How about this? We increase the minimum player salary from the current 100K to 500K. No one plays for 100K any more. This change would not just parallel reality, it would force teams to consider how much they are willing to spend on that upper tier guy because they have to spend a realistic amount at the bottom of their roster. We could even go so far as to increase the amount of rookie salaries to a realistic amount. Our #1 overall player gets $1.5 mil per year. Real life overall #1 from last year, Jameis Winston, got $25+ mil guaranteed with a 16+ mil signing bonus for 4 years. Now I'm not saying we should give our overall #1 that kind of salary, but I think you'd have to agree rookies are tremendous bargains in this league.
This is just in the lines of thinking out loud, and I'd have to do some more thinking about the actual implementation of any salary changes. My initial reaction is if we raise the minimum salary we would grandfather any players signed for less than the new league minimum until their current contract runs out, similar to what we did with guys signed to $10 mil max. contracts when that rule was eliminated. I would be open to ideas for the implementation, but grandfathering seems to be the easiest and most fair solution. But I'd really like to see at least the minimum salary raised.
It is hard to compare KRFL player salaries to NFL player salaries. The KRFL salary cap is $83-$93mil. That is significantly lower than NFL team salaries (in 2015 the lowest team cash salary was Detroit at $117 mil and the highest was Buffalo at $168 mil. (Source http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cash/2015/). And the average 2015 NFL team salary cap was about $150 mil. (Source https://www.nflpa.com/news/all-news/2015-nfl-salary-cap-and-adjusted-team-positions). So I would say that on average, KRFL salaries are about 50% of NFL player average salaries.
So..... "Just thinking out loud as well", if KRFL salaries are about 50% of NFL salaries, what about raising the minimum KRFL first year player salary to $200,000 (now $100,000) and raising the minimum free agent player salary to maybe $400,000 or the $500,000 Dan suggested? Unfortunately the NFL does not "slot" player salaries for players drafted like other leagues do. But if we were to also double the minimum salary of a drafted player from $100,000 to $200,000, perhaps we double all the salaries of draft players. Then the first 12 players drafted would all have starting salaries at or above $2.0mil (the first four picks would have salaries of $3.0mil)?
Gotta think about this a little more before I am sure this makes sense.
Hmmmmmmm.....gotta think through this some more and see the feedback/comments of others.
how about eliminating the $100,000 and making the $300,000 the minimum....
this should not be a major burden.... for example, 10 players @ $100,000 = $1,000,000 those 10 players become 10 @ $300,000 = $3,000,000; that is merely $2 mil more which can be offset by 1 less player making $2,000,000
I could go with $300k and doubling the rookie salaries (I prefer baby steps in making rule changes). The big issue is making sure there are enough rounds in the FA at the mid-salary range to fill the roster. Maybe we should add a 3 round $6m tier and/or expand the $1m and $500k tiers to seven rounds.
Current Rule 14.1 - A player's initial salary is determined by the manner in which the player was acquired. Players acquired through the Free Agent draft are assigned an option year salary as follows: Round 1: $10 million Rounds 2-3: $7.5 million Rounds 4-6: $5 million Rounds 7-9: $4 million Rounds 10-12: $3 million Rounds 13-17: $2 million Rounds 18-22: $1 million Rounds 23-27: $500K Rounds 28-32: $300K Rounds 33-50: $100K
14.2 - Players acquired through the rookie draft are assigned an option year salary as follows:
14.1 - A player's initial salary is determined by the manner in which the player was acquired. Players acquired through the Free Agent draft are assigned an option year salary as follows: Round 1: $10 million Rounds 2-3: $7.5 million Rounds 4-5: $6 million Rounds 6-8: $5 million Rounds 9-11: $4 million Rounds 12-16: $3 million Rounds 17-23: $1 million Rounds 24-30: $500K Rounds 31-45: $300K
14.2 - Players acquired through the rookie draft are assigned an option year salary as follows:
The league minimum salary is raised to $300k, which impacts both Free Agent and Rookie pay scales. An additional two $6 million dollar rounds are inserted into the Free Agent draft. The $1 million and $500k rounds are increased to seven each in the Free Agent draft. Rookie picks from rounds four to seven are all worth the league minimum $300k.
The KRFL salary structure is unique and I am reluctant to tinker with it, especially considering other discussions concerning in-season trading and potential reduction of the in-season salary cap. However, I thought it was worth considering given the discussion in this thread. Retaining the current off-season $83 million salary cap while increasing the league minimum salary would mean less money available for higher priced players. The inclusion of the two $6 million dollar rounds creates an interesting choice for owners who would traditionally wait until the $5 million dollar round to select a player. Raising the league minimum salary raises the floor on team wages.
As a member I think I generally favor Atlanta-Mark's idea. As the guy who has to administer the draft, I hate it because their would be more draft rounds and extra work for me. ;>) I do think we should keep the $2.0 millions rounds of the free agent draft however rather than eliminate them. And I would consider increasing the salaries of the first 8-12 picks in the rookie draft a bit ($250-$500K).
I also think this should be implemented for the 2017 season not 2016 to give teams a year to digest the impact of this on their rosters.
My mistake for omitting the $2 million dollar Free Agent rounds. I'll have to rework that. I agree this proposal should be considered for implementation in 2017.
