NFL players need to be smart when it comes to dollar dilemma
Are pro football players smarter than their baseball brethren?
Do Nflers make better decisions than the hired help in MLB?
We could soon find out. Granted, talks aimed at salvaging the 2020 baseball season are still alive, and players could be simply negotiating when they dig in and take a hard stance that could cost them the chance to earn any type of salary.
But to many of us, they sure look serious. And somewhat stupid.
More than 40 million Americans have lost their job because of the pandemic and baseball players are refusing to accept a deal that would see them play only half a season while their compensation drops from $8 million at the high end to a quarter million bucks at the low?
Anyway, it looks like the NFL and NFLPA is about to have a dollar dilemma of its own, and it too will be created by what could be a complete elimination of gate revenues.
On Tuesday, exactly 100 days until the season is scheduled to open with a single Sept. 10 meeting between the Houston Texans and the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, Nfl.com had a story to do with the “financial items many believe must be worked out before anyone can take the field, with or without fans.”
One of those items includes negotiations between the two sides on determining how to handle yearly salary caps for at least 2020 and 2021.
This season’s cap is currently set at $198.2 million, but with a limited number or no fans in the stadiums because of coronavirus precautions, revenues will drop significantly.
Worst-case estimates are between $4 billion and $5 billion, with teams making between
$40 million and $80 million less than projected in healthier times.
Naturally, that would mean a significant drop in the 2021 cap too.
While different options will be considered, the most sensible from this perspective is for players to help out by giving money back from their base salaries, because they’ve already collected most of their bonus cash in the spring.
As we’ve seen in baseball, players get their backs up when asked to accept less than originally agreed upon, even if their take home paycheques still carry a lot of zeros. And nobody blames them. But by not taking a haircut now, owners would have to figure out another way to absorb losses.
And that could be detrimental to the livelihood of many.
Cutting veteran players with big money, non-guaranteed deals this season would be the easiest way.
In 2021, when the cap sinks, more veterans would be given their walking papers.
Of course, there is also the possibility of a COVID outbreak that shortens or wipes out the season and really pulls the 2021 cap down. But both sides can only deal with the problem that’s in front of them, and that is the certainty of losing gate receipts at the very least.
Players take all the risks. They’re the talent. They deserve their rich rewards. But sometimes, when the pot is being emptied by billions, they have to be smart enough to protect as many jobs as they can.
SIDELINE TO SIDELINE: Saints coach Sean Payton made an attention-grabbing political statement on Twitter by posting a photo of George Floyd and another of Ahmaud Arbery, then a reference to the Nov. 3 U.S. election. “Were Murdered not Killed on Video. How many have we not seen? 22 weeks today for change.” It’s probably safe for Donald Trump to assume he won’t be getting Payton’s vote. THIRD AND LONG: Watch for the Jets to make a late free-agent splash after they gained $11 million in salary cap space Tuesday with a portion of Trumaine Johnson’s contract coming off the books. Johnson, the former Rams corner who signed a fiveyear, $72.5 million contract with $34 million guaranteed in 2018, lost his Jets job after 17 games. If they do plan on picking up another free agent, they better not make that kind of mistake again.