has clutch coaching yips. But the internet wants to blame payer play...AS ALWAYS. Shame the player.

FO has given out bad contracts...Zeke, Steele(maybe), Gallup...and non-major impact positions should be dealt more frugally than impact positions(QB, WR, LT, Generational Linebacker/DE). FO has a little cleaning up to do with contracts...but it isnt Dak and the QB salary that is hurting this team...its playoff coaching.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

I think most fans understand there is a finite amount of money and are afraid paying one guy a huge amount will affect the team's ability to sign great players at other positions. It takes a team, after all.

Again....the cap rules are the same for everyone. I am not letting the Jones boys off the hook. There are only 2 teams that have not played in the NFC title game since the mid-90s...and it's not because of the salary cap.

One of those 2 changed ownership last year...the other is the Cowboys.

 

[Ranching]

Not our money, but our money pays their bills, and allows them to miss camp to make a point!

Idiocy......LOL

 

[HonoluluCowboy]

NFL teams (and other leagues) have proven over and over again they can manipulate the salary CAP in multiple ways to build the teams with the players they want. So any excuse that involves insufficient funds is just an excuse. Having said that, every team makes different strategic choices when it comes to managing the salary CAP.

As for player salaries, even the lowest paid players make salaries that are mere fantasies to 99.9% of fans. So, I’ve never understood why fans take sides when it comes to disputes between millionaires and billionaires. I’ve worked for 36 years as an engineer, and haven’t made as much as Dak Prescott will make in 2 games. I’ve supported my family, sent 3 children to college, and am paying for a 2nd wedding this year. And it’s been enough.

Bottom line: it’s not my money. It isn’t your money either. Arguing over salary CAP dollars and player salaries is really among the most useless things a fan can do. We cannot relate to wealth at that level.

Does CeeDee, or Dak, or Micah “deserve” the money they’ll get? Is it fair that they make so much more these days than players like Larry Allen or Emmitt Smith made back in the day. WHO CARES? It’s not my money.

And it isn’t yours either. Pretending it matters to fans is just another psychological fantasy to engage fans. I won’t be sucked into those arguments anymore. I prefer to discuss football, not finances.

Considering you don't care, that one hell of a rant !

 

[unionjack8]

 

[KingCorcoran]

You are making my point. Stephen may not be a good football guy, but he is a football guy. The NFL (and other sports teams) are littered with failed GMs. Have you ever heard of Jon Daniels? I don't have an issue with anyone criticizing Jerry or Stephen for their lack of success. But the attempt to label them as non-football guys is just ridiculous.

A legitimate “football guy” would hire a capable GM whose continued employment would depend on the team’s performance.

 

[buybuydandavis]

One of the things that I always find amazing is how fans describe Jerry and Stephen as if they don't know anything about football. "Get a real football guy" they say. I've been an engineer since May 16, 1988. That is 36 years this past month. It is shocking to myself how much I know about engineering design, systems, and construction management. I've learned so much simply from my experience over the years. Stephen Jones has been a football executive since February of 1989 - for over 35 years. I guarantee that he knows more than 99.9% of fans about how to run a football team, negotiate contracts, and manage a salary CAP. The notion that he's not a "football guy" is laughable on its face.

No, it's just a different concept of "football guy".
They don't mean a business administrator in the sports entertainment business. The mean someone who understands what happens on the field and will *act* based on what happens on the field.
I think that's the disconnect. I'm sure the Joneses understand a lot of what happens on the field as well. More than us. But it's just not what drives their decisions. They're businessmen making business decisions and it frustrates fans who want the Cowboys to *win*, not *make money*. Can't argue that they haven't been successful at making money. Most valuable sports franchise in the world for at least 5 years running, maybe 10.

 

[buybuydandavis]

A legitimate “football guy” would hire a capable GM whose continued employment would depend on the team’s performance.

They're businessmen whose goal is to make money in sports entertainment, and they're the best in the world at it.
Their goal isn't to win games.

 

[Jumbo075]

That isn't spending. Those are NEW contract commitments. When the Cowboys sign Dak for $275M and CeeDee for $140M, those numbers will change dramatically. It also doesn't take into account PAST contract commitments that are already on the books.

Add just that $415M into the books, and suddenly the Cowboys new contract commitments will be $508M - just by adding those two contracts, which will rank 3rd highest in the NFL.