Here's two reasons why your thinking that the cap is a gift to all NFL owners isn't really true. First, Jones bought the Cowboys before there was a salary cap and was happy the way things were. The Cowboys were even then the highest valued team in the NFL and ranked 4th in the world behind some European soccer teams. Jones was happy being free to spend what he wanted to build the deepest team in the NFL and win 3 Super Bowls. The start of the cap actually severely hurt the Cowboys that went on for 20 years.
The second reason is there have been new owners in the league since the cap started. If the cap was such a gift why would some decide to sell out. Lets start with Art Model. He made some poor NFL business decisions before there was a cap and then that what you call a gift started and that still didn't help Model. He tried moving the franchise to Baltimore and with getting a new stadium that wasn't going to cost the team anything for the 1st 10 years still wasn't enough and he had to sell the team and file bankruptcy. Now there have been 30 new owners in the NFL since the cap started. Now of those 30, 13 are relatives of the previous owners who either died or retired. 1 was an order by the league to sell his team.because of personal things he did as an owner. That leaves 16 owners that were added as single owners or added as part owners but why would that happen if the cap was such a gift? The reason is because of all of the things you either haven't thought of or don't know about that eat up revenue the owners get. Besides all of the employees other than players that come out of the cap they pay for coaches, doctors, trainers, scouts, administrative help, the travel expenses for the team, except this season training camps in other cities, hotels on away games and all the food, the cost of all the uniforms, pay for the maintenance staff that care for the practice facilities and stadiums. The staff that clean all the uniforms and polish all the helmets after games. And just like players who have to pay income taxes in all the states and countries they play in (except those that don't have state income taxes like Texas and Florida) the owners have to pay those same income taxes for the team. After all the expenses are taken out the owner's net pay it is much less than what most fans think it is. Yes it a lot more than what we make, but is not as much as what most think.
Your example of if all the owners were changed and if the game would still be the same is poor at best. The owners don't play the game and all the rules would be the same. The you asked the same about players and in your hypothetical question if all the replacement players had the same exact talent yes the game would be the same. How about this hypothetical idea. What if all of the players contracts were wiped clean and all of the players contracts then fit under the cap and in that year and future years there's no dead money on any team's cap would the game be the same. My guess is yes but none of the hypotheticals will ever happen.
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