Random Ramsdom, 3/24: bad business

by Ryan Van Bibber on Mar 24, 2009 5:50 AM CDT in 2009 Off-Season

Here's a downer to start your day...no football in 2011? The PD offers an assessment of where things stand at the moment, with CBA negotiations and, more specifically, the future of the salary cap between the players union and owners. This will be a topic of much discussion as D-Day gets closer.

One preliminary thought I have on the union's no-cap position, on top of the fear that it will wipe out small market teams like St. Louis, is that to give smaller market teams some advantage in that environment rookie contracts need to be scaled back dramatically and teams given more control over rookies for longer periods of time. That's already part of the arrangement under the no-cap season of 2010 where teams get two franchise or transition tags and players have to have six years of experience rather than four to be a free agent.

Reigning in the cost of unproven draftees would be a huge benefit to those smaller teams who would inevitably be drafting among the higher picks as larger market teams lay out the cash to chase titles every year. Drastically cutting back on the cost of rookie contracts would prevent these teams from having to tie up large heaps of their player budget in unproven talent, preventing them from signing free agents or otherwise keeping quality players on the roster.

There's LOTS more to this discussion, so stay tuned. This situation will get much uglier before it gets resolved.

And now for some links...

The Rams have a private workout scheduled with Utah CB Sean Smith. The Ute CB could very well be a late first, early second round pick, putting it within the realm of possibility for the Rams to draft him. He's a big guy at 6'3" who can handle top receivers. The scouting report at Mocking the Draft compares him to Oakland's fabulously rich CB Nnamdi Asomugha. That second round pick might be the most intriguing moment in the Rams draft.
The Rams also have a private workout scheduled with Cincinnati CB Mike Mickens on March 28. Mickens, a potential third rounder, looks to be a solid NFL cornerback who needs to add some bulk.
There's a rumor that the Jaguars are currently in contact with Torry Holt's agent. Seems like a strange destination for a guy who wants to wind down his career on a playoff team, but there are still plenty of teams interested.
One fantasy site says to keep an eye on Rams WR Keenan Burton in his sophomore season. I hope they're right.
Here's a bit of good news from ESPN's Mike Sando. The league has worked out an extension of their deal with DirecTV to make Sunday Ticket available on the internet by 2012. Let's hope there's still football at that point.

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I simply don't get this.

When MLB tried to do this 2 years ago (or was it last year?) all kinds of shit hit the fan. Hell, even John Kerry railed on this in front of Congress leading to MLB to strike a deal with Comcast, Dish Network and just about every carrier except TImes Warner (oh, and AT&T Uverse doesn’t have it either).

Why doesn’t the same thing happen with the NFL? Why does Congress get all bent out of shape with everything MLB (exclusive rights tv, steriods, etc) when the NFL is just as bad, if not worse, in every aspect?

And why should it take 3 years to get NFL on the computer? I assume it’s because there’s already a deal in place but all they’re doing is pissing a lot of people off……not enough I presume.

Oh, and when the whole MLB thing came about, they were wanting to launch MLB Network and were running into carriers like Comcast refusing to make it a “free” channel. It wasn’t until they opened up Extra Innings to the other carriers that they were able to say "okay, since you get Extra Innings (which MLB never really had to do in the first place, they just got pushed into it with all the backlash), you have to put MLB Network on the regular package.

As it stands now, Comcast charges for NFL Network even though NFL has been fighting them in court for a couple of years and I say “good job Comcast”. There’s really not a lot to like about cable companies, but I side with them in this case. You’ve got the NFL holding ransom over these companies and they could care less about their fans. DirecTV pays and ton to get the rights (and it’s perfectly legal to do so) but it’s bad business overall for the NFL, imo.

Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.

by Tackle Box on Mar 24, 2009 10:36 AM CDT reply actions

True, but....

I hate cable companies in general. I have Cox Communications in my area and it’s terrible. They charge for every frickin thing! A couple of years ago, I said screw it and went with DirecTV. Since that day, I have NEVER had a complaint about my cable. DirecTV does good business and I appreciate it. Even though I dread the five months that I have to pay for Sunday Ticket, it is worth every penny of it.

To sum it up…Congrats DirecTV for securing even more exclusive rights!

by RamsMan83 on Mar 24, 2009 11:52 AM CDT reply actions

6 years to hold the rights to a player seems like a long time

Anyone know the avg. lifespan per position?

by hex706f726368 on Mar 24, 2009 12:10 PM CDT reply actions

I think getting the rookie salaries under control...

is absolutely essential to any labor package…every year, someone holds out for long periods of time and that cuts into their usefulness to start off the season…in the case of QB’s they are all but useless, depending on how long they actually hold out…I think the NBA does it right, in that regard…they have the rookie scale and that seems to take all the drama out of the entry level positions…elite players end up getting their money, as we have seen with players like LeBron James…I know the comparison with football and basketball is somewhat apples and oranges, in terms of career lifespan, but, as Van alludes to, it could help out the smaller market teams.

by tbell61 on Mar 24, 2009 12:26 PM CDT reply actions

well if the union would stand up to the owners help the players out a bit

as it stands, the ONLY leverage players have is a holdout. Otherwise they just bend over and have to take whatever the owners decide to throw at them. I absolutely have no problem with these guys trying to get every dollar they can on what could likely be their only chance at making money playing football, with the lack of guarenteed contracts and such a short career expectancy

by FunkeeC on Mar 24, 2009 2:16 PM CDT up reply actions