Quote:
Originally Posted by opendoor
I don't think the reason for the hate for escrow is all that complicated. The mechanism by which the upper limit is calculated combined with the NHLPA inflator that they keep using makes it so the cap rises faster than revenues. The result of this is that players with existing contracts are effectively giving up part of their salary to subsidize players who sign bigger new deals under the inflated cap levels. And the means by which they lose that money is increased escrow payments, hence the hate for the current setup.
That said, if the players felt so strongly about this they shouldn't have pumped the cap up by using their 5% escalator every year. Though it looks like they've finally learned their lesson the past couple of years.
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Existing contracts aren't subsidizing new, inflated contracts - all contracts are adjusted pro-rata. So the largest (new) contracts take the biggest hit. But all players share the adjustment at the same percentage.
The problem, as you pointed out, is the escalator, which pushes contracts up at a rate that is faster than HRR growth. This results in new contracts getting disproportionately high raises. It is also help feeding the trend towards the top players getting a larger and larger portion of HRR.
And, as you also pointed out, it is the players that drive the escalator.
The players are not victims here. It is a system that guarantees that they receive exactly 50% of HRR. The players are frustrated by the
execution of the system, but it is the players' own actions (more accurately, their agents and leaders) that cause those frustrations.