New SMS News.....not very happy

[West Coast Blue Fan]

In a league with no commish, very little or no accountabilty with respect to finances, and Mssrs Braley and Young behind the scenes....loose lips simply flap, they don't sink anything......

[Shi Zi Mi]

I'll say it again..........nothing but lip service.

As long as player salaries are low and the league does not have the resources to ferret out side deals.........enforcing an SMS is impossible.

Chump change side deals (<$50K) would be near impossible to find......especially when the team owner owns 114 companies.

If Rob Murphy does not sign in the NFL, look for him to sign a new $100K contract with the Lions.........and his wife gets a $50K daycare co-ordinator position (non-existent daycare) at one of Braley's other businesses........how the hell is the league going to find that?

You're right SZM, this has been going on since the "marquee player" days of Doug Flutie and the Stampedes...

The whole thing is a staged act to con the rest of the league into thinking there's a level playing field.
So long as teams and players have lucrative personal, promotional contracts available things will remain the same.

If all the teams are doing it then nobody?s nose is out of joint, but if it is a true salary cap then cut the crap,
"like the ceiling is where the floor of the real ceiling begins."

This isn't aimed at anyone in particular, but, you know it's kind of funny..........all the flack that Braley took for his "it's more of a floor than a ceiling" comment.........not one person trashing him has had the balls to step up and admit that the guy was bang on the money........it wasn't until much later that the average fan was made aware that ALL teams in the league were over the cap and indeed calling it a floor was far more accurate. I guess when your agenda is to bash a guy, don't let facts and truths get in the way.

[OrangeShoes99]

This isn't aimed at anyone in particular, but, you know it's kind of funny..........all the flack that Braley took for his "it's more of a floor than a ceiling" comment.........not one person trashing him has had the balls to step up and admit that the guy was bang on the money........it wasn't until much later that the average fan was made aware that ALL teams in the league were over the cap and indeed calling it a floor was far more accurate. I guess when your agenda is to bash a guy, don't let facts and truths get in the way.

I couldn't agree more Lloyd. Add to all that is the fact people are blaming him already for any short comings of this SMS.

[Hambone]

I do think it's fair to slam the SMS right now given for all intents it hasn't taken effect. The cap doesn't start taking effect until the referee blows his whistle, some kicker puts his boot to the ball in the first regular season game of the year and the first nickle of compensation is earned. And the proverbial proof that there is indeed a true cap won't be in the pudding until about this time in 2008. Hopefully at that point there will be an announcement that Team X was over the cap by $Y and it cost them Z. Then we will indeed know there is a cap and it has some teeth. Until then there's no sense in stressing about it.

If folks want to whine and bellyache about this and that, under the table deals that may or may not be happening and all the other rhetoric and innuendo then the CFL would be far better off to simply say there is no cap, never will be a cap and everybody spend there money as they please. We should at least give this new system a chance to prove itself before ripping it to shreds.

I find it puzzling that people still think that player's wages can be supplemented by a person showing up on a payroll for a non-existant job without having to show up to do that job. That may have happened back in Smalltown Canada in the 50s and 60s when it didn't matter whether or not if you showed up for work as long as you could pot a couple of goals for the company sponsored team in the local commercial hockey league. In this millenium there are no free rides in corporate Canada. A team might be able to use connections to help a player's financial position through side work for him or work for his significant other. However in this era it is expected that said player or spouse also earns their stipend for that sidework by showing up to do the job. We now live in an era where headcounts for FTEs (full time employees) and manning complements are closely scrutinized by corporations to ensure they are receiving value back from every position. I think any under the table stuff that might happen now may come in the form of transportation and/or accomodations for the player. Even then those would be considered taxable benefits by Revenue Canada. At the end of the day the agent would want the contracted salary to reflect what the player is really earning as his commission relies on it. Also his client could be traded tomorrow and that "under the table" arrangement could be worthless under his new team.

Generally speaking it's in the better interests of the players that contracts reflect the true market values. Contracts with artificially lower salaries compensated by "under the table" hidden side deals only serve to deflate the market value of other similar players. As a for instance the acknowledged best goalie in the NHL Martin Brodeur has been playing for what is deemed well under market value. He chooses to do that to stay in New Jersey. But it drives other goalies and agents nuts because it devalues the overall market for goalies across the league. It makes it tougher for other goalies to negotiate contracts when the top guy is effectively underpaid (relatively speaking) and dragging the market down.

