True, it wouldn’t technically be a loop hole.
But what if a team had a lot of players in their option years of their contracts and knew that they couldn’t re-sign them all next year and would potentially lose many of them to free agency.
Why not go for broke this year and try to win a cup and take the hit. Than trade away all those free agents to get your draft picks back and solve your SMS problems at the same time.
Damn I should of been a GM. 
Maybe the Stamps will hire you before they fire Huffer… :lol: :lol:
Careful sambo, I think Tillspin and Popp both had the same idea.
Hey, the Riders went from 4.9 to just over 4.1 million, it is quite the accomplishment. Most thought he Riders were over by 300K+, but it turned out to be 76K. I would hardly call that going for broke to win a championship.
BTW- getting rid of your MOP QB and arguably your best Dlineman isn't exactly "going for broke" either. I havent seen the Als stack their team for a run this year either. IMO, the Als will be fortunate to finish ahead of the Cats this year.
You’re assuming other teams would want those players. That might not always be the case…
Any idea on how much carrying those extra QB's cost Montreal? They had five at one time, didn't they?
jm02, there is nothing wrong with the penality that was assessed to Montreal, it was in accordance with rules. It was Montreal's choice.
Just as it was Tillman's choice to carry a 4th quarterback on the papercut brigade most of the season. I am sorry, I don't feel sorry and don't find the excuses particularily acceptable.
by rw05, remove the paper cut brigade from the riders, and the riders not only started out under the cap they would have remained under the cap. It was a delibrate decision by Tillman to put the riders over.
...did you see anywhere that I said there was something wrong with it? No? Didn't think so...actually, if you go back through my post history, you'll even find I was in favour of penalizing the Als according to the restrictions of the SMS, regardless of the circumstances...but you wouldn't care about that now, would you?
Growing pains? Two steps forward, one step back?
The article reporting on the SMS claims the rules say loss of a draft pick if the team is over 100,000, and a second pick if over 300,000. And that is wonderful if only the league had ever publically stated that.
From the leagues own description:
Significant non-discretionary Penalties for Breaching SEC maximum based on a progressive financial system as well as competitive measures (forfeited draft picks), to take effect in 2007.* First $100,000.00 $1 to $1 * $100,000.00 to $300,000.00 $2 to $1 * $300,000.00 + $3 to $1</blockquote>Nowhere has it ever stated anything automatic about loss of a draft pick. I assume (hope) they at least told the teams somewhere along the line, but public disclosure of the rules might be handy…
But taking a draft pick automatically for a team at 100,001 over does seem harsh. 99,999 you are fine–spend 2 more dollars, lose a pick. I think some discretion is called for. So no, I don’t think Montreal should have lost a pick.
However, the second aspect of this is typical CFL–stupid!
Why on earth would Hamilton get an extra pick because of this. Pity? The argument is they get the “waiver bonus”. Move hamilton up one, let them have an extra pick at the end of the draft. I wonder if Hamilton had been over, would they have been given back their lost #1 pick because they were first on the “waiver list”?Anyway, overall, the cap is working just fine.
Congratulations to Ted Hellard for being able to foresee the two teams with the most injuries would be the ones over the cap. The man is phenomenal…I wish they would have released the numbers for the teams under the cap as well.
Lots of room to tweek the system for next year.
So now you know what Tillman is thinking?
I’m with you Redwhite! The league disclosed two team’s, what’s to disclose the numbers for the other six? We don’t pay by the letter, as when you sent messages via telex (anybody remember that?).
If they are under the ceiling for the SMS, why is there a need to make the totals for the abiding teams public?
Because most people would be interested to see the numbers top to bottom.
Movement year by year
On field success vs Dollars spent.
Anyone interested in knowing where the $194 000.00 is going ? I am.
That money should be used towards a drug testing and support program for the players.
These owners talk about "our" league and being close to their fans but its all bs.
Can't pay Kerry Joseph his money but we can afford to pay the league 76k in fines since we've had a record year LOL!
The money to pay Joseph would go on next year’s SMS totals, not this year…so what a team spends this year on fines, for last season’s salaries, should have no bearing on discussions for raises for players in the coming season.
And no, I’m not interested in seeing the numbers top to bottom. They were under the cap, and that’s good enough for me.
jm02, I find it funny in one place you say it severe. Then when I mention it isn’t severe, you can’t bent out of shape about having to break it down for me. Now you go back to you to oh I am all in favor of penalizing the Als. So which is it, the rules were applied fairly as outlined or they are being severe because Montreal made very delibrate and calculated decisions.
I agree with you if they disclose for the teams over they should do the same for the ones under. No reason why you wouldn’t but again is this a surprise. I would bet Tom Wright would have.
Arius…I guess you don’t see the first $100,000 as being that cushion you say is needed for losing the draft pick. I suspect when the BOG picked these levels and draft pick loses, there was a discussion. The levels and the loss of the draft picks demonstrate the league is serious about this issue.
Bottom line this league isn't transparent, never has been and probably never will be. The only satisfaction about this is that with certainty is that this year's MONKEY will be next year's FOOTBALL
I mean to be picky but did Tillman and the Rider BOG say they were only 54,000 over the cap. Regardless they did a good job to get their payroll this close to the cap. It has been evident with the player moves over the winter.
RW2005 complimenting the Riders???
Arius, in case you didn’t know, its Illegal to hold a gun to somebody’s head! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: What are you doing in Calgary? :lol: :lol: :lol:
I actually thought BC might have been over the cap, but I guess Wally front end loaded enough of the contracts that it didn’t effect them. Good point was made by Mike about when those front end loaded contracts expiring to see how the teams deal with it.