Bolts From The Blue: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
New Blog: Once A Metro covering Red Bull New York!

Losing Parity in the NFL

The NFL has maintained a competitive environment by limiting how much teams can spend on the payroll.  That number has been going up so fast however that only eight teams are within 3 million dollars of it; only 12 within six million.  In baseball the big market teams can be competitive every year, because they can outspend the competition up to 10 to 1 and pick up all the great free agents.  Football has done much better at keeping all the teams competitive with a combination of the cap and allocating draft choices based on record.  The cap was 85 million in 2005, 102 in 2006; 116 million this year; that's almost 50% over four years.  If you look at payroll some teams, like the Titans, 49ers, Dolphins and Bills are in the 80-90 million range.  The teams at the top (Panthers, Colts, Redskins & Rams) are coming out at 112-123 million.  Teams can game that top 116 million with 'bonus' clauses that can't be achieved.  Here are the teams ranked by payroll:

 

Titans 79
Dolphins 85
49ers 87
Bills 89
Jaguars 89
Saints 89
Bengals 92
Giants 95
Chargers 95
Bears 96
Texans 96
Raiders 96
Bucs 97
Lions 98
Browns 99
Jets 99
Steelers 99
Packers 101
Vikings 101
Cowboys 103
Seahawks 103
Eagles 104
Broncos 105
Chiefs 106
Cardinals 110
Ravens 110
Falcons 112
Rams 112
Patriots 113
Panthers 121
Redskins 123
Colts 126

So roughly half the teams are not even within 20 million of the cap, and the teams that spend the most are more than 50% higher than those that spend the least.  The cap has gone so high that it is almost not a cap anymore, income is.  Now the NFL has opted out of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, that means that there will be caps for 09 and 2010, but if nothing happens 2011 will be uncapped and the NFL could be headed to less competition.  I'd hate to see the NFL go the way of baseball where the teams location has more to do with success than any other factor.

2 recs  |  Comment 5 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

I love how

many of the higher payroll teams are some of the worst in the NFL.

For the record, this is not my attempt to imply subtly that Belichick is nothing without cheating and Tom Brady. Seriously. I am straight-out saying: Belichick is nothing without cheating and Tom Brady ~ DJ Gallo

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Oct 15, 2008 2:02 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I don't think

losing the salary cap will make much of a difference, as demonstrated by the wide range of salaries above. 2011 could be a crazy year if that happens. I guarantee that if there is no cap, either Oakland or San Fran loses their football team to another city.

We're gonna dazzle you with our super play.

by soulSD on Oct 15, 2008 2:39 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Shared pool of income

The TV deals the NFL has allow the teams to share revenues. So as long as teams are filthy rich they can keep parity alive.

I agree that cap is increasing to the point where teams can’t spend enough to keep up with it. What that means though is that they can keep their own players for as long as they want. Most free agents to be had are guys that teams don’t want for reasons other than money (too old, too injured, too troublesome, or not talented enough to make the 53). So teams really don’t have anywhere to spend the extra cap space.

Of course, what may happen is that the lack of a cap will create a new market that players may want to try out, so they’ll forgo early contract extensions in order to hit free agency. Maybe after these new market values are set then you will have the NFL of the 80s and early 90s where the NFC East can outspend anybody and win most of the championships.

Homer: Ohhhh, The Denver Broncos.
Marge: Whats wrong with the Denver Broncos?
Homer: Marge you just don't understand football.

by Wonko on Oct 15, 2008 3:04 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Ironically, here are the records for the bottom 5 and the top 5:

Bottom 5: 16-11
Top 5: 15-12

I agree with you that the CAP needs to be reasonable to actual Income. A Cap should be an average of all 32 Team Incomes…

Good stuff DaBolts…thanks for the read.

If God is not a Bronco fan, then WHY are sunsets Blue and Orange? - Jon Tollerud 5/22/08

by Tim Lynch on Oct 15, 2008 3:45 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I noticed that

I’ll have to check and see how the teams are doing at the end of the season.

"Football is a physical sport, sometimes you have a disagreement on what's going on, and you have a discussion about it." Chris Dielman

by Brian (DaBolts) on Oct 16, 2008 10:45 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

E-mail: boltsfromtheblue@gmail.com
Call or Txt: 760-515-BFTB (2382)
Start posting about the Chargers »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Me_as_a_simpson_small
Represent Your Team in MHR's Live Mock!
Small
This just in-Chargers receive Seahawks' 2011 3rd rd. pick and swap 2nd rd. picks in 2010 Draft
Awesome-kid_small
Maybe I'm jumping the gun but...
J_page_small
Needing Some Assistance
56tearsdownfelixjones_small
LaDainian Tomlinson, a Jet
Small
Mock help
Small
So we sign Marcus Mason?
Small
Gates to be on Pros vs. Joes
Picture_009_small
So We got our Wish!!!
Small
Running backs combine results!

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

SBNation.com Recent Stories

Photo link

A Deeper Look At The 2009 Cowboys Running Game

Photo +1 updates

Rams, Redskins Showing Interest In QB Sam Bradford

Photo +1 updates

Conflicting Reports On The Future Of 49ers GM Scot McCloughan

More from SBNation.com >

Latest NFL Headlines from SB Nation


Managing Editor

Chargershorse_small John Gennaro

Assistant Editor

Pomeranian_of_war_small Richard Wade

Graphic Designer

Johnnycashsleeve_small QuesaDiaz