NFL could give players 50 percent

NFL could give players 50 percent

NFL owners have been briefed on discussions for a new collective bargaining agreement that would net the players just under 50 percent of total revenues. Next up: more talks with the players.

A source said Commissioner Roger Goodell and his labor committee will meet with players association chief DeMaurice Smith on today and Thursday in Boston. The owners spent five hours Tuesday near Chicago getting updated on various CBA issues.

A source said the players would share revenue from the entire pie, which they project will grow over the course of the new CBA, expected to run six to 10 years. A salary floor keeping teams within 90 percent of the cap also would be included. (AP)

NBA makes proposal • The salary cap system remains the biggest obstacle to a new collective bargaining agreement in the NBA before the rapidly approaching June 30 deadline.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said the league has proposed a "flex cap," in which teams would target to spend approximately $62 million, but would still be permitted to exceed up to an unspecified level. Players argue it's still a hard cap, because the ceiling would eventually kick in.

Stern said the owners' proposal would ensure that players' total compensation would never fall below $2 billion a year in a 10-year contract, slightly less than the league paid this season. Stern said there have been 10 proposals exchanged between the sides and the players could offer another Friday. (AP)

Raptors hire Mavs assistant • Dallas Mavericks assistant Dwane Casey has been hired at head coach of the Toronto Raptors. Casey succeeds Jay Triano, a Canadian who became a consultant after the Raptors finished 22-60. Casey was the head coach of Minnesota from June 2005 to January 2007, compiling a 43-59 record. (AP)

Bobcats' Diaw picks up option • Charlotte Bobcats forward Boris Diaw has exercised his player option for next season. (AP)

NHL board moves • The NHL board of governors unanimously approved the sale and relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, Manitoba. It also approved two amendments to rules regarding player safety. The year-old Rule 48 will now apply to all hits that target the head of an opponent, and not only those from the blindside. And the board also gave the OK to changes to a rule. A penalty will be given to a player who delivers a hit on a defenseless player that causes him to hit the boards violently or dangerously. Players must try to avoid — or limit — contact against an opponent who is deemed to be in a defenseless position.

The NFL Salary Floor and How It Might Keep the Chargers in San ...

I was driving to work this morning and flipping between The Dan Patrick Show on AM1360 and The Scott and BR Show on AM1090. Usually, with a 15 minute commute, I can settle on one that is not in a commercial break or has a more interesting topic at the moment and that's that. This particular morning, with Dan talking about hacking Facebook accounts (digging deep into the Kenny Britt story), I ended up on Scott and BR.

Let's get one thing clear: I loathe The Scott and BR Show, but I understand why it exists and why people listen. It's just not for me. However, they occasionally get it right, and when Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk comes on it's usually a decent interview. This was the case this morning and, in discussing how  CBA negotiations were going  between the NFL owners and DeMaurice Smith (representing the players), Florio floated an idea out there that made a ton of sense and bodes well for fans of the Chargers staying in San Diego.

Just so that we're being fair, and I'm not blatantly stealing Scott and BR's spotlight,  here's a link to the interview  (MP3).

Now, onto the theory. One of the interesting points to come out of the talk about the CBA negotiations yesterday was the 90-95% salary floor. If you're unaware what a salary floor is, it is the lowest amount a team is allowed to spend on their players. This keeps owners from building a team of the cheapest players and pocketing the profit they make off the fans that would show up to watch anything. Baseball could use a salary floor ( ahem ), but that's besides the point. The salary floor and salary cap are there to create parity across the league and keep the playing field level, and it also creates the highest amount of high-paying jobs for NFL players.

In the past — between the last CBA was agreed upon and 2009 — the salary floor was 84% of the salary cap. I don't know what happened if a team operated below this, but I imagined they paid a hefty fine. With a fast-rising cap came a fast-rising floor. Let's take a look:

Five years ago, if you owned an NFL team and could make $100 million a year you were sitting pretty. You could spend $90 million a year to field a competitive team and pocket $10 million in profits a year. That's a little over–simplified, but you get the point. What if that was the most your team was able to make? Hypothetically, what if the 2009 Arizona Cardinals made as much money as they possibly could — which would make sense, since they had a new stadium, a team filled with tons of stars, got a home playoff game against the Packers and made it to the Super Bowl — and they only made $100 million? They would have to repeat that season, impossibly, every year and would still lose money based off of how much they are forced to pay on their players.

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