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What happens without new collective barganing agreement?
Steelers Q&A with Ed Bouchette
Thursday, January 14, 2010

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Q: Keeping with the collective barganing agreement: Assuming that there is no new CBA and the NFL is uncapped next year, what would happen to teams like Washington and Dallas that will more than likely spend money like the Yankees once a new CBA is reached?

Craig Geyer, Dillsburg, Pa.

BOUCHETTE: They will be free to spend whatever they want. The sky will be the limit. However, there will be restrictions for the "Final Eight" from the playoffs placed on how many free agents they can sign based on the number of free agents they lose. I will not get into that here but there are other such restrictions in the CBA that do not necessarily make it all that attractive as some might think for the players. For example, while there is no salary cap there also is no salary floor. A team such as the Jacksonville Jaguars, who cover 10,000 seats for home games and just reduced ticket prices, might opt to get out from under the red by lowering their payroll to Pittsburgh Pirates level. No one is too worried about Snyder because he does not spend his money wisely. And do not assume that Jerry Jones, with all that new stadium debt, will break the bank to sign free agents. There may be many more Jacksonvilles out there than there are Washingtons.

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First published on January 14, 2010 at 10:43 am