I know everyone has been talking out the ass about the lockout being over and football being back. I’ve been watching ESPN and the NFL Network since 10 AM and the only non-football talk I’ve seen was on ESPN about the Rangers 20-6 win over the Twins. There’s been no MLB highlights no nothing but football, football, football. Yes, it’s great because we’ve been missing football for 5 months so we’re getting that 5 months of missed football in a few days and it’s wonderful and we’re all excited. But, one thing I noticed is that not one second of time on these TV networks has been on the actual CBA the players and owners agreed on. I understand everyone wants to talk football and what team is signing who and who is being stubborn (aka Mike Brown) and all of that but I thought I’d talk about the CBA for a little bit.
First, it’s for 10 years. Thank God we have a whole decade where there will be absolutely no work stoppage. We will have football until 2021. Period. There was an opt-out clause the sides were trying to work out so that in 5 years or 7 years, whatever player wanted to opt-out of the CBA could but they scratched that.
There’s the salary cap which is set at $120.375 million. This is a problem for some teams (including our beloved Ravens). The Ravens (as well as other teams above the cap) must cut players to get under the cap and then cut even more players if they want to sign free agents. That’s a tough position to be in. Hence why the Ravens may suffer because of the cap. They’re already cutting Gregg, McGahee, Mason, and Heap. Trust me, more cuts are coming. They want to resign Yanda, they’ll probably lose Chris Chester who’s C Matt Birk’s back-up. There’s Le’Ron McClain and Josh Wilson and Chris Carr and Dawan Landry. I bet at least half of them will be gone by Thursday.
There won’t be an 18-game regular season. Thank God. That would be bad. Yes, we’d see 2 more games that actually mean something but football is such a rough, tough, dangerous sport. If there had been 18 games the past 3 years, who says Joe Flacco doesn’t get a terrible injury that keeps him out for a season and a half. Or who says Ed Reed doesn’t suffer a career-ending injury in that 18th game. This will help players stay healthier and have longer careers. This is very important.
The players are pretty much getting paid the same amount. The revenue model is changing which basically means there’s more to split between the players and owners. The players are taking a percentage cut from basically 50% to 47%, but since there’s more money being floated around, they’ll be getting paid similar amounts.
I know the CBA is on the back of everyone’s minds because everything else is so so exciting. I just wanted to discuss the CBA a little because that is the reason this whole football frenzy is going on right now.