Today’s news that the NFL’s salary cap has skyrocketed to $255.4 million per team comes at a time when the NFL is still trying to save money by shrinking the Big Shield employee payroll.
As reported in early January by Sports Business Journal, the league offered 200 employees a buyout package, with an expiration date of late February.
Late February is arriving. If not enough employees choose to go, the next step will be to involuntary reduce the workforce. At a time when the NFL is making more money than ever before.
Yeah, sure, every business can be more efficient. Every business can cut costs. For the NFL, however, there’s no effort needed to make ends meets. As Eddie Murphy once said, “The ends are meeting like a mutherf—ker.”
That’s not keeping the NFL from trying to nudge to the curb people who have been good and loyal employees, by enticing them to take free money to walk away. Those who are eventually terminated likely will get a similar offer, in exchange for a waiver of their legal rights.
Regardless, this isn’t the kind of thing that successful businesses who pay their chief executive something well north of $60 million per year should do. The roster of employees, as previously constituted, should be sufficient without cutting plenty of them loose and, in turn, expecting others to pick up the slack.
Until it’s time for them to go, too.
