What if Snyder goes Steinbrenner?....

I asked the question once before, but no one seemed to have a satisfactory answer, so I'll try again. What if there's a salary cap and guys like Snyder or Jones say, "Fuck it. I'm spending whatever I want to and keeping whomever I want to." What happens then? Do they get thrown out of the league? Fined heavily? -- Ha! Forced to do community service?????? After all, Tags works for them, not the other way around.:imagestor

 

As I stated in the previous thread, I think it will cause some imbalance, but spending a lot of money doesn't guarantee anything. Washington has already been the biggest offender in over the cap spending and doesn't have anything to show for it. Similarly, most big spenders in baseball have little to show for their efforts as well. The problem is that big payrolls give a strong chance of making the playoffs, thus taking up spots from diasadvantaged teams. But it doesn't guarantee them championships by any means.

 

Collin, and others: That still doesn't answer the question. Has there ever been a team that totally flaunted the rules, not disguised its thievery as so many teams do now? Who decides the punishment if such is done? And what would the punishment be?

 

I don't believe it's thievery at all. Any payment to players that "exceeds the cap" but doesn't exceed the actual cap is bonus money. Tell the NFLPA that bonus money can't be prorated and they'll flip.

But no, no team has ever technically "been over the cap" to my knowledge. If Snyder did it, he'd have to pay a penalty every day of the fiscal year until he came down from it, which wouldn't likely be possible. So it'd take millions out of pocket for him to do so.

 

Maybe go to PFT for the answer?

WHAT IF A TEAM IS OVER THE CAP?

A league insider raised an interesting point with us on Wednesday. If a team like the Redskins ends up over the salary cap on Friday, what's the worst that can happen?

The league can't force the 'Skins to cut players. Instead, the league can impose fines and/or strip the team of draft picks. But if, as in Washington's case, the owner is raking in millions in local unshared revenue (and thus can pay any fine with his "walkin' around" money) and if, as in Washington's case, they won't have the cap room to sign the rookies they draft, what's the downside to writing an easily affordable check and/or giving up their entire 2006 draft class?

From the Redskins' perspective, it becomes a basic business decision. Either they cut everyonethey need to cut to get under the salary cap -- or they keep one or two guys we want to keep and face the potential consequences from the league office.

Given that Redskins owner Dan Snyder is one of the guys pushing hardest against expanded revenue sharing (thereby making it harder to extend the CBA), our guess is that the Commish would smack the team extra hard if 'Skins don't accept the cap consequences of a failure to strike a deal that can be blamed in part on the position that Snyder has taken regarding revenue sharing.

 

damn son, how many different times and different ways do you have to be told that no one has been over the cap before? Back when the 49ers screwed the pooch and had to cut damn near everybody, the league was prepared to both fine them and strip them of draft picks. I'd say the same applies here.

 

"was prepared to" is as opaque as my own conjectural "what if," so forgive me for bringing up the subject. I guess it's about as exciting as the Winter Olympics.

 

I guess the answer to your question is that no one knows for sure. I do think that it would meet with some pretty harsh penalties. Snyder is not popular with the other owners anyway.

 

There have been instances in which a team has managed to sneak a cap evading contract by the league. Upon further review, the violations were caught by the league and the respective teams were penalized. Penalties include fines and/or forfeiture of draft picks. In recent history both the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers have been penalized draft picks, while the 49ers' front office personnel (Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark) were also fined.

http://www.askthecommish.com/salarycap/faq.asp

 

I posted somewhere in here that the NFL would cut the team for them. I'm sure I read that sometime, but it appears not to be true. I read in the last couple of days that the commish has wide latitude to penalize a team under that circumstances. Especially given the atmosphere now, I imagine the penalties would be enough to make the offending team cry uncle.