[Bette]

Profootball Talk reports that NFL owners could decide as soon as Tuesday to pull the plug two years early on the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw says he fully expects that to happen.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is trying to persuade the owners not to do so.

[Dusty]

This is definitely gonna happen according to the article I read on NFL.com. Here's the Link: Owners may opt out of labor agreement Tuesday While it sounds like the NFL is doomed it really isn't as I did a little research and i'll share with you my findings. First there are provisions already in place against big market spending like extending the free agency period from 4 years to 6 which was a provision made back in 1993 in case this scenario occurs. Honesty the salary cap was a soft one at best anyway. You could give the player a huge signing bonus and incentives which don't count towards the salary cap right now. Plus I don't think it will become a greedy mess like Major League Baseball simply because of the the way the Draft is structured, baseball teams have to pay scouts to travel around the world and find players while NFL franchises just wait for April each year. Also for the hard fact that a football players career is far shorter than than of a baseball players. Signing A-Rod at age 30 for a Gazillion Dollars sounds great for the Yankees but look what happened with Shaun Alexander for the Seahawks.

[Bette]

Originally Posted by Dusty

This is definitely gonna happen according to the article I read on NFL.com. Here's the Link: Owners may opt out of labor agreement Tuesday While it sounds like the NFL is doomed it really isn't as I did a little research and i'll share with you my findings. First there are provisions already in place against big market spending like extending the free agency period from 4 years to 6 which was a provision made back in 1993 in case this scenario occurs. Honesty the salary cap was a soft one at best anyway. You could give the player a huge signing bonus and incentives which don't count towards the salary cap right now. Plus I don't think it will become a greedy mess like Major League Baseball simply because of the the way the Draft is structured, baseball teams have to pay scouts to travel around the world and find players while NFL franchises just wait for April each year. Also for the hard fact that a football players career is far shorter than than of a baseball players. Signing A-Rod at age 30 for a Gazillion Dollars sounds great for the Yankees but look what happened with Shaun Alexander for the Seahawks.

My brain doesnt want to wrap itself around this. Explain what you mean about extending free agency period from 4-6 years and how it will stop the big market spending. And as I always say, layman's terms please.

[Dusty]

Well Bette my best advice is to read the article but from what I gather is a player has to wait 6 years now before he can become a free agent meaning that when he is eligible he will have a lot of wear and tear on him so the bidding war won't really be that intense. Really when you think about it, not many marquee names become free agents. When someone gets into free agency in the modern era there is usually something wrong with them. They are generally too old, or have a bad attitude. Everyone overrates the impact of FA every year. Nate clement was the highest paid defensive player in history with 80 million dollars. Who is Nate Clement? That's what I mean.

[Bette]

Originally Posted by Dusty

Well Bette my best advice is to read the article but from what I gather is a player has to wait 6 years now before he can become a free agent meaning that when he is eligible he will have a lot of wear and tear on him so the bidding war won't really be that intense. Really when you think about it, not many marquee names become free agents. When someone gets into free agency in the modern era there is usually something wrong with them. They are generally too old, or have a bad attitude. Everyone overrates the impact of FA every year. Nate clement was the highest paid defensive player in history with 80 million dollars. Who is Nate Clement? That's what I mean.

aha the light bulb goes on.
I've read a lot of articles but between the link above and what you said it gets clearer. It also relieves my fears that we are headed to a big mess in the NFL. But maybe not. Thank you for your research and your explanation.