Indecision ’08, ’09, and…
By zbest
I’ve been off and on this month due to a cold, vacation, and the resulting catch up with the priorities that help me pay rent. Unfortunately quite a bit has happened while I’ve been gone, and although some of the topics that Ill be writing on in the next few days have been discussed in other NFL and Oakland Raider blogs and forums, but as usual, I believe I have insight that can’t be found elsewhere.
I posted a piece called Money Matters a couple weeks ago that I am confident in stating is some of my best writing. Few analysts, sports writers, or NFL bloggers have written about the state of the NFL’s financial situation before my piece.
I brought up this subject to shut up people talking smack about the Raiders spending this off-season. Now it comes to the forefront of NFL news as the owners opt out of the collective bargaining agreement they have with the players. Many of you now know what that means: the salary cap will rise to $125 million next year from the current $116 million cap, then in 2010 there will be no cap, with a stoppage of play set for 2011. Now there’s a good chance the players and owners agree upon a new deal before the cap-free 2010 season, but the vantage right now goes to the NFL’s Player Association, so I see nothing short of another salary spike to at least $135 million in 2010. But I also believe that the $135 million (or whatever number they agree upon) dollar salary cap will stay at that level for the length of the new agreement (approx. 5-7 years).
What does this mean for the Raiders, and the New York Jets for that matter? They’re the gangsters of this year’s off-season. They knew the salary cap was not going to stop rising any time soon, and took a gamble that I think was worth the risk. Next off-season, teams will want to cash in on the rising salary cap, raising player salaries to a level that makes the Raider and Jet signings look wise. Also, the Raiders and Jets won’t need to scramble as much as other teams to take advantage of the cap-space, mainly because their rosters are already full of talent that won’t be going anywhere any time soon.
Why do you think Jerry Jones signed Terrance Newman and Marion Barber to long lucrative deals after the owners opted-out? I think it’s because he’s good friends with Mr. Al Davis, and although Davis would’ve hurt the Raiders off-season if he called Jones when free-agency began to say, “Hey man, you should really unload some money, cause we (the owners) are going to opt-out,” I’m sure Davis and Jones have talked a bunch in the last few weeks leading up to this decision. I’m guessing Jones realized how crazy the next few years are going to be, and instead of being afraid of the players astronomical rise in salaries, he’s now ready to embrace it; cause the guys on the field finally have the upper hand.
This brings me to a side note I’ve been meaning to mention: the players. I believe NFL players were greatly underpaid until this current agreement, and I’m just glad that no journalist is bashing the players for asking and receiving so much money. I think Major League Baseball and the NBA both overpay players. I’m sorry, but those athletes aren’t going to be in a wheelchair at age 50 like many current NFL linemen will be one day. All professional athletes shoot up something at times to take away the pain so they can play, and although Chauncey Billups probably shot up his hamstring last night (Thursday) so that the Detroit Pistons had their star point guard on the court to give the Pistons even a chance of beating the Celtics in Boston (Detroit won), it was probably the first time he got shot up all season. Litacain and Cordozone are pain-killing staples of the NFL, killing the pain of players, but not healing the wound, instead potentially equating to lifelong damage.
These are the modern day gladiators, and like the original gladiators, they should be treated like kings, or at least paid like ones. I know that NFL teams need to pay for 40 more players than NBA teams do, but NFL games house 40,000-50,000 more fans. Then again the NFL plays only 16 games, while the NBA plays 72, and although I could continue to go back and forth for hours comparing the 3 professional sports, the bottom line is the NFL brings in more money than any other sport, and until the stars of the NFL make more than the stars of the NBA and MLB, the NFLPA will not stop asking for more money. Nor does this writer think they should.