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NFL hopes to curb wild spending by teams in uncapped 2010 season
By Don Banks, SI.com
Posted: Thursday October 22, 2009 4:11PM
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/nfl/10/22/labor/index.html
By Don Banks, SI.com
Posted: Thursday October 22, 2009 4:11PM
Read more:One byproduct of the looming labor showdown facing the NFL in the likely uncapped season of 2010 is the very real possibility that team general managers and contract negotiators will feel "a real sense of pressure coming down from the league on high'' to not have it result in a bonanza for next spring's free-agency class, a veteran club official told SI.com this week.
The veteran club official said he senses a growing league-wide mentality to encourage clubs to tread carefully in the uncapped year, with the clear understanding that profligate spending in free agency would only serve to work against the portrayal of the new and harsher financial realities the NFL hopes to convey to players union leadership during the pitched battle that will be the coming CBA negotiations.
"Something I've caught wind of lately is a real sense of pressure coming down from the league on high for teams not to go crazy next year, not only in the draft but in free agency,'' the veteran club official said. "To not be self-interested only, but to think about the league and the good of the league in an uncapped year. Don't go on a spending spree that won't help the league.
"I know for a fact that's been communicated to the teams, to try and keep things in line and not have a catastrophe for the league salary-wise.'
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/nfl/10/22/labor/index.html