http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ls-could-be-keeping-jets-from-paying-players/ The contract dispute between the Jets and cornerback Darrelle Revis, which prompted Revis to boycott offseason workouts on Thursday, could have its roots in a specific business challenge the team has been facing of late. According to Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post, unsold Personal Seat Licenses could be to blame for the inability to strike a deal with Revis and other players. For now, there's no hard evidence of a connection. Hubbuch's report merely points to the notion that NFL executives "are starting to wonder" about the existence of a connection. Hubbuch points out that the Jets have $110 million committed in salaries for 2010. Last year, the salary cap was $128 million per team. If the cap had survived, it likely would have exceeded $135 million. The bigger problem, in our view, flows from the messages that the team has given to players like Revis, center Nick Mangold, linebacker David Harris, and left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson. As we understand it, the organization has informed each player that he'll be "taken care of." To date, none has received a long-term deal. So if PSL sales are causing a cash-flow pinch, why tell any of the players that he'll be "taken care of"? Frankly, we think the Jets have the money to pay these guys. So we also think that the unsold PSLs aren't keeping the players from getting paid. However, an ongoing failure to make the appropriate investment in the players who help form the nucleus of the franchise could make fans even less likely to make the requisite investment in what will end up being the nucleus of their discretionary spending. In other words, if the Jets don't honor their promises to the players, it'll be even harder to sell the PSLs. NEW YORK POST BELOW NEW YORK POST Jets' unsold PSLs likely keeping players' salaries down By BART HUBBUCH Last Updated: 5:54 AM, June 5, 2010 Posted: 3:22 AM, June 5, 2010 Darrelle Revis' contract dispute could be just the tip of the iceberg for the Jets. NFL executives are starting to wonder just how bad the Jets' PSL sales are going and just how much of an impact that shortfall is having on the team's finances, several sources told The Post yesterday. According to an industry source, the Jets are not taking advantage of the lifting of the salary cap in the NFL this year, the last in the current labor agreement. The source said the Jets -- despite a series of splashy moves and signings this offseason -- have just $110 million in salaries committed for the 2010 season. That is far below last year's salary cap of $128 million and even further below what the cap likely would have been this year (roughly $138 million). The Jets' relatively small 2010 salary commitments combined with their glacially slow movement on new contracts desired by Revis and fellow young cornerstones Nick Mangold, D'Brickashaw Ferguson and David Harris are prompting alarm bells around the league. Johnson and Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum defended the team's current salary situation and tough stance on contract talks as the club being sensible rather than frugal. They also strongly insist the Jets are committed to winning. "I can promise our fans that we're going to do everything we can to win the Super Bowl," Johnson said recently. "It motivates everything we do." But the $110 million figure in salary commitment follows The Post's exclusive confirmation last month that the Jets have more than 10,000 unsold personal seat licenses in their new $1.6 billion stadium in the Meadowlands, the cost of which was funded almost entirely by an equal partnership between Jets owner Woody Johnson and the families that co-own the Giants. Johnson is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, but the unsold PSLs combined with his share of the New Meadowlands Stadium costs might explain his frugal moves this offseason. "You really have to wonder just how bad it is there," an NFL executive told The Post yesterday. Patriots owner Robert Kraft agreed, telling The Post at last month's league meeting that Johnson's fellow owners hope the decision to give New York the 2014 Super Bowl will "help [the Jets'] sales." The decision in April to release Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca just to save $2.25 million -- the non-guaranteed part of Faneca's salary -- started the whispers around the league about the Jets' surprising frugality. The whispers picked up now that Gang Green appears set to replace Faneca at a vital position with rookie second-round pick Vladimir Ducasse, a relative football novice from Haiti who is a product of low-level NCAA program UMass. The talk intensified Thursday, when Revis skipped a voluntary offseason workout to protest what he considered the Jets' insultingly low money offer on a new contract. The All-Pro cornerback said he feels he is worthy