Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess

[NYCskinfan82]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Skins and Pokes seek arbitration.

Redskins, Cowboys seek arbitration concerning cap - NFL - Yahoo! Sports

I bet you any amount of $$$ the JUDGE is probably a shegles fan. LOL

[SBXVII]

Giantone,......

Where are you brother? I have something for you.....

Mara is wrong because the only thing of which the Redskins and Cowboys are guilty is failing to honor a shady gentleman's agreement between 32 billionaires who don't want to pay their employees any more than they have to. What the NFL, Mara and the other owners did, effectively imposing a salary cap when none had been agreed to by the other party (i.e., the players) in their collective bargaining agreement, was patently wrong. To punish the teams that didn't go along with the wrong, and to so strenuously defend the punishment as though it were right, is the height of arrogance

I'm just guessing but I assume you see our owner as a hero in all this, right?

Edit: sorry forgot the link. but it has been put up by me already.
I'm not sure John Mara should be talking - NFC East Blog - ESPN

[SBXVII]

Originally Posted by NYCskinfan82

I bet you any amount of $$$ the JUDGE is probably a shegles fan. LOL

Yeah were screwed. lol.

[SBXVII]

I have a major question. Why was the CAP going to be lower? and if it was because of money income or some balanced budget then why was it so easy for the league/Goodell to agree to keep the CAP up around 120 mill?

Personally I think, if I'm correct, the whole lowering of the CAP was the leagues way of forcing the NFLPA to go along with the program. The CAP was going to remain the same no matter what but the league said they would lower it if the NFLPA didn't go along with it. Which to me is strong arming the NFLPA.

The way I see it if the CAP was going to be lowered because of some budget reason then the league wouldn't be able to adjust it so easily or keep it at 120 mill. They would be forced to lower it no matter what. No different then the league could raise it above 120mill if they so chose.

[SBXVII]

Here's another nice write up....

Opinions on penalties for Redskins, Cowboys vary as meeting looms - Don Banks - SI.com

I love this...

While league sources said the process of having the matter settled by an arbitrator always makes the outcome of the grievance process more difficult to predict, Mara expressed no sense of concern. But other league sources weren't as confident, and acknowledged that the size of cap penalties might be reduced as part of a final ruling, or perhaps even overturned.

"That might happen,'' said one league source. "Who knows where this goes with an arbitrator involved? There might have to be some ground given. But it really doesn't seem to be (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell's style to change his mind to any great degree when it comes to his decisions.''

I love that there are owners less confident then Mara. I also love the fact they belive it might get over turned. The last line is even more funnier... Goodell style to change his mind to any great degree when it comes to his decisions..... I guess the writer forgot by the end of his article that Goodell has no authority at this point or decisions to make. By lumping the NFLPA in the arguement the two teams took Goodell out of the equation. So if there is a decision to reverse the punishment Goodell won't have any control over it.

[tryfuhl]

Funny how nearly everyone sides with the players in the cba talks. Now they want to blame the owners that DID give that money to players. And they call us greedy... yet several teams spent well under the previous floor. And Snyder once again hasn't raised ticket prices. Greedy?

[SFREDSKIN]

I hope Mara gets anally raped without lube for this bullshit!!! Skins get all their cash back and compensatory picks, this is war.

[MTK]

I'm not sure John Mara should be talking - NFC East Blog - ESPN

[Dirtbag59]

Mara calling the Redskins and the Cowboys cheaters in this incident is the pot calling the kettle black. I mean we've gone over it a million times but theres a list of something like 9 teams that used the uncapped year to "create a competitive advantage" and the only 2 teams that get actual salary cap sanctions are his division rivals.

Taking $46 million in cap space from your division rivals for violating a rule that technically didn't exist, thats pretty f'ing dirty. If anyones exploiting a loophole it's Mara using his position as head of the competition committee.

I personally can't wait until they overturn this in arbitration.

