Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

[X-Era]

Good riddance! The league is about to kill that plan for good. Looks like the league may just drag the Bills into getting better, even if they go kicking and screaming.

I'm perfectly fine with Ralph throwing a fit to get more shared revenue to cover the rule change. I want to see that anyway. IMO, he will need the shared revenue early on. But as the team gets better, we will make more money.

Good businesses make sound investments to stimulate growth which makes them more money. We just need to be sure we make the right investments and get better on the field.

This should force the Bills into paying for better overall talent. It most likely will be spending a bit more at many positions rather than spending huge money for one position. We may see a drastic change in the complexion of the team. It may be only slightly significant upgrades at many positions. But, the depth and strength of the team will be better overall. The days of being forced to start multiple UDFA's and camp fodder may come to an end. Players like that should be forced to beat out a quality vet and to earn that spot, not just get it because we have nothing better. We may end up with much more solid and proven players across the board. Which may then allow us to bring our rookies along slower as primary backups. We should end up stronger across all the starting positions and also with much better depth. That's as it should be IMO. It all depends on how they spend their money. They must do it wisely.

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Jeff-Pash-Owners-have-offered-90percent-cash-guarantee.html

“For the first time, we were going to have a cash minimum as opposed to just a cap minimum,” Pash said. “You understand what the difference means and of course so did the union, which is why they pushed for that. The 90 percent was an agreed upon figure and because of the way teams change over time, we all thought that you couldn’t do it year-by-year so we were doing it at on a three-year basis to allow for the fact that teams go through cycles. Everyone on both sides thought that was a sensible compromise. It would have done a lot.”

[DesertFox24]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

Can someone with knowledge explain the three year thing he is talking about?

[Mr. Miyagi]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

Wait, what's happening? Is it over??

[DraftBoy]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

Wait, what's happening? Is it over??

Nothing is over, its people speculating based on what their sources are telling them.

A deal is coming, but likely not until somtime in July.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[X-Era]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

Surprise, surprise, the Bills are listed as one of the teams that may not like a minimum cap:

"For example, if the 2011 salary cap were to be at $120 million, a team would have to have a cash payroll of close to $120 million. In the previous collective bargaining agreement, the team payroll floor was less than 90 percent of the salary cap and was only in cap figures, not cash.

The higher floor proposal could cause some problems for the lower revenue teams such as the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills. Along with the salary cap, teams have to pay an average of about $27 million a year in benefits."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6687485

Force the loud-mouthed money bags to fess up more revenue sharing to cover the cost.

What a sweet day this will be if the Bills are forced to improve the team through new investments in the talent.

[don137]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

While on the surface it may seem good to Bills fans it could mean a big spike in ticket prices, concessions, etc to recoup some of the costs. Also, it could give ammunition to the eventual new owner saying they cannot make a profit in Buffalo thus justifying moving the team.

[CAbills]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

I don't know how I feel about this. This just seems like it is going to be more and more difficult for a new owner to justify keeping the team in Buffalo...

[X-Era]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

While on the surface it may seem good to Bills fans it could mean a big spike in ticket prices, concessions, etc to recoup some of the costs. Also, it could give ammunition to the eventual new owner saying they cannot make a profit in Buffalo thus justifying moving the team.

1) I have no problem with paying another 5 dollars or so per ticket if it means having a perennial playoff team. The Bills have proven no trouble in selling out games... that will continue. Besides, as I said, this new deal may also force additional revenue sharing stipulations which may offset the cost.

2) The teams future will be just fine when they start winning.

To me they started a downward trend on the field long ago and the revenue generated of course followed. The Bills may be forced to ante up and compete and it may just be the move that helps significantly turn this thing around.

[X-Era]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

Clayton just the 100% cap in cash got little resistance... I should squelch my chastising of Ralph until I have proof that he complained... Just to be fair. And to be fair the article speculated that the Bills would have an issue, i didn't say that they did.

[X-Era]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

One thought just occurred to me.

This could include language that spending 100% up to the cap may simply apply to that year... not future years.

Seems a bit intuitive that it would be that way. But, what it may mean is that teams will front load contracts to give them the ability to cut players in future years. They would end up tying up more in a few players rather than more across the board. This gives them the money back if they choose to cut or tared the player in future years rather than having more tied up in more players. They still would then have to re-spend the money though.

At any rate, whether they pay now or pay later, they are forced to pay to comply. It's great for parity and preventing teams from trying to go the bargain basement route.

Tangibly, this could mean 3-6 additional signees for us. I say that based on very raw numbers that put us way under the cap and possibly as much as 30+ mill under the cap. I think we were around 20+ mill several years ago and did not re-invest TO's money nor Schobels. Add in that the cap will likely be higher than the last time we saw a cap and the Bills will have plenty of cap room... But the key point is that they may have to spend it!

[theanswer74]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

Its not as big a deal as people think. A lot of years teams spend over 100% of the cap in cash.

[methos4ever]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

It seems from the talk the cash in that cash to cap is going to be raised significantly, but as a lot of people on Sirius (Moving the Chains in particular) have mentioned, a lot of that money will go toward re-signing some of their own as well as any impending FAs on other teams.

And for the NFLPA this is great because that means even the lower-to-middle class of players will have their salaries raised. I don't see it as a way to rub Ralph's face into whatever money he has or hasn't spent, just a general way to keep all the owners honest with the rising revenues of the next contracts. Hopefully, those contracts are negotiated for the max for all as opposed to how it went down pre-Lockout.

[X-Era]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

It seems from the talk the cash in that cash to cap is going to be raised significantly, but as a lot of people on Sirius (Moving the Chains in particular) have mentioned, a lot of that money will go toward re-signing some of their own as well as any impending FAs on other teams.

And for the NFLPA this is great because that means even the lower-to-middle class of players will have their salaries raised. I don't see it as a way to rub Ralph's face into whatever money he has or hasn't spent, just a general way to keep all the owners honest with the rising revenues of the next contracts. Hopefully, those contracts are negotiated for the max for all as opposed to how it went down pre-Lockout.

I don't see a major jump in everyones contracts on the horizon. I think contracts will continue to go up as they have. What I think happens is that teams who used to operate under the cash to cap method will sign more significant free agents... like the Bills. I can't see anyway that they can significantly raise the pay for their UDFA's or third tier vets to cover the gap that they will now have... There just isn't anyway they could justify paying way more for that lower level talent. I think it will in fact be a great thing for the Bills who will end up filling more holes or shoring up more positions than they were planning too.

[X-Era]

Re: Potential death of the "cash to crap" philosophy?

I think the Bills may just be forced to make a significant upgrade in talent at the cost of it's perceived revenue... invest in the team to make it significantly better. The Bills may not be happy taking a big risk like that with drastically reduced revenue for the short term. But it could just make the significant impact that jumps this team out of mediocrity. No, I don't think they will go and sign a few stars. What I think they will do is sign solid UFA's where they normally would have started backups or rookies with their fingers crossed.

They may be scared at how short on revenue they will be, but may find that the risk pays off with Gailey able to maximize the team and it just may lead to a playoff push next year. A lot has to fall into place obviously but it could just happen. And then, I believe the risk will pay off when they starting getting fans and corporations re-investing in the team again.

Revenue sharing is a part of this. And ticket prices may also increase. But to me, it may be time for the Bills and Bills fans to put up or shut up. Ralph may need to realize that he can't compete with this cash to crap philosophy. And it may be gut check time. He's either going to adapt or sell the team before he dies. And if he sells, I think it likely that he will sell to a Buffalo group first and foremost.