Perhaps the NBA has a legitimate solution to the salary cap era of the NFL.
As it stands there is a soft cap for the NBA. Teams can pay up to that cap without any financial penalty.
There is what is called the Larry Byrd rule, which allows a team to pay a player who is currently on the team a salary which pushes the franchise over the cap.
Finally there is a two tiered system wherein the team over the cap may continue to pay higher salaries, and the two tiers are essentially two distinct penalties factored in a dollar amount. The first is 1.50 and the second is 4.75 above the cap at a per dollar cost. The money gleaned from these penalties is distributed to the other owners and players who stay under the cap.
The NBA salary cap, as of last year was 123.665 million.
If I understand this it works this way.
Let's say the cap with the NFL is 190 million. Teams can safely stay under that dollar amount.
The Byrd rule, which surely would be called something else - I prefer The Goodell Is An Egg Sucking Dog Rule - would allow teams to pay up to 224.8 million, which allows them to pay a QB without penalty.
Finally, teams can exceed the 224.8 million at a penalty price.
Let's say Team A has exceeded the soft cap of 190 million, then added another 34.8 million to retain their QB. This puts them at the 224.8 million threshold. They have heavily played the free agent market and spent an extra amount which surpasses that amount and is paying 250 million in salary.
The extra 25.2 million would be taxed at 1.75 dollars to the tune of another 44.1 million dollars. This would mean the salary of this team would be 190 million soft cap, plus 34.8 million Goodell Wears Lacy Panties cap, plus 25.2 exceeding the second level of the cap, plus an additional 44.1 million.
This money would be distributed to teams in softer markets who cannot afford to exceed the cap.
190 million soft cap
34.8 million Goodell is a mouth breather cap
25.2 million over spent above secondary cap
44.1 million penalty tax distributed among players and owners
Equals 294.1 million for one year
Now I do not pretend to be a capologist, but the price of QB's is headed to a point where teams will invest so much in one position - with the fallacy that the QB is the only reason a team wins....think not, read the posts here to validate that frame of mind - and then you will see the have's and have not's in the league where a guy is playing for peanuts so the team can pay one player 65 million a year.
The upheaval this creates reminds me of the Great Depression - no I did not live through that time - that there will be a crash and the league will turn into something unrecognizable as the have not's strike every year, and this turns in to the league surfing the crap tide.
I believe I can point to one owner who looks remarkably like Skeletor that would pay whatever it cost to win a Super Bowl to show the entire football world he is a football guy.
I understand there are some swank pawn shops that give pay day loans on yachts.
Thoughts?
