|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Clash of the titans Bowlen, Davis provide interesting end to NFL meetings
Posted: Friday May 26, 2000 07:35 AM
BALTIMORE -- The war between the Broncos and Oakland owner Al Davis is never dormant for very long. And it exploded again Wednesday as the NFL meetings came to a close here in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Davis is accusing the Broncos of violating the NFL's salary cap. He referred to the Broncos as having "violated every conscionable [cap] rule we have." And he called for the NFL to deal with Denver, in his words, "decisively and severely." At the root of his beef, apparently, is the NFL's recent finding that the Broncos set aside a fund to cover $15 million in deferred contract payments -- including backloaded money for running back Terrell Davis. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue acknowledged that the Broncos would be sanctioned by the league for not funding the contracts properly, but he insisted this wasn't a cap violation. The Broncos' reaction to Davis's challenge? Owner Pat Bowlen told me through clenched teeth: "That's Al's excuse for the fact he hasn't been able to beat us. We have never violated the cap."
Two more to the mixWhen the new Houston franchise takes the field in 2002 as the league's 32nd team, look for the playoffs to expand as well -- from 12 to 14 teams. During a private owners' session here, a show-of-hands vote had 23 of the 32 teams supporting the move. That's just one short of what is needed for passage of the proposal, which will likely be voted on this fall. One interesting piece of this plan: Beginning in 2002, only the team with the best record in each conference would get a bye, leaving six teams in each conference, not four, to play on Wild Card weekend. That means a weekend of day-night triple-headers.
Squeezing every last dollar out of the fansFinally, in one of the worst PR moves of this or any offseason, new Redskins owner Daniel Snyder announced he would charge $10 per person -- plus a $10 parking fee per car -- to attend training camp sessions this summer. The Redskins become the first team to charge fans to watch these mundane practices. What gall. A family of four, with car, will pay $50 to sit in the bleachers and watch Dana Stubblefield do jumping jacks. Up the road at state-of-the-art Camden Yards, a family of four, with car, will pay only $43 to sit in the bleachers and see Cal Ripken hit. Great way to build a fan base, 'Skins. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL for the magazine and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN's NFL Preview.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
