If the Owners vote to repudiate the labor agreement

[patpatriot]

...which franchises dissolve in an uncapped era?

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

well, definately nashville. this a small city. id hate to see that happen though. its pretty cheap to see a football game here, compared to the razor.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I'd like to see the league uncapped, even though that's admittedly because I think that the Pats would be in the best position to capitalize on that.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

I think that uncapped would hurt the Pats more than other teams. Lately, players have come here to "get their ring", and have been willing to take less money. In an uncapped environment, these players wouldn't have to take less to come here, and other teams that could spend loads of $s, like the Cowboys, Redskins, Giants could dilute that player pool.

Also, overpaying a single player goes against the team concept that the Pats preach.....

 

[primetime]

Uncapped environment will ruin the NFL. The salary cap is one of football's greatest salvations. Don't do away with it.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

The NFL is the golden goose, a salary cap in the nfl is a prority... If the agreement is done, you can kiss the nfl good bye as we know it.. teams will disolve in 5 yrs.. The owners better wise up, and Im talkin about the owners that are not trying to make money.. ala mike brown and ralph wilson..

 

[otis p. driftwood]

These may be valid points (I'm not certain I agree) but I think you're missing the bigger picture. There's a cap now because who forced the issue? Which owner decided it was necessary, and convinced one of the other biggest (richest) owners to go along, and which owner sent his son off to kiss the shrivelly bottoms of the putz owners like Mike Brown and Ralph Wilson to get them to sign onto the new deal (not to be confused with the New Deal)?

Now ask: which owner is being kicked around by the NFL and the media. Which owner has a big ol' stick in his pocket to poke--or even beat--Goodell and Company with?

I bet if Kraft was happy right now there'd already be a new deal in place. But him being annoyed?

Personally, I find it funny as hell. Plus which, I really like the idea of the Colties, already being over the cap, having to start cutting people because of lack of funds.

 

[bigjunk1]

I like an NFL where a team from Wisconsin is on an even playing field financially with a team from NY or Wahington DC.

At this pont every NFL fan should feel that if they get a couple of breaks, and draft well, their team has a shot to win.

Compare that to MLB, which has no cap, and how almost half the teams are starting this season knowing they will not win.

The salary cap allows for a competitive balance. As baseball has shown, without that balance smaller market teams will suffer.

 

[otis p. driftwood]

I like an NFL where a team from Wisconsin is on an even playing field financially with a team from NY or Wahington DC.

At this pont every NFL fan should feel that if they get a couple of breaks, and draft well, their team has a shot to win.

Compare that to MLB, which has no cap, and how almost half the teams are starting this season knowing they will not win.

The salary cap allows for a competitive balance. As baseball has shown, without that balance smaller market teams will suffer.

What you're forgetting (and since you brought up MLB) is that in baseball, the owners of small market teams take the money provided them by Boston and NY, and treat it as found profit--they don't plow it back into the organization to sign better players.

Apples and oranges.

And btw--a team from Wisconsin can compete because those people are freakin' nuts and would buy tickets and merchandise if every t-shirt was $100 and tickets were $1000.

I know this because I lived there 4 and a half years.

You'd be better off saying "a team from Arizona".

 

[chrisfx811]

The NFL would have to institute a luxury tax to offset a lack of salary cap.

Some markets just don't support their teams no matter what, cap or not.
Jax doesn't sell out their home games consistently.
The Arizona D-backs were outstanding, and had playoff tix available on gameday.
The New Orleans Hornets are one of the best in the NBA, and they're at risk of losing their team. (yes, I know it's New Orleans)
The Colts sell out their home games consistently, but the Pacers crowds shrink by the day.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

These may be valid points (I'm not certain I agree) but I think you're missing the bigger picture. There's a cap now because who forced the issue? Which owner decided it was necessary, and convinced one of the other biggest (richest) owners to go along, and which owner sent his son off to kiss the shrivelly bottoms of the putz owners like Mike Brown and Ralph Wilson to get them to sign onto the new deal (not to be confused with the New Deal)?

Now ask: which owner is being kicked around by the NFL and the media. Which owner has a big ol' stick in his pocket to poke--or even beat--Goodell and Company with?

I bet if Kraft was happy right now there'd already be a new deal in place. But him being annoyed?

Personally, I find it funny as hell. Plus which, I really like the idea of the Colties, already being over the cap, having to start cutting people because of lack of funds.

IIRC, Irsay had to sell some of his memorablia to be able to pay Paymeton's signing bonus, they were that short of cash.......

 

[bob85ne]

Uncapped environment will ruin the NFL. The salary cap is one of football's greatest salvations. Don't do away with it.

