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Explaining the NFL Salary Cap

3 March 2007

Howstuffworks “How does the NFL’s salary cap work?”

Ever wonder how the salary cap in the NFL Works? Me too. This article explains a great deal of what perplexes us about the cap. For example:

The advantage of signing bonuses for the owner is that he now has more money to spend under the cap. This is how the Washington Redskins ran up a total payroll of $92.41-million in the 2000 season when the cap was $67-million. The advantage for the player is that all signing-bonus money is guaranteed to be paid, whereas an NFL contract is not guaranteed.

… if the player is released, traded or waived, all of the bonus money that was being prorated throughout the length of the contract is accelerated to the present year.

I found another article that answered even more questions: http://www.askthecommish.com/salarycap/faq.asp

Do unsigned free agents have any impact on the Salary Cap?

Answer: For Restricted Free Agents (RFA), a Qualifying Offer is included in the team salary. This amount remains in team salary until the player is signed, the Qualifying Offer is withdrawn, or a “June 1st tender” is made. If the player is unsigned and the Team makes a June 1 or June 15 offer, this offer will be included in team salary until the player is signed, the team gives up their rights to the player, or until the Tuesday after the tenth week of the regular season if the player is unsigned.

A little explanation on how signing bonuses count against the cap:

…if a player signs a four-year deal with a $1 million signing bonus, $250,000 of that bonus will count toward team salary for each contract year ($1 million divided evenly over the four-year contract is $250,000 per year). If a team releases a player, the unamoratized bonus money (the remaining prorated bonus money) counts immediately against the cap.

But what if a player retires? How does that affect the cap?

In most cases, if a player retires, the remaining signing bonus that has not been included in salary “accelerates” and is included in that year’s team salary. Thus, the team will take an immediate salary cap hit of the remaining signing bonus.

Where do you go for your sports information?

21 February 2007

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One of the things I think is interesting is the number of people that think they are the definitive expert, or that they know as much as the experts do. For example, let’s take any professional sports team; there are whole sects of fans for each team who actually believe they are smarter than the people running the team, and want you to know that. Sure, some of the time there probably is a few of them that are actually smarter than the average bear, but for the most part, fans can’t know the whole picture because they don’t sit in on practices, film study, meetings and have interaction with the players and coaches. Beat writers are our only hope, and even then you get a lot of opinion.

Draft sites are some of my favorites, because they are largely regurgitated drivel based on a few observations made on a practice or two. Unless that writer covered every second of that player’s collegiate career, I’m not buying their opinion. I find High School recruiting and scouting even more laughable because of such disparity in talent levels across the country. Sure, there are guys like Greg Oden, who looks like a 40 year old man and is actually a freshman at Ohio State, who have been SO dominant that they hype is warranted, but take Adam Morrison for example; The guy played at Gonzaga — not exactly playing the UNC’s and Duke’s every night — and was THE man for that team. He’s been OK since his arrival in the NBA, but not worthy of the third overall pick. I’m a huge Bobcats fan, but let’s be honest; There was a lot of hype surrounding Morrison that was sold and bought; moreso than possibly any other player not named Andrea Bargnani.

There are SO many sites out there with so much information. Which is right? There are probably conflicting opinions stating facts on nearly any subject you could think of. Much of it is really just passed-along information. There are a lot of information-passers in the sports information business. Sites like ESPN and CBS Sportsline have guys that watch a few highlight reels and then report things as if they are fact. They don’t dig deep enough to give you a true indication of what is going on. That is why the local writers are the best bet; at least they have better access than the average fan, and they know the team better than the national “experts”.

In my 3 years with Scout.com, I have to say that I have been given news that I didn’t know about less than 5 times total about my team. That is because the national folks don’t know what is going on with my team better than I do.

Keep that in mind before you buy some subscription to a site that has national experts. Go with a site that has local experts, instead, and you’ll get more for your money.

Watch episodes of 24 online for Free

23 January 2007

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Check it out — http://creative.myspace.com/VOD/24/index.html

Watch all of the previous episodes of 24 online for free, streaming from MySpace.com and FOX.

UPDATE: 1-1-08 — FOX has pulled the video from the above link, but it still remains a page about 24 the TV show with links and stuff. Now you can watch episodes from season 1 and season 6, plus various other clips free with Hulu.com — Watch 24 on the internet for free with Hulu.com

Time Warner threatens court action over NFL channel

7 August 2006

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Time Warner threatens court action over NFL channel – Yahoo News

WASHINGTON Reuters – Time Warner Cable has threatened to go to court to overturn a decision forcing the No. 2 U.S. cable company to reinstate the NFL Network on some of its systems, according to a filing obtained on Monday.

Give me a break.

“Given the extraordinary nature of the injunction and the immediate harm it will cause if not lifted immediately, Time Warner will have no choice but to obtain judicial relief to protect its interest and those of its customers…” the company said in its appeal to the FCC.

Time Warner Cable had argued that the FCC acted without a chance to respond, exceeded its authority by requiring the channel be restored and that the order “inflicts severe, immediate and irreparable harm” on the company and customers.

