NFL Owners Approve 6 Year CBA Extension

[Black Dynamite]

Mortensen says the cap will be set at $102m, not $104m or $105m, as previously reported.

2 things come out of this

1) The lions have even more cap space now (I assume)
2) The raiders wont cut Collins now --> FUCK!

They'll need him for when VYoung implodes and Moss rags on his ass.

actually we could still cut him. Collins is still in talks over restructuring with us and i heard the two aides are pretty far apart still. plus the possibility of getting cullpepper may give al davis a reprieve on negotiating with collins. he said if theres nothing out there then he'll keep collins. but that can still change.

[H1Man]

I don't like this deal at all.

The $102 Million salary cap is bigger than expected and it will result in fewer FA's on the market than previously thought. And the available FAs will command more money because there are more teams with money to spend and fewer FAs on the market.

[H1Man]

Here is a rundown of the changes in the new CBA:

League minimum increases, change to transition tag

Here are 10 things NFL teams learned Thursday about the six-year collective bargaining extension.

1. NFL minimums increased $40,000 across the board from what was scheduled in 2006. The minimum salary for rookie or first-year players is $275,000; second year is $350,000; third year is $425,000; fourth year is $500,000; fifth-year through seventh year is $585,000; eighth year through 10th year is $710,000; and 11th year and longer is $810,000. For some teams, that eats up a considerable amount of the $7.5 million cap increase from $94.5 million to $102 million.

2. There have been two changes in the minimum-veteran contracts that provide teams cap relief on one-year deals. The old rule enabled a team to sign a vested veteran with four or more years experience for the minimum salary plus a $25,000 signing bonus and it would count only $460,000 against a team's cap. Now, a team can give such a veteran player a maximum bonus of $40,000 along with the minimum salary and it will count $425,000 against the cap.

3. The maximum length of contracts for a rookie drafted in the first 16 selections in the first round is six years. The maximum contract for a rookie selected in picks 17 to 32 is five years. Players taken in rounds two through seven can't be given a contract longer than four years. Teams have tried to force rookies taken in the second day of the draft to sign five-year deals.

4. Before the start of the league year, a team can designate two players who will be destined for June 1 releases to spread out remaining signing bonus acceleration into the next year. To do this, teams must carry those players' cap numbers until June 1, but release them before March so they can hit free agency. After June 1, the team gets to remove the salary and take the remaining cap hit in the following year. For example, if a player has $4 million of remaining signing bonus and four years left on his contract, he can be released before March and be a free agent. After June, the team would have only the $1 million of proration on its cap that year and let $3 million be applied to the following year's cap.

5. There is significant change in the transition tag. First, if a player signs the transition tag, his one-year contract is guaranteed. In the previous agreement, that wasn't the case -- unlike with the franchise designation, transition tenders weren't guaranteed.

6. Teams will be given an entire offseason to sign a franchise or transition player without losing the ability to tag future players. The current rules give a team that tags a player until March 17 to reach a long-term deal without losing the ability to give a franchise or transition designation for the length of that long-term deal. Under the new rules, the Seahawks, for example, have the ability to negotiate a long-term deal with transition guard Steve Hutchinson until July 15. If he signs a long-term deal before then, the Seahawks can get the tag for the next year. After July 15, the team can keep the franchise or transition tag only if the player signs a one-year deal.

7. The CBA can be voided after four years by the union or the owners if it isn't working well, but that isn't expected to happen. The NFL owners paid a high price for labor peace, and they aren't about to give it up.

8. There is a little change for rookies. A rookie contract cannot be renegotiated in the first two years. Any renegotiation of a rookie contract has to be done in the third year or beyond.

9. The five-year proration of contracts in 2006 -- it was four years without a CBA extension -- will allow rookies selected at the top of the draft to continue to make big money. Signing bonuses or guarantees have increased as much as $24 million for a top pick, particularly for quarterbacks. With four-year proration, the biggest signing bonus a top draft pick such as Reggie Bushwould have received would be about $15 million. Now, he or Matt Leinart can go for the $20-plus million gold with five-year proration in 2006. There will be six-year proration in 2007.

10. The salary cap will be $109 million in 2007.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/column...ohn&id=2361392

[Black Dynamite]

Al Davis looks like an undead zombie.

The man spends his weekends in the cryogenic chamber spa to stay ahead of the other aging owners. [smilie=2thumbsup.g:

[H1Man]

Below is the amount of money each team is under or over the $102 million salary cap as of March 10.


http://proxy.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2349505

[Anthony]

LOL@Oakland.

[H1Man]

Bills owner Wilson questions NFL's new-guard owners

Bills owner Ralph Wilson is questioning whether the NFL's high-revenue owners have the best interest of the league at heart, stepping up concerns that small-market franchises like his face an uncertain future under the new labor agreement.

"I just don't think they're as interested in the game as the old owners, I really don't," Wilson said Friday.

Singling out Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Daniel Snyder of the Washington Redskins and Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, Wilson said: "They, to me, and this is just my opinion, don't have the same values about the league as the old guard did."

The Bills' sole owner since founding the team in 1960, Wilson also suggested the league's wealthier owners played too big a role when the league extended its collective bargaining agreement last month. The Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals cast the only votes against the agreement.

