NFL salary cap, contracts, marketing deals: thoughts

[tworooks]

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Troy Brown cites local endorsement as one reason for accepting below-market contract to stay with Patriots.


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link (http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com)

So, today Troy Brown resigned with the Patriots for below market value today because of his marketing relationship with a local company, which should bring him an extra 2.25 million dollars.
This brings me to a thought, why don't the owners buy some(or use some they already own) local and national companies, and give their main players lucrative marketing deals, while paying them below market value for their NFL contract so as to not affect the salary cap. Heck, they could even make their marketing contract based on how they peform, so it doesn't become all guaranteed money. So I don't see why owners can't/won't employ this tactic. Thoughts? Anything I left out?

[mason55]

I think that the owners would run into serious trouble with the league if the NFL even THOUGHT that the owners were involved in any way.

The NFL is very very controlling of their teams and owners. It's a very good thing they don't have the anti-trust exemption that MLB does or else things would be really crazy.

[Shajen]

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I think that the owners would run into serious trouble with the league if the NFL even THOUGHT that the owners were involved in any way.

The NFL is very very controlling of their teams and owners. It's a very good thing they don't have the anti-trust exemption that MLB does or else things would be really crazy.

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That and the Players Association would be all over this, in a bad way.

Less money from contracts means less money for the more mediocre (for pro level athletes) players, or players who are not media savvy or are horrible actors.

Not to mention the fact that the NFLPA makes mad bank off these athletes.

They'd KO this if it were commonplace I believe.

[Jack of Arcades]

Does the NFLPA really have any power anymore?

[Shajen]

I imagine Terrell Owens and Ricky Williams are gonna demonstrate the power here shortly.

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[jakethebake]

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Ricky Williams

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Explain. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Lazymeatball]

This may be a very naive statement, but wouldn't the PA be for players making more money, as this method of circumventing the salary cap would mean more money for players overall. Or is the PA just looking for their piece of the NFL sanctioned payroll?

[Shajen]

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This may be a very naive statement, but wouldn't the PA be for players making more money, as this method of circumventing the salary cap would mean more money for players overall. Or is the PA just looking for their piece of the NFL sanctioned payroll?

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This is obviously all my opinion, but from what I understand, they only get a piece of the sanctioned payroll.

[Shajen]

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Ricky Williams

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Explain. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

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The Atl sports talk radio guys were saying that if Ricky does make his come back, there's a good chance he'll have to sit out for a year or some length of games before he can play.

I have the feeling the PA will do anything they can to nullify any suspension he may face.

I believe it was something on the order of several million dollars if he sat out the season.

If I have time, I'll try to track down the pertinent info.

[jakethebake]

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The Atl sports talk radio guys were saying that if Ricky does make his come back, there's a good chance he'll have to sit out for a year or some length of games before he can play.

I have the feeling the PA will do anything they can to nullify any suspension he may face.

I believe it was something on the order of several million dollars if he sat out the season.

If I have time, I'll try to track down the pertinent info.

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I'm pretty sure it's four games he'll have to sit so he's due back in Oct. I'm sure it gets a lot more airplay down here and all the radio guys are pretty up on his situation.

[LostMyMoney]

[ QUOTE ]
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I think that the owners would run into serious trouble with the league if the NFL even THOUGHT that the owners were involved in any way.

The NFL is very very controlling of their teams and owners. It's a very good thing they don't have the anti-trust exemption that MLB does or else things would be really crazy.

[/ QUOTE ]

That and the Players Association would be all over this, in a bad way.

Less money from contracts means less money for the more mediocre (for pro level athletes) players, or players who are not media savvy or are horrible actors.

Not to mention the fact that the NFLPA makes mad bank off these athletes.

They'd KO this if it were commonplace I believe.

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To the OP, this is a very interesting thought. I had not thought about it before either. The thing that is stopping owners from doing this is the NFL league office who polices such matters.

The NFLPA would be IN FAVOR of this. As a union it is legally bound to do what is best for its members. In a realistic sense however the NFLPA is a nonprofit organization. What it does take in dues it uses for legal fees, administrative fees, charity work, NFL Alum payments to old retirees, etc. However if you were to rank their priorities then the first priority is to do what is best for its members and its 8th or so priority would be to increase revenue.

Even given the above argument, what the OP was suggesting would be a way for teams to circumvent the salary cap to pay players MORE money. Teams would only do things like this if they were maxed out on the cap anyway (if not it wouldnt be necessary) so yes, some players would be making less money from their salary but as a whole the team would be paid the same and thus the NFLPA revenue would be the same. What this would actually do would be level out the salaries in the league. The best players would accept less money because of they could supplement their income with their marketability and the middle range players would make the money that got freed up under the cap.


Another thought that I just had is how much better a 3 year 6 mil marketing deal is for the player than a 3 year 6 mil player contract. Written into a players contract is the ever important clause that the team can opt out at any time. In the real world such contracts are not nearly as easy to break and most marketing deals are gauranteed if a payer plays or not. It is defenitely in a players advantage to have their income not coming from a standard player contract.


To the poster who asked if the NFLPA has any power... the answer is not much...