A backdrop to the most recent meetings between the league and players’ union, which took place before Commissioner Roger Goodell and union boss DeMaurice Smith jetted off to London, was the Brad Biggs NFP story on Oct. 22, which asked if Jerry Jones is short on cash. Jones was paying out less in committed cash in 2009 than 30 other teams, with a $93.5-million figure. Readers correctly chimed in that even Jones has had to readjust spending to recover from previous years’ “cash-over-cap” expenditures on signing bonuses, which allow a team to exceed the salary cap in real dollars spent. Jones then broke the bank for DeMarcus Ware this week with a $40-million guaranteed contract, showing he is still willing to spend and has now made a huge bet on Ware staying healthy and being productive. If Ware doesn’t produce, even Jones may not have the ability to replace him.

Jerry JonesAPCowboys owner Jerry Jones is betting that DeMarcus Ware pays big dividends.

Several more readers said Jones is “house poor,” a term I remember from my youth, which describes people who build or buy expensive homes and find that their standard of living can’t be sustained under the burden of their new mortgage. It was a term that lost its place in our vocabulary when the housing boom of the 1990s saw home values soar and people began using their homes as ATMs, using money borrowed against appreciation to actually fund their lavish lifestyles. It may have found its way back into our vocabulary, but it certainly has new relevance for the owners of franchises that are building or have just completed expensive new stadiums. That some teams are “house poor” is perhaps the single biggest reason other owners aren’t looking at 2010 -- the “uncapped year” -- as a threat but as an opportunity. The opportunity of an “unfloored year.”

The primary reason owners agreed to the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement was that it protected them from themselves, or at least those among them who had big piles of cash and were willing to spend it. By extending the CBA in 2006, the owners avoided a coming uncapped year and the very real threat of several owners ready to blow the roof off the then $80-million-per-team salary cap. In 2006, Jones, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, Giants owner John Mara, Jets owner Woody Johnson, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and Patriots owner Robert Kraft all looked ready to spend freely, each seeking to become the George Steinbrenner of their sport, if the restraints were removed.

The late Gene Upshaw used the fear of these owners to get other owners to agree to a very player-friendly system of salary-cap calculation, and the net impact has been that the cap has jumped from $80 million to $128 million in five seasons with very little increase in real revenue to support it. The cap represents pooled revenue, and the problem now is that 20 percent of the teams earn 80 percent of the total revenue. Right now, the majority of teams are struggling just to be near the cap and keep their heads above water, and the presence of a salary floor makes these rising costs everybody’s problem. Imagine a pool where the water keeps rising. Getting rid of the salary floor now is like pulling the plug.

Daniel SnyderAPWill Daniel Snyder ever make cost-cutting a priority?

The economic landscape of 2009 is radically different than it was in 2006. The recession has made cost-cutting more important than ever. Even the free spenders are impacted. The Cowboys, Jets and Giants all have huge new stadium mortgages to carry, and none of them has a dime of naming rights money. Each figured on tens of millions annually for their naming rights, but there were no takers. So the Cowboys, Jets and Giants all figure to be house poor for the next several years. Bowlen is paying two of head coaches, including one who built the world’s largest house and is currently getting paid for staying in it. Finally, Kraft became a winner because Bill Belichick’s lasting contribution to the game is how to coach a roster of cheaper parts to Super Bowls, so he may not even feel compelled to overspend.

That leaves only one owner the other 25 or so fear will overspend -- Daniel Snyder of the Redskins -- and he’s been doing it, with nothing to show. So we may be witnessing the death of salary caps in all sports. This is the last season that has one in football, and the players want to maintain it, not the owners. Instead, look for the majority of owners to want to get under the current floor and back into the $80-90 million range, not fearing that a contingent of other owners might push the envelope to the $150-million range.

It’s simple. Many of the possible big spenders now are “house poor,” and the best lesson of the cap era is that you can be competitive with smarter, not more, spending. Sure, Jerry Jones will spend money on a DeMarcus Ware, but with that new mortgage even he must be careful how he spends. So we may be seeing a dramatic change in the landscape, and 2010, rather than being the uncapped year, may be known as the unfloored year.