Wilson spoke after meeting with Erie County executive Joel Giambra, who implored Bills fans "to get active, to get angry" and write to Tagliabue, the league and elected officials on the team's behalf.

He first raised his concerns earlier this week in a meeting with New York Gov. George Pataki. Wilson told Pataki that he's committed to keep the Bills in Buffalo, but, "the long-term viability of our franchise may be in serious doubt."

The series of meetings were an attempt by Wilson to explain his concerns and generate political pressure on the NFL to ensure the viability of small-market teams.

Wilson, long one of the NFL's most outspoken owners, believes the new labor deal establishes an unequal playing field between large- and small-market teams because it produces an equal allocation of player costs with an unequal allocation of revenues.

While reiterating he has no intention to move or sell the team, Wilson said he's not sure how long the Bills can survive under the new deal.

"How long can it stay here? I don't know," Wilson said. "But I can tell you we're going to fight very, very hard to keep the team here to try to be competitive with the rest of the league."

Under the new deal, Wilson said it wouldn't make much difference whether the Bills built a new stadium because the team would unlikely be able to generate much more revenue in an economically troubled region such as western New York.

Wilson's concerns have been noted by the league, which is still determining how the newly expanded portion of revenue sharing will work.

"That has not been fleshed out yet," Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian told The Associated Press while visiting Buffalo this week. "The future is uncharted at this point, but having said that, we've always found a way to make it work and hopefully we will in the future."

Polian is a former Bills executive and member of the NFL's competition committee.

Bills cornerback Troy Vincent, president of the NFL Players Association, shares Wilson's concerns, but noted it's up to the owners to make revenue-sharing work.

"There has to be something in place," Vincent said. "But what we may think is enough or not enough, likewise the men and women running those organizations may say it's enough or not enough. ... Where's that happy balance?"

Any question of the Bills future sparks significant concerns in Buffalo and western New York, a rust-belt region with a fragile economy. Losing the Bills would be a major blow to the region's economy and psyche.

"The Bills are a very integral part of this community's fabric, socially, emotionally and economically," Giambra said.

Giambra added he was rooting for Roger Goodell, the NFL's chief operating officer and a western New York native, to succeed commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

"He is a person who understands football and he understands the importance of football to small markets like Buffalo and western New York," Giambra said.

In 1999, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership estimated the team's annual net economic impact to the region at $33 million.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2401015

[H1Man]

SALARY FLOOR MOVES UP

One of the most overlooked issues during the recent negotiations regarding the money that will be used to fund the salary cap under the new CBA was the salary floor -- i.e., the minimum money that each team must spend on player salaries in a given year.

In 2006, the minimum is 84 percent of the maximum. Based on a salary cap of $102 million, this means that every team must spend at least $85.68 million in 2006.

Coincidentally, the maximum per-team expenditure in 2005 was $85 million.

Come 2006, the minimum bumps up to 90 percent. With the salary cap expected to be at least $109 million, the floor moves to a whopping $98.1 million.

This reality sheds further light, in our opinion, on the Magooish attacks launched by Bills owner Ralph Wilson against the new deal. Wilson argues that a salary formula based on total football revenues earned by all teams increases the player costs of small-market teams, since the big money earned by high-revenue clubs is pushing the numbers higher for the franchises that earn less money.

And it also helps us understand Wilson's boasts that he's not afraid of the uncapped year. With no salary cap, there's also no salary floor, allowing the low-revenue teams to pay as little as they want.

[H1Man]

Five teams added to revenue-sharing committee

NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue added five teams to a committee that will help determine how a new revenue-sharing plan -- important to small-market franchises' economic stability -- will work under the league's new labor deal.

Tagliabue appointed Houston, Green Bay, Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis to the committee in a memo issued around the NFL on Monday, league spokesman Greg Aiello said Tuesday. Aiello said two more teams, representing the league's lower-revenue franchises, will be added soon to complete the eight-member committee.

Buffalo was the first team appointed last week after Bills owner Ralph Wilson complained the new collective bargaining agreement reached last month, which added a new revenue-sharing model, threatens the financial viability of his and other small-market teams.

Wilson's concerns prompted Sen. Charles Schumer (D, N.Y.) to meet last week with Tagliabue, who expressed reassurances that the new labor deal would not hurt or force small-market teams to relocate.

Schumer was pleased with the additional teams selected to the committee.

"It appears that the overall makeup of the committee will be sympathetic to small markets," Schumer said in an e-mail sent to The Associated Press. "This is another big step in our crusade to keep the Bills in Buffalo."

The committee will be split evenly among the league's higher- and lower-revenue teams. Houston, Green Bay, Cleveland and Detroit each had revenue above the league average over the last few seasons. Buffalo and St. Louis represent the bottom fourth revenue-generating franchises.

The committee will recommend how supplemental revenue-sharing money will be distributed. The recommendations must be passed by at least 24 of the league's 32 owners. If not approved by owners, the commissioner has the authority to make the final determination.

"There is so much this committee can accomplish," Wilson said. "The Bills will continue to work diligently in other areas of league economics to protect the viability of this franchise."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2421584