Owners/NFLPA tryin get CBA done & what happens if not.....

[sago1]

Ralphael Vela blog discusses efforts by NFL & NFLPA to get CBA agreed upon by end of February. Seriously concerned by chaos which will result if no agreement reached including the need by teams to cut vet players who due large bonuses. Colts were cited as one team who'd have to blow up their team. Further down contains comment by Vela as it might effect our retaining Larry Allen by pointing out he due a large SB in March (I believe $2M). I read this article last evening & don't remember it all but think article also mentions Cowboys intend asking Larry Allen to restructure his contract & Vela thinks he will so Cowboys will keep him. Also pro/con on retaining Ellis, Glover, and Allen. See http://blog.theboys.com/

 

[onetrickpony]

I don't under stand why anyone would have to blow up a team if the CBA expires. Contract bonuses are paid in a lump sum. Only the cap impact is spread out over several years. It doesn't affect the team's payroll in any way. If they pay a player a bonus, they pay it all when it is due by the contract. It doesn't matter when it hits the cap if there is no cap. Since there is no cap, there is no need to spread out the impact.

I understand that the market for free agents could go sky high with no cap. Teams like ours and the Commanders would have an advantage in signing free agents since we have deeper pockets than some other teams.

Can someone enlighten me as what what I am missing here?

 

[sacase]

Well first of all there are other bonuses that are not paid immediatly, IE Roster bonuses. Players get these if they are on the roster on a certain date. Also another problem that no CBA thing brings is the 30% rule. What essentally says that no players contracts can be increased by more than 30% when moving from a capped year to an uncapped year. However I may be a slightly worng in this..

 

[jterrell]

Well first of all there are other bonuses that are not paid immediatly, IE Roster bonuses. Players get these if they are on the roster on a certain date. Also another problem that no CBA thing brings is the 30% rule. What essentally says that no players contracts can be increased by more than 30% when moving from a capped year to an uncapped year. However I may be a slightly worng in this..

Nope you are right.

The 30% rule is a big factor for both players and teams as well as the contract lengths which get reduced until a new CBA is signed.

I have stated before I expect a deal to get done.

More importantly Adam has stated the same which means you can pretty much bank on it.

Both sides benefit by getting the deal done. The last deal put an emphasis on getting a new deal done.

If they do not get a deal done the net result would be fewer dollars going to players and worse cap shape for about 10 teams. The NFLPA isn't going to give away a year or two on average contract per player. And the owners have no desire as whole to see the ability to turn incentives and whatnot into salary because of the 30% rule.

 

[jterrell]

I don't under stand why anyone would have to blow up a team if the CBA expires. Contract bonuses are paid in a lump sum. Only the cap impact is spread out over several years. It doesn't affect the team's payroll in any way. If they pay a player a bonus, they pay it all when it is due by the contract. It doesn't matter when it hits the cap if there is no cap. Since there is no cap, there is no need to spread out the impact.

I understand that the market for free agents could go sky high with no cap. Teams like ours and the Commanders would have an advantage in signing free agents since we have deeper pockets than some other teams.

Can someone enlighten me as what what I am missing here?

The problem with this theory is that the current CBA places strict limits on years allowed and raises per year going forward even without a CBA.

The Skins would be royally hosed if the 30% rule is implemented because they plan to restructure at least 5 or 6 guys freeing up around 7 to 10 million using the priniciples that rule prohibits.

The blank check of a salary cap free year wouldn't come into play until later after everyone suffered.

 

[onetrickpony]

...the current CBA places strict limits on years allowed and raises per year going forward even without a CBA.

So.... even if the CBA expires (and takes the cap with it) then there are still CBA restrictions in place? In other words the effect is that only portions of the CBA expire while other parts continue in place...

I still don't see how this would cause a team to blow itself up. Aren't all current player contracts checked to see if they violate this 30% rule? And wouldn't any contract that doesn't conform be ruled as invalid by the league office under the current CBA? That brings me back to my original question.

Bonuses are paid in full at the time specified by the contract (roster bonus, signing bonus, incentives, etc) If a player earns a roster bonus by being on the roster on a specific date, the team pays the bonus in full on that date if that is what the contract calls for. Only the effect of the bonus on the cap is spread out over the remaining years of the contract (or to an uncapped year, which ever is reached first).

Club A owes me $3 gazilion roster bonus on a contract with 3 years left. On said date I am paid $3 gazilion all at once. But all $3 gazillion doesn't hit the cap on that date. The payment is made all at once to me but the capologists apply $1 gazilion per year against the cap for this year and $1 gazilion next year and $1 gazilion the 3rd year (assuming no break in the CBA). The team still has to pay me ALL of my money this year. Only the hit on the cap is spread out.

The bottom line is that the team still has to have $3 gazilion available to pay me my money on the due date whether there is a CBA or salary cap or not.

I'm guessing here that the real issue is that some teams do not have the capital to actually pay the contract obligations for future years. They use the cap as leverage to renegotiate as well as keep the fan base from revolting for allowing fan favorites to leave. We see the number all of the time about how some team is way over the cap for the upcoming year and must take action before they get in trouble. Without the leverage that the cap gives them to renegotiate, then players would actually want the team to live up to the original contract which would bankrupt the team.

 

[BrassCowboy]

I think I read that you cannot spread the salary bonus into an uncapped year. I may be wrong, but there was something about the length of contracts that came up when signing new draftees last year do to the oncoming uncapped year. To me, it sounded like teams were limited to how long they could sign the new draftees because they couldn't spread a bonus passed the last capped year, hence a bigger hit each year.

Adam??

 

[LPW]

Here is the 30% rule as explained by Adam. See posts # 20, 26, & 39.

http://dallascowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46959