Really interesting read. Not sure how I feel one way or another about this but it could send a bad precedent and I think the league should address this like the NBA does. It certainly seems like there is the ability for abuse even if there is nothing bad going on now.
Don’t worry ltj im not picking on brady! Wouldn’t shock me if it were any big contract player in the league and there isn’t enough info about whats going on to make an informed decision. Certainly raises some questions and the NFL should probably take a stance on it.
TLDR - Tom Brady and Alex Guerrero are partners in a business, named “TB12 Sports Therapy Center”. The Patriots send their players there and pay $200/hr. Tom Brady, being a partner in the business, collects his portion of the net profit.
The article suggests that this is a loophole which allows the Patriots to funnel money to Brady, thus getting around the salary cap. Apparently the NFL is aware of it, and doesn’t think that it’s a rule violation.
Nice summary, also note the NBA has a rule prohibiting teams from making side contracts with businesses where a current player has an ownership interest. Again it’s entirely possible there is nothing shady here, they like the set up and it just so happens brady is involved. It just leaves open some wiggle room where teams may be able to sneak around some rules.
Peyton Manning also has an ownership interest in Papa John’s, and it’s the official pizza of the NFL. I don’t know if it has a relationship with the Broncos or not.
And I am all for disallowing that as well (until he hangs them up finally, because god he was bad)
The NFL should have power to nix deals like that or should not make contracts with businesses like that. I remember reading something Peyton said about legalizing pot in Colorado was going to help his Papa Johns stores which made me chuckle though.
It seems like many NFL players (the ones who are not idiots anyway) probably have interests in businesses including sports related ones. Maybe best practice would be to prevent players from the same team from using businesses where one player has some percentage of ownership interest. However, there is a big area between “best practice” and “probably ok”.
Maybe somebody can answer this–how much of a superstar’s (Manning, Brady, Rogers, JJ Watt) income actually comes from his salary? I would imagine that the amount they get from Nike and Under Armour and Campbell’s Soup and Gatorade probably actually dwarfs their salary. (Depending on the person, that is. Not a lot of long snappers headlining the billion dollar endorsements.)
Sounds similar to every other healthcare fraud in America. Why should NFL players be prevented from committing the same type of self dealing fraud that non-NFL players pursue on a daily basis? I would find it compeltely un-American to prevent one group of people from pursuing the American dream of ripping other people off via our crooked healthcare system.
" That said, it’s still borderline and sketchy, which as we all know, is standard operating procedure for the Patriots. Perhaps this partially explains why Brady was so willing to take less money in his last contract in what was widely considered to be a very team-friendly deal."
The economist (and the fan) in me thinks this is a huge loophole. Plenty of side deals to work if you want to. I am sure every club will now do just that.
Too funny. The smart ones have interests in business, as in private interest?..It’s the rare few that don’t get taken to the cleaners. Most should put their money in a mixed vanguard fund and be done with it. Study or find a hobby when you’re done. Raise a family and live happily ever after. The usual alternative is the poor house. And if a system can be abused, it will and is being abused. As certain as death and taxes.
It’s a salary cap issue. Brady has been a great team player in the sense he’s taken pay cuts and restructured his contract numerous times so the Pats could sign and retain key players. If he’s receiving income from the club outside of his contract, New England is in violation of salary cap rules.
The issue itself is a very big deal. This particular instance, not so much.
Agreed stl, i don’t particularity care what happens with this particular situation, I’d just like to see the league address it before it becomes a thing.
if it were any other entity that does a billion dollars in revenue every week, I’d say there has to be some sort of written policy addressing these situations. but it’s the NFL so who knows.
Back in the early 2000’s when Dick Vermeil was the Chiefs coach, he’d give out bottles of wine from his vineyard to players. Word got out and even though the bottles only retailed for something like $150, it had to be applied to the cap.
