Secondly, in the NFL, those contracts are not fully guaranteed. Vick can be cut after this season I believe, and the Eagles will not have to pay him a dime. And Vick and Romo or both not even close to 10+ years.

The best comparison for salaries of players would be in the NBA, which you oddly left out. How often does a player sign a 10+ year contract? The longest was I think Magic and his 25 year contract. I can’t recall any other 10+ year contracts. Even Miamis Lebron, Wade, and Bosh didn’t get 10 years (even though they did get $100M). And personally, I’d rather have a player on my team making $100M over 5 years, rather than $100M over 10+ years.

MLB:
Puljols
Rodriguez – Mr. Absent in October

NFL:
Vick
Romo

That thinking is exactly what gets you what you have today! Spiraling cost and inflated pricing at every level imaginable, plus failing return on investment -see every league I mentioned, including PBT discussions right now.

Communism? Last time I checked, Corporations… you know, the ‘capitalist’ kind… run their businesses on ‘pay scales’ and ‘target bonuses’.

I never said ‘pay everyone the same’. It’s not too hard a concept… let me help you:

What happens to good players on bad teams or bad players on good teams?
See #3 – in case you didn’t read. You can EASILY stack individual success bonuses to make up for a good player on a bad team, but he still has to perform at a personally HIGH level to get it.

What happens to an elite player injured by a bad player who has even greater incentive to injure talented players now that injured players only get scale?
Ok – then negotiate an ‘injury without opportunity’ clause that pays at 50% targets, with $ dock to a penaltized player. If a guys risks 10-25% of his pay, including bonus’, for intentional injury – that’s a deterent.

Who is given the all seeing right to dictate who has “mailed it in”?
HELLO – let’s try this again – it’s not dictating… It’s called ‘P-E-R-F-O-R-M-A-N-C-E’, you know – that results the player achieves on ice. They ALREADY negotiate bonuses on this stuff. It’s not new. Plus/Minus, Points, SOG, Goals, Assists, Save%, etc. checkout NHL.com… they’re pretty smart people and already track ALL ot those things.

No thanks, personally, and I kinda get why the multi-billion dollar professional sport leagues in this country don’t get it either.

How bout 100k per point? Doesn’t that sound ridiculous when you put it that way? Plenty of guys are getting way more than that though.

I could use 100k and I’m sure that over 82 games even I could get an assist or two. I’d be fine with that money.

DiPietro’s cap hit isn’t crippling though. And as you said, the guy was never that good. The Isles are crap because they have crap ownership and management. NYI could work around him if the wanted, it’s not like if Pitt loses Sid again and possibly forever and get stuck with that mega-contract.

I’m a proponent of ‘pay for current performance’ at every level of professional sports.

Annual base contract with built in incentives for success.
1) You mail it in – enjoy the base
2) You get injured – enjoy the base and free health care, hope your team does well.
3) Individual success/stats – enjoy some $
4) Team success – progressive incentive per level of playoffs reached – enjoy even more $$
5) Team Wins Stanley Cup – enjoy the MOST $$$

In a capitalistic society, people will perform at a higher level when there is perennial ‘URGENCY’ – Anticipation of gain/fear of loss and less comfort.

You want the best every year? Nobody relaxes – Keep the HEAT ON.

Seriously, how do the NHL, NFL, MLB, and NBA NOT get that?

I know as an Albertan, that many people here will be supremely outraged, if the Oilers don’t sign Hall, Eberle, Nuge and Yakupov to long-term contracts so that they can play the majority of their career as Oilers. You have talent, you don’t want to lose it. Nobody here wants to watch anyone of them pull a Suter/ZP and walk away from Edmonton with nothing in return.

Take Ovechkin for example. Some will point to last season and say “See, Washington shouldn’t have given him that big contract with the big cap hit”. Yet it was just one year, and the guy still scored 38 goals in a “horrible season”. If he was an UFA this summer, he would still be offered just as big of a contract by pretty much every team in the NHL. Now if his production continues to fall till the end of his deal, THEN you can turn around and trash talk it.

The only deal on this list that you can say right now was down right bad, is Rick DiPietro. He was never really good enough to warrent the contract the Islanders gave him. All the other guys on this list were worth the risk based on their ability…. DiPietro wasn’t. Throw in a rapid decline in his ability, and a mountain of injuries and his contract looks REALLY bad.

Keith
Lungo
Quick
Carter
Franzen
Kovy
Suter
Parise