Quote:
Originally Posted by SBXVII
And my issue is if there was no violation to the rule as we know it and only a violation to the spirit of the rule, then at the next owners meeting you bring it up and change the rule or amend the rule and add a sentence specifically addressing the issue then the next time it occurres there is no issue with a punishment. Here there was no violation but because it rubbed other owners the wrong way they decide to punish.
And .....they decide to punish after they had the opportunity to as Hoop puts it veto the contracts and force both teams to restructure them. But the league didn't do that.
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Or, if the Commissioner has broad powers to discipline teams for vague reasons, you warn people in advance that:
- An Uncapped year means you can spend as much as you want
- An Uncapped year does not mean you can "hit delete" on bad contracts by shifting all the future salary cap hit into the uncapped year
- We have written provisions into the CBA towards this effect
- It's impractical to try to think of every possible case in advance, but be advised I will view attempts to circumvent this as adversely affecting competitive balance
- I will discipline teams accordingly if necessary
In my opinion, the Skins played with fire and got burned. Where I have a problem is with the punishment. It was two years late, it came out of nowhere, it was laid down right before free agency, it appears to be based on other owners either whining or ganging up, there's been no chance for the owners involved to be heard, it's a bad use of any political capital the League ever had with the NFLPA, and it's generally been handled poorly.
If I had to guess, I'd guess the Commissioner wasn't going to act, but a bunch of other owners whined so much he had to. That's why he didn't disapprove the contracts within the 10-day window, that's why he let Mara (an owner) take front and center with it until he started saying dumb things, and that's why it came down at the last minute - right before free agency.
The whole process looks like something done by a committee of angry people trying to work something out, rather than by a sigle strong, rational, savvy leader. Whatever you think of him, Goodell has been strong, rational, serious, and has stayed clearly within his authority on other punishments besides this one.