Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess

[sportscurmudgeon]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

You are wrong. They engaged in textbook collusion. By "agreeing" to not dump monies into the uncapped year they did several things:

First they denied players guaranteed monies that would have come from non-guaranteed future monies. in the form of modifying salaries into bonuses.

Second, by "agreeing" to not clear future cap space into the uncapped year they denied players that future cap space. If teams had engaged in clearing say 500 mil of cap space into the uncapped year then that is 500 mil of future cap space that the players should have the economical advantage of having. But they don't. It is a clear and easy case to make for collusion.

FRPLG:

IF you are correct, then the NFLPA should be taking this textbook case of collusion to Federal Court to get themselves and their members - - the players - - a big time payday. When the baseball owners were found guilty of collusion by a Federal Court - - not by a few people on an Internet message board - - the baseball union and its members got $360M.

Now, the fact that the NFLPA which is headed by a labor attorney - - that is DeMaurice Smith's background - - and which has a slew of top-shelf attorneys on their staff and under retainer (I believe the guy who got Microsoft convicted of monopolistic tactics is on the NFLPA retainer list) has not filed a federal suit on this matter makes me wonder why.

My first guess is that this is not the simple "textbook collusion" that you assert that it is.

I am not an attorney so my opinion on the legality of what the owners did and did not do is not worth a lot. But I do put some stock in the fact that the NFLPA has not immediately pursued a legal course that could bring it and its members hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.