Unless some miracle happens the 2007 season and beyond this will be the "uncapped era" of the NFL. Also the NFLPA has stated that once the cap is lifted it won't agree to a cap ever again. So the question is can teams compete and win in that enviorment. Teams such as Washington,Dallas and Denver have substantial revenue streams. The Jets/Giants still don't have the stadiuym deal sewn up yet and will be behind with the above mentioned teams. Before the cap the Steelers and 49ers had great sucess. MLB has no cap but only 8 teams have a shot at going to the W/S because their teams can afford the better players. Will we see a split like MLB has or will it be business as usual.
football is the best sport out there because of the cap. The cap keeps every team on the same playing field - you can't go and buy an all-star team. To lose the cap will ruin football. 90% of the baseball teams have zero shot of ever reaching the playoffs they way that league is setup -- imagine being a fan for a team that will only spend 80 million in salary when other teams are spending $160million?
It would be MOST interesting to see which owners turn out to be the next Steinbreeners & which ones become Uncle Scrooge
if there were no salary cap itd be a Redskins SB every yr with Dan Snyder playing Steinbrenner and making outlandish offers to anyone possible.
The lack of a salary cap has RUINED MLB. We are now in Spring training, and we know for a fact 15-20 of the 30 teams have NO PRAYER to compete. Yes, 1/2 the league has been eliminated and we have not even played a spring training game yet. NFL is the sport it is because of the salary cap. Without it, you'd have 8-12 haves, and the rest of the teams would struggle. You'd end up with a Yankees and you'd end up with a Pittsburgh Pirates as well. It would be awful.
I would prefer no cap and no revenue sharing. Let the finacially weak teams fail and the quality of the game will increase and the supply of talent relative to the demand in roster spots will go up keeping salaries under control. The problem in Baseball is not that good teams can outspend bad teams it's that there are more roster spots than there are major league talent players.
I think Winny BB is now becoming stronger with the infusion of talented players from other countries like Japan, Korea, Latin America which is vastly increasing the gene pool for them. FB is only played in America so naturally the gene pool is far more limited.
Without the cap, NFL football as we know it, will be ruined. There would be about 8 or so really good teams. The others would be garbage. Players salaries would go through the roof over-night, and with injuries that can and do occur, there will be a lot of teams getting seriously burnt. Players agents would turn into greedy scum suckers. Not that they aren't already, but they know the guide lines. With no guide lines football would suck pretty quickly. This is one of the reasons I gave up watching baseball. The players are grossly over-paid and spoiled out of their minds. All the good players sooner or later flock to Yankee stadium almost like salmon swimming up river to spawn. It is absolutely disgusting. If you can just go and buy the best players, of course you are going to be good. The CBA balances the playing field and allows for fair competition. Also, it gives the impetus for much more involved team management and coaching and truthfully develops a sounder, strong TEAM in its true definition.
If Baseball put in a salary cap instead of 7 or 8 major league teams you would have a full competitive league of triple and double A teams wearing big league uniforms playing in major league parks.
A cap is the best bet to keep the teams fairly in line and in spectum to one another. I tend to have a negitive disposition towards teams that spend excessive amounts for players.
I would prefer to see a cap...and I think in football you have to have one...leaning more towards a relaxed cap. Give teams the ability to hold their own players...yet let them have to pay a bit more through the nose if they go outside their current roster for free agency. If a team drafts well...let them be rewarded. Let them have the ability to keep the players they drafted. If a Daniel Snyder or a George Steinbrenner comes along and tries to "buy" their team..let them pay for it..big time. But if a gm makes great choices...let him reap the reward for a decade or so by keeping his picks.
I wouldn't put too much stock in the NFLPA saying they'd never agree to a cap again. There hasn't always been a cap and they agreed to put one on once. It's more of a negotiating ploy to try and get the owners to cave to their demands. Funny though how the year we hire a "capologist" as GM the salary cap could be a thing of the past.
The cap makes it fun and an even playing field for the most part... But a team spendig in the $120 million + range a year while a team might spend $55 million to save money wouldn't be fun at all...
The question I have is would a team like Packers be able to survive in this day and age? They are the smallest market in profesional sports and with no real owner they'd be sunk. Then you'd have Bill Bidwell who just got his new stadium but has never attempted to put a winning team on the field, would the Arizona Cardinals actually be made up of the Arizona Rattlers AFL team? I like the cap because unfortunately if the owner refuses to spend they aren't forced but it keeps a lid on the owners that want to buy championships instead of earn them. I really don't know what no cap would do for the Jets as Woody is an enigma to me...
Plus, with no cap, you would see NFL teams move over to Pay Per View pretty quickly which probably would include the Playoffs as well. The Super Bowl would still likely be nationally covered for the time being. Imagine not being able to turn on your favorite local team on local channels. That would really leave a bad taste in my mouth.
I can see your point, but I don't think it works out that way in reality. Look at the NHL and what happened. Players demanded so much money, even the bad ones, and the owners wanted to win so much that the league almost went bankrupt. And there is/was plenty of talent in the NHL coming from Canada, USA, Russia, Balkens, Europe. Without a cap players and agents will demand more, and the owners pay more continuing the cycle.
I like the cap. Not only does it give every team a chance to win, it gives the game a different dynamic. Fans follow length of contracts, incentives, and other things that people don't care about in other sports to a great extent. It is exciting to watch your team in the offseason make moves and see how well they budget the cap. It is one of the reasons why Football is in the news almost all year and has very short "offseason" for the fans. There is always intrigue and something to keep the fans engaged. It helps to peek interest.
