The COVID cap is the NFL’s ‘Let them eat cake’ moment
As we’ve known since the COVID-CBA was announced before the season, the NFL is going to have a maximum reduced salary cap of $175 million (down from the nearly $200 million from this season and what would’ve most likely have been around $210 million if not for COVID) thanks mostly the lost ticket revenue that accounts for ~ 15% of their yearly earnings.
The good news is that according to Pro Football Talk the amount won’t be $175 million. The bad news? It’ll most likely be $180 million.
Good news: The salary cap may not drop all the way to $175 million in 2021.
Bad news: It may still fall to $180 million, creating a huge mess for many teams.https://t.co/aEU1M7l9qn— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 19, 2021
First, teams have been negotiating and offering salaries for years presuming that the cap would not go down. That means that most every team will instantly be underwater, which means that the players that risked the safety of themselves and their loved ones by playing in 2020 will get cut and/or end up at best re-signing at a large discount or at worst retiring early.
All because a group of billionaires doesn’t want to make less profit for one season?
That’s so tone deaf it should be a back up singer for Selena Gomez.
That’s not fair to the players, nor is it fair to the fans, who will see their teams instantly become strapped for cash. It’ll destroy the team building plan(s) of nearly every team, it’ll force players to take less money, it’ll make it impossible for any player looking for an extension to negotiate in good faith etc.
And it’s all avoidable.
I’m sure the owners feel that since they share around 50% of the revenue with players via the cap those players should also should’ve the burden of those billionaires not making as much money for a year. But, considering how those same owners have treated retired players and their healthcare, the concussion controversy, and now a season in the middle of a pandemic?
It would be nice if they stopped thinking about money above everything else, just this once, and ate the lost revenue from COVID. Otherwise they may end up losing even more money when their product is much, much worse and the fan-base and players revolt.
This is the NFL’s ‘let them eat cake moment’. Except it’s more of a ‘make them play and them punish them financially so I can buy my private island’ moment.
