The Other Winner from Sunday -- NFL Parity

[HoustonRaven]

Imagine for a second that the players got everything they wanted 10 years ago, essentially handing them an MLB style of compensation.

Does anyone think we would then see the Saints hoisting the Lombardy trophy this Sunday?

Not me. With the Saints being toward the bottom of the NFL food chain (ranked 22nd in value according to Forbes), they would have never been able to keep up in an MLB-type compensation system. Had it not been for the current set up in the league, we would have never seen the "Aint's" become the Saints.

This win, in addition to being self-satisfactory, was a reaffirmation why the owners must do everything in their power to oppose the moves the players are trying to force down their throats.

[RAVENOUS52]

And that is why MLB is a joke, while the NFL remains the most popular and financially lucrative sports league in America.

[Jeremiah W]

Why would NFL football without a cap be different than it was before it had one?

MLB is nothing like football, but eventhere money only buys you a playoff spot not a world series. The Skanks won the first one in a while.

College football is what no cap NFL football could look like, only there would be playoffs and not debates about who was the best.

There are too many good players coming out every year to drastically affect parity if you keep the same amount of teams and roster spots.

Some guys did a very deep study about the myth that parity was suddenly created by the cap. They proved there is a very little difference in the average wins and change in playoff teams year to year pre and post.

[Greg]

Uh, Jeremiah, I am guessing you aren't that old.

While there was no cap in the 70s (and before) there also was no free agency. The NFL managed to get a cap around the time free agency was brought in. They also had revenue sharing back to the original national network TV contracts keeping team revenues relatively close (well before free agency). When free agency hit MLB with no cap and there was no revenue sharing there was still about 10-12 years of competitiveness across MLB. But eventually it became what it is now, with 6-8 teams using the rest as a farm system.

College football is absolutely no comparison, as the players are not paid, at least not on a level that others can't meet. And only a few players are financially compensated.