The NFL does not have a rookie scale like the NBA does at all. If it did, you would never see players being late to cammp. As it is, they are late all the time.
Also, when did McGrady holdout? Drexler holding out was on a previous CBA. Now, there are specific amounts guys can sign for. Maximum salaries, adn salary slots. There are no holdouts in the NBA currently.
This. Change the current 5 & 6 year contracts to 3 (for incoming FAs) & 4 (resigning your own), and we'd be much better off.
Nor a realistic assumption. You will never see your ticket prices go down. Like the last lockout, this is just another money-grab by the uber-wealthy. I doubt it will be successful for the owners this time, but I just have to laugh at the effect it may have on Comcast's profit margin.
Ticket prices will go down or up irrespective of the players' salaries... demand drives prices, not the cost of the product. Owners strive to optimize revenues, and look at price elasticity, etc. I think the quoted article's quotes might be a bit extreme, but I (and some others) have been saying this for a while, and it's the primary reason I think the Blazers should not have extended Roy and Aldridge at such extremely high levels. Ed O.