Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The horizon is cloudy

NFL Fans, Jerry Richardson has a message for you: Hope you recorded NFL games this season, and in years past, because you might not be watching games for a while.

Richardson held his "State of the Franchise" news conference on Tuesday (that's what I am calling it, anyway), and Richardson says the NFL and NFLPA aren't as close as some might indicate.

Richardson drew up a rough pie chart while talking about the collective bargaining agreement, saying of the $3.6 billion dollars in new revenue generated over (what sounded like) a 3-year period from 2006-2008. Of that, $2.6 went to player costs, and 1 billion is divided among the 32 member clubs, and he also pointed out a negative cash flow of $200 million. Those are some big numbers.

Richardson is the NFL co-chair on the negotiating committee, which means he's one of the guys responsible for brokering a deal. That being said, the Panthers owner also pointed out that the club won't be re-signing any players (28 at last count), until a CBA is reached. That's not to say he won't re-sign his guys, he's just not doing it until there is a structure set up, as he plans to follow the CBA once it goes into effect.

Other tidbits:
-He plans to own the Panthers until he dies. He said he hadn't given thought to long-range ownership once he passes.
-John Fox was not retained because he didn't produce back-to-back winning seasons. Fox finished out his contract, basically as a lame duck, because the staff price tag was more than $11 million. Wiping out that staff with a year left, and hiring a new staff didn't make sense economically.
-The Panthers won't trade out of the number 1 overall draft pick, given the state they are in.
- The team would not indicate officially who they have contacted, or whom they have gotten permission to speak with. Unofficially, the team is eyeing Ron Rivera, Perry Fewell, and Rob Ryan-all Defensive Coordinators in the NFL.
-Richardson seems to desire a coordinator, not a college coach, but wouldn't commit solidly to those feelings. That was the sense I got from some of his remarks.

That's all for now, much more coming on Sports Night at 10.

Mike Solarte

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Fox finished out his contract, basically as a lame duck, because the staff price tag was more than $11 million. Wiping out that staff with a year left, and hiring a new staff didn't make sense economically."

But don't call Jerry cheap, or he won't like you anymore. He is going to spend money, except you know on coaches or players.

Mike Solarte said...

Calling him cheap would be a cheap shot. He knew what he was doing, forcing the hand of the coaches to play the young guys, because that's all they had. Young guys. With all of the expiring contracts, the Panthers should have money to spend on players, coaches, whatever. I don't like how it all played out, as it was an ugly year. Thankfully, that's over.

Anonymous said...

Not over yet. He isn't signing players because of the CBA, yet other teams are. He says he will pay for a coach, but only looking at no name assistants that won't command top dollar. Bottom line is that Panther's have become a joke. Hell you have Jay Glazer on national tv calling them cheap. After this presser Andrew Luck is likely looking over the spring class schedule at Stanford.

Anonymous said...

Funniest part of P.C. was Hurney and the brain trust trying to validate the choice of not going for Harbaugh because a coordinator work out well last time. Yet its the same guy they are firing because he was 3 winning seasons out of nine. Thats a franchise with its act together.