[Shi Zi Mi]

I do think it's fair to slam the SMS right now given for all intents it hasn't taken effect. The cap doesn't start taking effect until the referee blows his whistle, some kicker puts his boot to the ball in the first regular season game of the year and the first nickle of compensation is earned. And the proverbial proof that there is indeed a true cap won't be in the pudding until about this time in 2008. Hopefully at that point there will be an announcement that Team X was over the cap by $Y and it cost them Z. Then we will indeed know there is a cap and it has some teeth. Until then there's no sense in stressing about it.

If folks want to whine and bellyache about this and that, under the table deals that may or may not be happening and all the other rhetoric and innuendo then the CFL would be far better off to simply say there is no cap, never will be a cap and everybody spend there money as they please. We should at least give this new system a chance to prove itself before ripping it to shreds.

I find it puzzling that people still think that player's wages can be supplemented by a person showing up on a payroll for a non-existant job without having to show up to do that job. That may have happened back in Smalltown Canada in the 50s and 60s when it didn't matter whether or not if you showed up for work as long as you could pot a couple of goals for the company sponsored team in the local commercial hockey league. In this millenium there are no free rides in corporate Canada. A team might be able to use connections to help a player's financial position through side work for him or work for his significant other. However in this era it is expected that said player or spouse also earns their stipend for that sidework by showing up to do the job. We now live in an era where headcounts for FTEs (full time employees) and manning complements are closely scrutinized by corporations to ensure they are receiving value back from every position. I think any under the table stuff that might happen now may come in the form of transportation and/or accomodations for the player. Even then those would be considered taxable benefits by Revenue Canada. At the end of the day the agent would want the contracted salary to reflect what the player is really earning as his commission relies on it. Also his client could be traded tomorrow and that "under the table" arrangement could be worthless under his new team.

Generally speaking it's in the better interests of the players that contracts reflect the true market values. Contracts with artificially lower salaries compensated by "under the table" hidden side deals only serve to deflate the market value of other similar players. As a for instance the acknowledged best goalie in the NHL Martin Brodeur has been playing for what is deemed well under market value. He chooses to do that to stay in New Jersey. But it drives other goalies and agents nuts because it devalues the overall market for goalies across the league. It makes it tougher for other goalies to negotiate contracts when the top guy is effectively underpaid (relatively speaking) and dragging the market down.

Actually, in this era, more and more people are working from home.......with high speed internet into the home, most computer related jobs could be accomplished from home with little to no degradation in production.

In my example, company owner Braley instructs his HR department that he has hired a "consultant" who reports directly to him. Then all Mrs. Murphy has to do is logon once a week/month, fill in her timesheets, the finance department directly deposits the money into her account and no one is the wiser......including (possibly) the player's agent.

[Hambone]

Actually, in this era, more and more people are working from home.......with high speed internet into the home, most computer related jobs could be accomplished from home with little to no degradation in production.

No argument here. That's what I do for a living and it saves my current client a bundle given the alternative is to pay travel and living out expenses to work onsite at their mills.

In my example, company owner Braley instructs his HR department that he has hired a "consultant" who reports directly to him. Then all Mrs. Murphy has to do is logon once a week/month, fill in her timesheets, the finance department directly deposits the money into her account and no one is the wiser......including (possibly) the player's agent.

While technology allows that it's my contention that if Braley is willing to have Mrs. Murphy on board as a "consultant" he won't do so unless she's providing value back to Orlick Industries by actually providing some consulting services. From everything I've read about David Braley he's a principled man of intergrity and ethics. Thus I highly doubt David Braley Owner of Orlick Industries would go to such clandestine measures to help David Braley Owner of BC Lions Football Club circumvent the cap. It's no secret Braley is dead set against the SMS strictly based on his own beliefs and principles as a businessman. If he's going to fight the SMS he'll do it in the CFL board room. He won't do it by having his core businesses play a shell and pea game to hide BC Lions' costs.

[Shi Zi Mi]

Dale.....your off on a tangent about the integrity of Braley......and IMHO, if he's pissed off enough with the way the SMS is implemented, this would be a viable alternative for him.

My point is that the avenue is there if ANY would like to choose it.

There's an article today on Canoe that pretty well confirms what I'm suggesting:

" Since owners aren't required or expected to open the books of their other businesses, the opportunity for hiding secret players payments is there. Five of the CFL's teams are privately owned."

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/ ... 2-sun.html

IMHO, singling out privately owned teams is a little unfair, because corporate sponsorship can go the same route (ie Scott Flory and Stantec a few years back).

The rest of the article is more CFL propaganda then anything else.......sounds like they're trying to convince themselves as much as the reader that this is going to work.

[Rammer]

Just going to add some comments that Eric Tillman made on a local radio station, after he lost Morgan to the Eskimos....kind of interesting in that he offers up some cold numbers on an Eskimo player...Mitchell.

http://www.rodpedersen.blogspot.com/