[Hog1]

Dude should seriously get with Irsay and do a Twitter....union...thing...
His thoughts may not taste as pleasant the second time around...

[KI Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag59

Mara calling the Redskins and the Cowboys cheaters in this incident is the pot calling the kettle black. I mean we've gone over it a million times but theres a list of something like 9 teams that used the uncapped year to "create a competitive advantage" and the only 2 teams that get actual salary cap sanctions are his division rivals.

Taking $46 million in cap space from your division rivals for violating a rule that technically didn't exist, thats pretty f'ing dirty. If anyones exploiting a loophole it's Mara using his position as head of the competition committee.

I personally can't wait until they overturn this in arbitration.

If Mara had tried to penalize nearly one-third of the teams in the league, he wouldn't have been able to get enough support to go after the teams he considered to be the worst offenders.

Since you mentioned Mara's less than pure motives, I'd like to point out that, after the two teams were penalized, the cap room was then spread among the rest of the teams which gave Mara's cap-starved team an additional $1.6M to spend.

[SBXVII]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag59

Mara calling the Redskins and the Cowboys cheaters in this incident is the pot calling the kettle black. I mean we've gone over it a million times but theres a list of something like 9 teams that used the uncapped year to "create a competitive advantage" and the only 2 teams that get actual salary cap sanctions are his division rivals.

Taking $46 million in cap space from your division rivals for violating a rule that technically didn't exist, thats pretty f'ing dirty. If anyones exploiting a loophole it's Mara using his position as head of the competition committee.

I personally can't wait until they overturn this in arbitration.

Exactly. The Saints were one also... no punishment. I know it has been said but if they were treating it like any other capped yr then why didn't they punish the teams who fell below the CAP floor also?

Because the whole point of the agreement was to cheat the players out of money. By keeping costs down they could try to point out to the players that the reason for the low revenue was because they didn't make as much as everyone thought they did. So in reality they didn't care if teams spent below the CAP floor.

The whole thing is BS. Either punish everyone even if it was $100,000 they spent or 36 mill and punish the ones who spent too low or not at all or don't punish at all. But the main issue is how are you going to punish someone for not violating any laws? But it's ok for everyone else to break the labor laws and not get punished. WTF?

[SBXVII]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

If Mara had tried to penalize nearly one-third of the teams in the league, he wouldn't have been able to get enough support to go after the teams he considered to be the worst offenders.

Since you mentioned Mara's less than pure motives, I'd like to point out that, after the two teams were penalized, the cap room was then spread among the rest of the teams which gave Mara's cap-starved team an additional $1.6M to spend.

I don't have a problem with the Exec commitee bringing it up, but it should have been shelved until the next owners meeting so all the owners could hear the allegations and hear the Redskins and Dallas's arguements on the issue and all should have voted on it. The problem? the Skins would have spent the money by then and had picked up all the really good players leaving everyone else to pick up the scraps. or so they were afraid would happen. Punish first, then give back if you have to but you've forced competativeness by that point. So what happens if the Arbiture decides they should give back the CAP space? which teams spent their 1.6 mill? and can they give it back after it's been spent?

They should have to give all back or the majority and for their illegal and immoral act they should be forced to give both teams a compensatory pick at the end of RD 1.

[Lotus]

It's not just that Mara is being a butthead.

Even worse, this event is certain to be mentioned by players in the next CBA discussions, if not sooner. Mara is inviting labor-owner disaster.

[JoeRedskin]

As I said earlier, one of the concerns for the owners is that, if this goes nuclear, there may be a chance that tthe collusion suits may be re-opened. Apparently, more than one person has had this thought:

"The union had to drop all pending litigation against the league as part of the Brady settlement last year when the lockout ended. That included the collusion charges they filed against the league for the suspicions they had about this kind of 2010 activity. Mara's admission could well qualify as new evidence that could allow the union to file new charges."

From the Graziano blog cited above.