Steroids didn't help them, More importantly . I want to know why no one talks about how the Niners stole our Third superbowl. They beat us in the NFC championship go on to win the superbowl, Then it comes out there were caught for going over the salary cap to sign the players to beat us, What happens they get rid of those 2 goumbahs and thats it, Thats Major BULL**T !!!! THEY ROBBED US. And these niners fans walk around like they have 5 rings the right way, That bothers me more then Steroids,
Man FYI, Randy White lived on them.
GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NFL probing 49ers for salary cap violations
[FONT=geneva,arial]
- Eric Brazil and Scott Winokur, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Bruce Adams of The Examiner staff contributed to this report.
[/FONT][FONT=geneva,arial][SIZE=-2]Friday, July 23, 1999
[/SIZE][/FONT]
As if its ownership squabbles, the search for a new running back, and a new stadium that is receding into fantasy land weren't enough, the San Francisco 49ers are now being investigated by the National Football League for allegedly cheating on the salary cap.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed Friday that the league's management council, which oversees its collective bargaining agreement, is looking into a report that the 49ers played fast and loose with the salary cap while suspended co-owner Eddie DeBartolo was running the team.
Aiello also confirmed that John York, husband of DeBartolo's sister and 49ers co-owner Denise DeBartolo York, tipped off the league to the possibility that the salary cap may have been circumvented. John York is now running the 49ers' front office.
"This would be yet another nail in Eddie's coffin, but it's too soon to tell if it's a true wrong," said a source close to the Yorks.
The salary cap limits how much each team can spend on players' combined pay, up to a total team payroll of $57 million, in an effort to keep teams competitive on the field. Without a cap, wealthier teams could sign all the best players and theoretically have far superior teams.
DeBartolo has been fined and suspended from running the 49ers since pleading guilty last year to a felony arising from a federal investigation of Louisiana gambling industry corruption.
Forty Niners general manager Bill Walsh acknowledged the investigation in a prepared statement and said "we are cooperating fully with the NFL." He would not elaborate.
A source close to DeBartolo, who declined to be identified, said the timing of the investigation is suspicious.
"First of all, you have to ask yourself about the timing of this with the negotiations going on. Eddie didn't negotiate contracts," the source said. Carmen Policy, the 49ers' former president who now is president of the Cleveland Browns, negotiated complicated contracts, while 49ers executive Dwight Clark, who also is now with the Browns, negotiated more routine agreements.
"Eddie's just not aware of anything that would have busted the cap. As far as he knew, everything was being done within the rules and the regulations. You can probably imagine how he feels about this. He doesn't think there's anything wrong, and he thinks the investigation will probably show that, but given that they're in negotiation, he has to question the motivation. This is, like, "what else do they want to do to this guy.' "
The investigation was first reported by Sports Illustrated's Peter King, who said it includes a 1997 contract signed by now-retired tight end Brent Jones, in which a $500,000 completion bonus left over from an earlier contract was forgiven by Jones and his agents Leigh Steinberg and Jeff Moorad. If Jones received the bonus outside of the salary cap, which applies to all NFL teams, he and the 49ers have violated NFL regulations.
Aiello said that the findings of the management council, which is composed of NFL staffers, will be submitted to the league's special master Jack Friedenthal, who will make a recommendation to Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
Aiello said that if the allegations are found to be true, the 49ers would be subject to a $2 million fine and the loss of some future draft choices.
Although there have been salary cap circumvention investigations in the past, Aiello said that none resulted in penalties such as fines and draft choice losses.
Aiello said the investigation is not limited to the Jones contract and that he was unable to estimate when it will be wrapped up.
DeBartolo's free spending - typically for the players' benefit - has been well known to NFL officials, players and sportswriters for years.
In 1987, a strike year, he was fined $50,000 by then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle for giving bonuses to players.
After 49ers Super Bowl victories in 1989 and 1994, players and their wives or girlfriends were feted in Hawaii and Colorado Springs, courtesy of DeBartolo.
DeBartolo also has been known to lavish expensive Rolex watches on players and treat sportswriters to $175-a-shot glasses of fine brandy.
Before his $1 million fine and suspension earlier this year, the biggest disciplinary action taken by the NFL against him came in 1990, when Tagliabue, then new to the commissioner's office, fined him $500,000 for transferring ownership of the club to a newly created subsidiary of the family corporation that owns the team.
That transfer is now an element of the legal dispute between DeBartolo and Denise York.
The league at the time ruled that it violated rules against outside corporation ownership. DeBartolo could have been fined $1 million then, as well, but Tagliabue concluded that the move, unlike manipulation of a club salary cap, would not have given the club "any identifiable competitive advantage." <
Page A -
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/07/23/NEWS15308.dtl Tacoda_AMS_DDC_addPair("site","sfgate")Tacoda_AMS_DDC_addPair("section","news||")Tacoda_AMS_DDC_addPair("psection","article|news|")Tacoda_AMS_DDC_addPair("usertype","reader")Tacoda_AMS_DDC_addPair("pagetype","article")Tacoda_AMS_DDC_js=1.0Tacoda_AMS_DDC_js=1.1Tacoda_AMS_DDC_js=1.2Tacoda_AMS_DDC_js=1.3Tacoda_AMS_DDC("http://te.sfgate.com/tte/blank.gif", Tacoda_AMS_DDC_js)
