Yesterday, even as the governors of the Canadian Football League were fighting a death match over a proposed salary cap, a fine example was provided of why it's a tricky business trying to tell owners how much they can or should spend.
Of course what was taking place in Phoenix wasn't just about money. It was about power and the commissioner and personal agendas and old-fashioned bully-boy politicking. The cap was merely a flash point, and an excuse to grind some familiar axes.
With the CFL adopting a $3.8-million cap on each team's payroll yesterday, it's now going to have to somehow take into account all kinds of local peculiarities, specific franchise needs, and the false economy created by forcing every club to employ a quota of Canadians.
Consider the case of Brock Ralph, who the Hamilton Tiger-Cats proudly introduced yesterday, fresh from signing a new contract for two years plus an option.
Talk about the catbird seat. Ralph, a slotback from Raymond, Alta., who played his college ball at Wyoming, came to the Ticats last year as part of the controversial mid-season deal that sent running back Troy Davis to the Edmonton Eskimos.
Ralph has significant value in any CFL circumstance because he's a very talented Canadian who can excel in a skill position.
Since Ralph had played out the final year of his contract, he would become eligible to sign with any other CFL team on Feb. 15. After he was dealt to Hamilton, it was widely assumed that because he's from Alberta, and because his brother, Brett, plays for the Calgary Stampeders, he would play out the string with the 'Cats and then sign with the Stamps, to be closer to hearth and home.
That put Hamilton general manager Rob Katz in a difficult spot. Ralph would obviously be a fine addition for a team that's coming off a disappointing 5-13 season. Playing in Edmonton, he had worked well with Jason Maas, the Tiger-Cats' new quarterback.
Plus the fans, who continued to turn out in large numbers even as the 'Cats were losing big in 2005, needed to be sent a couple of messages: One, that the Davis deal (even if in the end it was tied to acquisition of Maas) wasn't as terrible as it might at first have appeared. Two, that the team is absolutely committed to winning and winning now.
Both are especially important because when Bob Young took over ownership of the then-bankrupt franchise, and was greeted with a groundswell of goodwill and community support, he sold new season-ticket holders on the idea of putting up their money for three full years.
This coming season will be the last of those. Not everyone who anted up was a hardcore football fan, and not much of anyone, you'd have to figure, was satisfied with what they watched last year. So maintaining faith in the organization is crucial.
A significant erosion of that consumer base might well send the Tiger-Cats back into the same kind of desperate spiral so familiar in the CFL. Young has already invested plenty in the product, in the stadium, and in assembling a first-rate front office. Nickel and diming on a player contract would seem foolish if it went any way toward imperilling his larger business plan.
Add all of that up, and what's Brock Ralph worth to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats?
Plenty. Enough that Katz no doubt overpaid to keep him, at least when compared to others of his nationality and his position.But what if, as will certainly happen, a franchise is forced to decide between making this kind of signing, and obeying the rules? What if the choice was between cheating, finding a way to pass on under-the-table compensation, or letting a player walk away, understanding the damage that would be done?
So this salary cap, if it's to have the desired, stabilizing effect, is somehow going to have to allow space for the idiosyncrasies. Otherwise, it could do more harm than good.