I agree, the cap is what makes the NFL, season to season every team has a chance to be competitive as teams can't stock pile all the good players.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

These may be valid points (I'm not certain I agree) but I think you're missing the bigger picture. There's a cap now because who forced the issue? Which owner decided it was necessary, and convinced one of the other biggest (richest) owners to go along, and which owner sent his son off to kiss the shrivelly bottoms of the putz owners like Mike Brown and Ralph Wilson to get them to sign onto the new deal (not to be confused with the New Deal)?

Now ask: which owner is being kicked around by the NFL and the media. Which owner has a big ol' stick in his pocket to poke--or even beat--Goodell and Company with?

I bet if Kraft was happy right now there'd already be a new deal in place. But him being annoyed?

Personally, I find it funny as hell. Plus which, I really like the idea of the Colties, already being over the cap, having to start cutting people because of lack of funds.

:agree:

right on! i've been saying the same thing for some time out here. Kraft saved the deal last time and he can wreck it this time. i notice this is just your 40th post, so welcome to the board and keep it up!

 

[tobias funke]

I used to be a big baseball fan when I was younger. The reason I am such a big football fan now is because of how different it is from baseball, most importantly in the area of the salary cap.

I love rooting for the Pats, and I love that they are winning right now, but that won't last forever, and it shouldn't. I love that every team (for the most part) has a chance to win it all every year. I mean, no one was predicting the Giants even being IN the Super Bowl in WEEK 17!!! How can you beat that?

 

[signbabybrady]

I used to be a big baseball fan when I was younger. The reason I am such a big football fan now is because of how different it is from baseball, most importantly in the area of the salary cap.

I love rooting for the Pats, and I love that they are winning right now, but that won't last forever, and it shouldn't. I love that every team (for the most part) has a chance to win it all every year. I mean, no one was predicting the Giants even being IN the Super Bowl in WEEK 17!!! How can you beat that?

You wanna know what would beat that....If the giants lost said super bowl

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Uncapped environment will ruin the NFL. The salary cap is one of football's greatest salvations. Don't do away with it.

i've been reading your posts for a long time and they are very thoughtful. but, let me take the other side of this argument if I may.

Why not allow the Free Market to determine success or failure in the NFL?

What's so essential about having 32 teams, any one of which, with smart management and good coaching, can assemble the talent to compete for a championship against other reasonably evenly matched teams within two or three years, even starting from the bottom (e.g., Miami today)? Why should the Patriots or Cowboys or Redskins have to subsidize that possibility?

Would the world end, would the NFL be that significantly diminished if a handful of teams failed? What if Nashville and maybe Jacksonville or, even more deliciously, Indianapolis had to become second tier teams or fold up?

How many people can watch 16 games on a given weekend? What if there were, say, 14 or 15 games instead? would the nfl be that much weaker?

Why should Bob and Jonathan Kraft be busting their butts to build a profitable franchise when Brown and Wilson sit on their hands and refuse even to sell naming rights to their stadiums while collecting subsidies from Patriots Season Ticket Holders (i.e., "subsidies" in the sense they are able to afford to field competitive teams because of the cap while they themselves don't take every opportunity to maximize their revenue)?

Why should Irsay be the beneficiary of families who save to be able to afford Pats Season tickets every year? You realize, don't you, that some of our Season Ticket money, directly or indirectly, helps subsidize the Colts?

 

[tobias funke]

Why not allow the Free Market to determine success or failure in the NFL?

Because not everyone lives in a large market, and part of the success of the NFL is that just about everyone in the entire country has someone to root for that isn't a completely futile endeavor. This is combined with the fact that 99.99% of football players are from this country, and often small towns. Even though football has turned into such a media-driven/big town sport, it retains that hometown element that sports without a salary cap can never match.

I mean, yeah, it's a badge of honor to be a Royals fan because they never win, but is that really how you keep a league relevant and fun to watch for as many as possible?

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Because not everyone lives in a large market, and part of the success of the NFL is that just about everyone in the entire country has someone to root for that isn't a completely futile endeavor. This is combined with the fact that 99.99% of football players are from this country, and often small towns. Even though football has turned into such a media-driven/big town sport, it retains that hometown element that sports without a salary cap can never match.

I mean, yeah, it's a badge of honor to be a Royals fan because they never win, but is that really how you keep a league relevant and fun to watch for as many as possible?

Just to take the opposite view, but small markets shouldn't have pro football if they can't sustain it themselves. That's why college football is so popular in Nebraska, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma, etc, etc. Pro football is nice, but fans find other things to follow when their franchise goes away. Take it from a fan that lost his hometown team in 1983 that he rooted for since the 50's......

 

[tobias funke]

I guess it's like the electoral college, in that things are more fair for people who don't live in urban centers.

Do we need it? No. Should we have it? When dealing with an election, probably not. It's outdated and outmoded by electronic polling and the national media.

But for football? I guess I see no real problem with the current system.

 

[DaedalusX]

I like the cap because Belichick, Pioli and Kraft have been brilliant in exploiting it.