I'm sure many of you have read the report from Adam Teicher in Wednesday morning's Kansas City Star. He writes that, in the event of a lockout, Kansas City Chiefs employees will be subject to a salary reduction and that includes head honchos like GM Scott Pioli, head coach Todd Haley and president Mark Donovan. The Associated Press has since confirmed the report.
Check out Teicher's report for all the details but a few of the keys are that the salary reduction would be tiered so that the highest salaried folks -- likely Pioli and Haley -- would receive the highest reduction, no one will be laid off and the money will be paid back if there is a full 2011 season (it's unclear if "full" includes preseason). The average reduction will be less than 10 percent.
Where does this rank in the league? We have no way of compiling all that information from the teams but Larry Keenan, executive director of the NFL Coaches Association, told Bob Gretz of BobGretz.com last week that it's expected to be "among the most massive cuts in the league."
Why would the Chiefs need to cut money? Truthfully, I don't have any real insight into the Chiefs financial situation. They haven't built a new stadium recently, like Jerry Jones in Dallas, but the Hunt family reportedly paid $125 million of the $375 million renovations to Arrowhead Stadium. Those are payments they may not normally have, so that's something to think about.
That folks could be losing quite a bit of money is reason enough for Clark Hunt, representing the owners on the labor committee, and Mike Vrabel, representing the players on the NFLPA executive committee, to do what it takes to get a deal done. If a deal isn't done, and employees that have no control over a lockout are hurt because of it, we are going to blame both sides.
I'd imagine some folks inside One Arrowhead Drive are thinking the same thing -- just get a deal done.