I think the biggest thing this whole Paul trade fiasco proves is that when faced with the choice of fixing the small market/large market structural issues (by increasing revenue sharing, creating an NFL-style franchise player system, or instituting a hard cap) or papering over them by just trying to get more money from the players, the small market teams opted for the latter.

At this point, I think it’s fair to say that if competitive balance were really the issue, they would have been much better off giving the players more than 50% in return for stricter payroll limits and a franchising system — but still not sure if they really wanted that over pure $$$.

I just wish this had all gone down BEFORE the players ratified the deal. Would have been pretty damn interesting to see if this would have put things in limbo…

Posted by Mike in Front Office