Joe Gibbs coming up on the NFL Network

Just sent the letter....thanks for the link Joe C.

Yeah, I have regular expanded basic (non-digital) cable with Comcast, but it includes the Speed channel ??? I'm not really into racing at all, so I think they should at least give a choice of sports networks...

It occurs to me that the NFL Network will receive more respect from cable companies after they are on for a full season. The cable companies aren't going to shell out money and bandwidth for a channel with no history - especially one that focuses on a sport during its offseason. There will be more action on the NFL Network once the season rolls around, and fans realize that they are missing out on information and action. Right now, the people demanding the NFL Network are fringe whack-jobs like you and me.

I think Comcast is still bitter with the NFL that they didn't get the Sunday Ticket so they're probably in no rush to add the NFL Network

I didnt know they were in the biddign for it. I guess it makes sense that they would have been, they do have billions of dollars. I just always figured it was between Dish Networks and Direct TV because people always talk about which satelite to get based on NFL Sunday Ticket. Plus cable is a pretty local thing, every part of the country has a different provider, so the NFL would really be narrowing their market to only have it where there is comcast. Atleast with the satelites anyone in the country could get it.

It's not one particular cable company or another that would have NFL Sunday Ticket if they won the bid-- it would be all or nothing. In the bidding war for NFL Sunday Ticket, the cable companies are represented by the pay-per-view company "IN Demand"-- which is collectively owned by cable giants Comcast, AOL Time Warner, Advance/Newhouse Communications and Cox Communications. "IN Demand" is the same company that provides pay-per-view movie services on cable, as well as the full-season packages for NASCAR, NHL, NBA and MLB.

DirecTV had to pony up around $2 billion to win the bidding war against IN Demand for the rights to carry the NFL package. That deal makes them the exclusive satellite provider of the package through 2007, but the cable companies can re-enter the picture in 2005, when the exclusive multi-channel rights expire.

Not coincidentally, the NFL's current deals with FOX and CBS also expire in 2005. Those deals with FOX and CBS stated that the sale of NFL games to digital cable companies like IN Demand would require approval from both FOX and CBS.

So basically, the NFL is free to explore the possibility of selling games to digital cable again in 2005. Due to the rapidly escalating cost of purchasing the rights to NFL games, it's quite possible that the broadcast networks (FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC) would bail out of the bidding-- and that would pave the way for digital pay-per-view (in the form of IN Demand and the cable companies that own it) to make free broadcast NFL games a thing of the past.

A lot of people say when the league makes the new contracts in 05, that the cap will be increased by a bunch. Do you think this is true? Yes the owners would receive more money, but I cant see them making a larger than normal increase, it would kinda screw with everyones caps, making it unfair. Which would be fine for the Skins, they have everythign backloaded anyways, but I think the league wants Snyder to have to deal with cap hell for all his trades ,and not get him off the hook..

Yes, I would expect a good bump in the cap, because the new contracts should drive the revenues up suddenly. Their agreement with the player association has a formula that calculates the cap from revenues, I believe.

I moved to Alabama in 1992 after 50 years in the DC area as a Redskin fan. I am SO glad Sunday Ticket came available soon after (around 1995?). I have not missed a Redskin game since. I also run a large fantasy football service, and play a lot of fantasy football. Let me tell you, the new NFL channel is GREAT. They have constantly rotating team stats during the games, and are always displaying the next 6 or 8 teams that will rotate in, so you know about when to check back to see the stats you want to check out. It makes it great to switch from the games to the NFL channel to check out stats. These 2 features make DSS worth all of the price for the full year!!

The salary cap is defined in the CBA as a percentage of the annual league-wide net Defined Gross Revenues (or "DGR"). The percentages for the remaining years of the CBA are as follows:

2004: 64.75%
2005: 65.5%
2006: 64.5%

However, if they provide written notice on or before December 1, 2004, the NFL or the NFLPA can move one half of a percentage point from 2005 to 2006, so that the percentage for both years is 65%. As it stands now, the 2005 League Year has the highest percentage of net DGR allocated to the Salary Cap of any year since the CBA's inception.

Here's a look at how DGR increased from 1995 through 2002 (I don't have the official number for 2003):


Year DGR Percent Change
1995 $2,002,000,000 -


1996 $2,168,000,000 8.3

1997 $2,286,000,000 5.4

1998 $2,813,000,000 23.1


1999 $3,185,000,000 13.2

2000 $3,513,000,000 10.3

2001 $3,771,000,000 7.3

2002 $4,277,000,000 13.4


As you can see, the percentage increase in DGR can vary pretty wildly from year to year. But clearly, the percentage jump from 1997 to 1998 (23.1%) was extraordinary, and that mind-boggling leap was due to the current $17.6 billion TV contract the NFL signed with FOX, CBS and ABC/ESPN in January of 1998. From 1997 to 1998, the salary cap made a nearly $11 million jump, from $41.450 million to $52.388 million. Compare that to the average annual increase of $4-5 million since 1998, and it's clear that a new TV contract can have a huge impact on the salary cap.


So, when you combine the impact of the highest net DGR percentage of the CBA in 2005, and the impact of a new TV deal, the salary cap certainly could take another 1998-like jump in 2005.

Im very impressed with all of that information, thanks for doing the research. Mabye Snyder is smarter then I give him credit and we wont have to cut all of our team in two years...

Maybe Snyder is smarter then I give him credit and we wont have to cut all of our team in two years...The possible salary cap jump in 2005 is definitely something to consider when evaluating the way the Redskins FO has structured their players' contracts. Sure, there are some huge cap numbers on the roster for 2005 and beyond, but if the cap makes another $10+ million jump like it did in 1998, the Redskins might not be in as bad a shape as some like to predict.

As far as limiting the cap increase, the only way that could be done is if the NFL or NFLPA decide to shift one half of a percentage point from 2005 to 2006, which would drop the 2005 cap allocation from 65.5% to 65% of the DGR. Otherwise, the league must set the cap based on that pre-determined percentage of the DGR. It can't arbitrarily decide to limit the cap increase simply because Dan Snyder has been a more aggressive spender than some owners would like. You can rest assured that the NFLPA is going to do everything it can to ensure that the cap is as high as possible; it was, after all, the NFLPA that was responsible for uncovering the extra $2+ million in cap space for League Year 2004, by discovering additional sources of revenue that had previously not been counted towards the league-wide DGR.

Besides, the Redskins aren't the only team that could potentially be in "cap hell" if the cap doesn't make a significant jump over the next couple of years.