Yes! Please protect us from watching the NFL Network!! Thank you, Time Warner!!

“The Commission’s obligation is first and foremost to the consumer — not to the private interests of Time Warner or NFL Network — and because of this we again find continued carriage to be in the public interest,” said FCC spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher.

At least the FCC has this one right. What a line of BS from TW.

A spokesman for the channel disputed that rate and said the fight was about whether it would be relegated to a sports package or available more broadly.

“No other provider in the country carries us on a sports tier and we refuse to have Time Warner do so,” said NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky. “We have not had any subsequent conversations but would hope that we can soon.

As I noted in this post, Time Warner wants to profit by making the NFL Network only available on a special package, and only available as an addon to the digital tier, which itself runs about $70.00. The NFL Network wants it available on the basic level of cable, which in our area runs about $50.00, and is not digital.

technorati tags: time-warner, fcc, court, nfl-network, cable

Video: Madden 07, Gameplay video WASH vs. DAL

6 August 2006

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More gameplay video of Madden NFL 07. This time, I believe this shows what it’ll look like on the XBOX 360. First quarter of the Redskins vs. Cowboys.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/w/?v=LhS17JcEzh0]

technorati tags: XBox 360, nfl, ea-sports, madden-07, video-games, video

Video: First trailer for Madden 07 on PS3

6 August 2006

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Supposedly, this is some Madden NFL 07 footage from the PS3, (playstation 3 if you’ve been living in a bunker or something).

[youtube=http://youtube.com/w/?v=sBryWLAaNIA]

technorati tags: Playstation 3, PS3, nfl, ea-sports, madden-07, video-games, video

SNF on NBC makes its debut

6 August 2006

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:: NFL :: SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ::

nbc football It’s Sunday, and football season has officially begun!

sorta.

The Hall of Fame game is on now… the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Oakland Raiders.

It’s also the debut of the new SNF on NBC. Sunday is the new Monday, and NBC is the new ABC, at least when it comes to football.

The graphics are a little more sharp and updated, the theme song is cool and serious… something you’d expect from CNN’s war coverage. They still have the moving headshots like MNF did (at least for the QBs), and everything seems to be centered around this baseball homeplate pentagon shape, (as seen in the graphic above). It’s cool, it’s hip.

Lots of black and chrome.

The score strip is at the bottom and is largely unobtrusive.

It is, by all accounts, MNF on NBC on Sunday Night…minus Hank Williams, Jr. (which is not a bad thing… even I was getting tired of ‘ol Bocephus). Maybe that is what they were going for…

Game Observations:

The Eagles look pretty strong… and the Raiders look very bad. Lamont Jordan was nullified and Aaron Brooks either didn’t have time to throw or made extremely bad throws. McNabb and Westbrook both looked sharp in the opening drive.

Note to self: Do NOT draft any Raiders offensive players in fantasy football this year.

technorati tags:nfl, NBC, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles

Time Warner fires back at the NFL

4 August 2006

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Time Warner Cable has fired back at the NFL recently after the league has blamed the media giant for its not carrying the NFL Network on their system.

With their new site, NFLGetReal.com, They have a few “facts” that they think fans (and non fans) should know:

This web site makes it easy for fans – and non-fans too – to tell the NFL Network to make itself available to Time Warner Cable customers in a sports package.

NFL GET REAL!

What sports fan in their right mind wants to pay EXTRA for 1 channel? Yes! I want to pay extra for the NFL Network in addition to your already industry-high prices!

- We want to carry the NFL Network as soon as possible – but in a way that serves all of our customers.

- We are working hard to accomplish this, and will work as long as we must to get this right for our customers – but so far, the NFL Network has refused our offers.

NFL GET REAL!

Maybe because your offers suck, Time Warner! Again… WE DON’T WANT TO PAY EXTRA! We already pay for crap channels like the Style Channel, Hallmark Channel, lifetime movie channel, QVC, Oxygen and OLN that nobody watches. How about kicking those channels to the curb and taking the savings and spending it on something that people WILL watch — better yet, make a tier of cable or the packages that you are so fond of for people that will watch those channels — because the NFL Networks’ ratings will eclipse all those channels’ combined.

In markets that already have the NFL Network, they are asking for a 350 percent increase for adding eight regular season games — games that were available to our customers last year — out of 267.

NFL GET REAL!

They do that because they can. Haven’t you done the same thing in the last several years? You constantly rip-off customers in every single facet of your business.

But, for the average cost of a single ticket to an NFL game – $58.95 – a Time Warner Cable customer could receive a month of digital television with a DVR allowing access to hundreds of professional sports contest, including every in-market NFL game, plus the ability of instant replay on–demand.

NFL GET REAL!

What? Have you even seen your OWN PRICES? It’s at least $70.00 in North Carolina for digital cable with a DVR, and the cheapest Panther ticket is less than $50.00.

Time Warner, are you f-ing serious?

technorati tags:nfl-network, time-warner, cable, nflgetreal.com