7/21/00
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Dan
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Living in a cyber community such as FF Today, we talk and taunt
other cyber ghost with predictions and pontifications about the
seemingly minutia aspects of player performance. To the casual NFL
fan, our specific ranting and scything must seem comical at times.
Every now and then, truly important issues are touched on in these
various forums. A few weeks back, a thread started me thinking about
the serious and dark side of the NFL, salary cap infractions.
We all have seen how the NCAA Football has been corrupted with money
and dirty deals. I live in the Dallas area and have closely witnessed
the impact of the only Death Penalty imposed by the NCAA (against
Southern Methodist University). Before going further, let's look
at the ironic iconic created by this history. First, this school
is in Texas, which likes to tout its mythically honorable Code of
the West. SMU is associated with the Methodist name which rightly
or wrongly implies some level of the Christian ethic. A University
is supposed to be the seat of higher learning and aspire to the
goals of knowledge and truth. All of these naturally positive icons
were tossed aside in a blind rush to buy a national championship.
When all was said and done, a Football program was shut down and
many of the really bad guys, who created this mess in the first
place, basically walked off into the sunset and found good jobs
elsewhere. Is that the correct way to handle this situation? I think
the error of the NCAA system is not blackballing corrupt administrators,
coaches and players.
The NFL can never shut down a franchise, no matter how despicable
their offenses. Also, it is in the NFL's best interest to never
gut a franchise's ability to build and maintain a competitive team.
Furthermore, it is not in the NFL's interest to allow loopholes
that teams can imaginatively "hire" their talent out to corporate
sponsors and to circumvent the cap without the threat of severe
retribution.
The solution is to take the opposite approach of the NCAA and that
is to tag all the individuals involved in dirty dealings with stiff
fines, and suspensions. Let's look at the different groups involved
in this process. First and foremost, you have the General Manager
who should be held responsible for all the contracts signed by the
team. Owners are getting more involved with team player contracts
and have some responsibility to the NFL to maintain its rules and
guidelines while serving out their fantasy of being an NFL GM. The
money managers of the organization come under many different titles
such as "cap-ologist" or Player Management. Every team has one or
more individuals involved in contracts and salaries so let's call
all of these the MoneyMen. The players themselves should know if
something they sign has hidden stipulations. The player's agents
also have to verify the legality of any contracts signed by their
clients.
Each group should be held accountable for every infringement of
the salary cap. You can not apply the same punishment to all groups
because of the nature of their function. How can each of these groups
be effectively deterred from illegal activity? This is my plea for
the creation of the NFL Death Penalty.
Owners
You can not banish an owner from keeping such an expensive
organization. Striking them in the pocketbook will reduce their
ability to make large signing bonuses. This is also the method to
punish the organization. Here are the remedies I suggest:
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A $5 million dollar fine for every year
of every illegal contract signed by their team. |
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If the Owner also servers the function
General Manager or Money Man, then the penalty is escalated
to $10 million dollars per year per contract plus a whole
set of restrictions to discourage deliberate rule breakers
(see below). |
This money will be deducted from TV revenues paid to the franchises.
Note that this penalty does not reduce a team's salary cap, but
does impact the team in revenues gathered from the league.
General Managers
They are ultimately responsible for all business activity of a
franchise. GMs cannot be allowed to plead ignorance of salary
cap infractions. Consequences would include:
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Banishment from the NFL for 3 years
for every year of each illegal contract. |
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If an Owner is also serving a General
Manager, in addition to the fines listed above, the offender
is also restricted for 3 years for every year of the illegal
contract as follows: removal from all NFL Committee positions;
the forfeiture of the team's vote on all league matters for
the duration of the penalty; and restrictions on appearances
by Owner/General Manager at all official NFL functions (including
games, training camp, league meetings and other NFL sanctioned
publicity events). |
Even the chaos called Major League Baseball has imposed stiff
penalties on misbehaving owners.
Money Men
These are the people responsible for crossing the Ts and dotting
the Is of all contracts. They should suffer the same penalty as
the General Manager. If the MoneyMan is also the Owner, then the
same penalty outlined for Owner/GMs above should be imposed.
Agents
Because agents represent players across multiple teams, outright
banning these individuals would harm innocent people. You have
to allow the agent to continue to represent players already under
contract. I propose striking agents in the following ways:
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A monetary fine equal to the total salary
figure of each and every illegal contract signed. Until this
fine is paid, that agent AND his/her firm cannot sign new
talent to their company. This prevents the situation of hiring
a "Crook of the Week" to protect the firm. |
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All new contracts drafted by the agent
and their group will have to be submitted to the NFL for a
mandatory 30-day wait period while the contract is examined
for further infractions. This waiting period is imposed for
2 years for every year of an illegal contract AFTER the fines
described above have been paid. |
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If an agent leaves an organization,
both the agent and the group will have to adhere to the mandatory
wait period. |
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If the agent goes to another firm, then
the new firm will also assume the same penalty status carried
by the agent. |
During the wait period the player status will be the same as
if a contract has not been signed, meaning that no money may be
paid to, nor the player be required to fulfill any provisions
of the contract, including reporting to camp, play in games or
attend workouts. This 30-day window is in effect a stasis period
and meant to discourage players from using dirty agents. There
have been recent court rulings that could support this strong
stance.
Players
If a player is involved in any illegal contract, they will be
banished from the league for 2 years for every year of the illegal
contract. A case may be made for player ignorance of the rules,
but this penalty will stress to the individual player the responsibility
to work with reputable agents and moneymen. Also if a player is
signing two documents with different figures should be a dead
giveaway that something is not on the up and up. An appeal process
would be created for players who may make a case for clemency
and to appease the NFLPA.
Pretty ugly stuff for a fantasy world to contemplate. It will
create an even uglier reality if the NFL does not address the
issue in a forceful and coherent manner. No one wants to see the
NFL descend into the mess the NCAA has become.
:: comments to dan
sez
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