August 11, 2010 – $20 million a year is the benchmark. Of course, there are those that make more, but for those who make a number below it, they strive to get there. For those that are already there, they strive to push the ceiling.

To prevent unfair competition, uncontrolled spending by rich guys and perhaps, the risk of teams going bankrupt, the powers between labor and management in professional sports created caps for spending. In the NHL ($59.4m), NFL ($128m) and the NBA ($58.4m) you have a device called the “salary cap.” In Major League Baseball it’s a “luxury tax” limit ($170m) where teams can exceed the number but have to pay a tax into a pool that is redistributed among the poorer teams.

The NFL allows for 53 players, the NBA 12-15, the NHL 18-20 and MLB allows for 25. Imagine the payrolls if everyone made $20,000,000. So it starts with these fundamentals when considering the ploys of players like Darrelle Revis, the holdout cornerback of the New York Jets, or Ilya Kovalchuk, the federal arbitrator decreed free agent, who was prevented from signing a 17-year, $102 million contract with the New Jersey Devils.

It also helps explain how the Miami Heat could basically get rid of its roster and then sign LeBron James, DeWyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the same week. How Alex Rodriguez can make $25 million a year and rookie quarterback Sam Bradford can make more than Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Peyton Manning, before ever throwing an NFL pass. And it helps to better understand the controversy created by Washington Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth, when he stayed out of preseason drills and was late to training camp after being signed just last year to a $100 million, 7-year deal with $32 million of it guaranteed in the first 13 months and $9 million more guaranteed over the life of the contract.

It may help you better understand, but as Meryl Streep might say, “It’s Complicated.” You see all of these deals are direct products of standards created within each league’s collective bargaining agreement. The NFL and NBA are on the eve of renegotiating their CBAs, and it boils down to labor wanting more and management wanting to pay less.

They both have their cases. ‘The economy is down,’ say the owners. ‘We are being mistreated and taken advantage of,’ say the players. Hard for the fans to understand when they watch the Yankees on TV and the seats on the screen go for $2500 each.

So the Devils followed the rules, and offered to pay Kovulchuk $102 million for his services. Trouble is, the $102 mil was spread out over 17 years. The deal would have paid $95 mil over ten years ($9.5 annually), but only $550,000 over the last five (which adds up to $97,750,000, so the remaining $4,250,000 must be a signing bonus). The way the Devils worked it, was so $6,000,000 was the salary cap figure for 17 years. Arbitrator Richard Bloch said no. Now, Kovulchuk is free to listen again to the Los Angeles Kings, or Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League. The New Jersey Devils say they will provide another offer. This time more to Mr. Bloch’s liking.

So why can’t logic like Richard Bloch’s prevail in all these disputes? What’s the deal with Revis? He’s got a contract he signed in good faith as a rookie in 2007 ($30 million, over six years with $11 million guaranteed) and he’s taken all the guaranteed money out. Now he’s reduced to playing the next two years for about $1 million a year before his “restricted” year which usually means a new contract. He’s become the best cornerback in the NFL and there’s a guy in Oakland (Nnamdi Asomugha) who’s making $15.155 this year and at least, $16.875 next year (if Oakland elects to keep him). Revis wants to be the highest paid corner and wants a dollar more than Asomugha and one of his mentors is Sean Gilbert who sat out a year from the Redskins in a contract dispute.

The Jets on the other hand are known as tough negotiators. They contend that Asomugha’s contract is an aberration, an Al Davis thumb-your-nose albatross that may factor in Asomugha’s local upbringing and extensive community work. Any way you look at it, shut down corners are a rare commodity. So Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum’s tough stance, like he took last year with Leon Washington, who was an out-of-nowhere star, becomes something of a pride issue. “If I give in to one, I’ll be giving in to all.” But Tannenbaum needs a lesson in common sense. Does he want to win? Does he want Revis to go elsewhere? Does he want to wait for another shutdown guy who you can anchor a defense upon to come along?

There are rumblings of how the Jets have offered $12 to $13 million and posed a deal worth $100 million. But the thing about NFL contracts is the guaranteed money. There’s nothing more one-sided to NFL management than the long-term contract. Play poorly or get hurt and the contract seems to go away. Play well and ask for more, then you’ve got a problem.

Richard Bloch would probably average the top corners other than Asomugha and come up with a number. Revis should work on the guaranteed dough and give up the ego-oriented “I need to be number one” stance. Tannebaum should look at the averages. He has a 25-year old corner, likely to be solid for seven more years. Champ Bailey ($9 million) is 32 and still holding his own. Charles Woodson ($7.5 million) was Defensive player of the Year last season and is 34. At some point, this is a silly dispute and someone should ask, “Can’t we just all get along?”