John Flyers Fan said:
The question can't just be, "Will we play under a cap" ... it's all about the numbers and how it would be implemented.
The players would sign right now for a Hard cap of $60 million ... or 65%. Just like the owners would sign for a luxury tax proposal that was
$30 million -- 100%
$35 million -- 150%
$40 million -- 200%
Maybe, maybe not.
I see no reason to believe the players would sign on to a hard cap of ANYTHING. ($60M would cause at least 4 teams to cut payroll, so why that number?). From day one they've said they won't and they've acted as if they won't. They wouldn't even negotiate off the "trigger" idea because it MIGHT lead to a cap ... what more do you need to know?
The only possible reason to believe that they would is the echo chamber of the internet, 24-hour sports talk radio, and message boards that give an unreasonable feel of new proposals, secret meetings, and changed philosophies bubbling up just under the surface ... and the pressure on newspapers to publish the things in those new media that SEEM reasonable. One bogus rumor starts and spreads like wildfire.
I posted about a month ago when the Linden talks got going, the same thing and I still don't see any real evidence that the players will accept a cap.
We're all proficient to a degree at new media, and we follow the stories closely, but to people who read only reputable daily newspapers and not the echo chamber, the story is simple and it hasn't changed: The owners want a salary cap, the players aren't going to take one. They tried changing the negotiators, they tried US mediators, they tried trial balloons through reporters, but nothing changed these irreconcilable positions.
Wish it weren't that way, but it is.