of being the NFL's highest-paid player at his position, which means topping the $16.2 million average salary of the Raiders' Nnamdi Asomugha. The Jets' offer last month -- believed to be an average of $10 million a year -- was nowhere close to that, and Revis could be headed for a nasty holdout that could be a precursor of many more to come unless the Jets decide to open up their wallet. Like many teams, the Jets are proceeding cautiously in terms of making long-term money commitments this year because of the likelihood that the cap will return in 2011. But that is cold comfort to some of their increasingly disgruntled players. "It's like talking to someone complaining about their electric bills being too high because they bought a bunch of TVs," Mangold told The Post. "Basically, the teams and the owners got themselves in this situation. Is it the players' responsibility to get them out of it?" * The Jets have signed fullback John Conner, the team's fifth-round draft pick, to a four-year contract. Conner's signing yesterday marks the first of the Jets' four draft selections to get under contract. bhubbuch@nypost.com NEW YORK POST is a registered trademark of NYP Holdings, Inc. nypost.com , nypostonline.com , and newyorkpost.com are trademarks of NYP Holdings, Inc. Copyright 2010 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy | Terms of Use
I assure you the PSL sales are not preventing Woody fucking Johnson from paying players. The guy is a multi-billionaire. It has everything to do with getting the right deals in place for a salary cap that is unknown and having multiple core guys to sign. Stupid article.
I'm pretty sure the PSL sales have nothing to do with players contracts. Wat about merchandise sale? i'm sure theirs been a lot of Jersey sales with all the new players.
I really miss the days when every moron with a job in the sports media didn't have 24/7 access to the internet, so they actually cared if what they wrote in the newspaper was laughably idiotic.
Florio is a real gem.... has he ever written a positive article about the Jets? I'm sure NFL execs are wondering if a multi-billionaire is having trouble paying his players..... My guess is NFL execs are more concerned with beating the Jets this year as opposed to them paying people.
He writes stupid, inflammatory articles about all the teams - that's his shtick. Once in a great while he writes something worth while.
For all we know the Jets could have paid Florio to write this article as yet another incentive for fans to purchase PSLs. Apparently having a team on the verge of a national championship isn't enough so what would you expect these guys to do? This isn't baseball and this isn't St. Louis so ticket sales have nothing to do with paying players.
I sincerely doubt it has any bearing on bringing back Revis, Mangold, or any other of our top free agents. Just ridiculous to "report" this.
Yup - our multi-billionaire owner is going to fold and give up on his investment because he's having a hard time the first year of his new stadium. I love how he ignores all the other factors involved - unknown cap, multiple players to sign, first offer in a negotiation. Nope, must be a budget issue.
Plus the 30% rule.. it's a joke, it just seems like people want to rain on the Jets parade no matter what the issue.
God that is the biggest pile of crap I've ever read, and that says a lot being a fan of a team with the (low) quality of columnists the Jets have had.
This article makes me so mad. Many of you have already pointed out that it's unfounded so let's leave that alone. Combine it with the fact that you are essentially insinuating that the reason Darelle Revis is currently absent from the voluntary team activities is because Jet fans aren't paying him. To even suggest that PSLs are the reason contracts aren't getting signed is so maddening. Yeah it's all OUR fault. Wow.
2011 Is shaping up to be a really interesting offseason with Nick Mangold, Tony Richardson, Braylon Edwards, David Harris, Antonio Cromartie, and Santonio Holmes all at the end of their contracts. If you ask me, settling all that seems a little more relavent right now than Revis asking for an extension to a deal that lasts through 2012.
I think it's safe to say at least one of Cro/Holmes/Edwards is gone. Richardson is done after this year. I think we're in a much better cap situation than people want to believe for '11. http://nyjetscap.com/salary11.html Some easy cuts to save $, and at $97 million we're well under the cap anyway.
This is something I've been wondering about - for all the years that the Jets were actually bad, I don't recall ever seeing an offseason with more negative articles about the Jets than this year. This is also the first offseason of the media on twitter, of course, so (as I said earlier) I suspect that that is part of it, but I really don't understand the constant drumbeat of criticism (as compared to the silence regarding the Giants, for example).
