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Published on 05/15/2008 at Thu May 15 06:00.
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[Mike Shanahan and John Elway]

Really? This again? Any Broncos fan who’s been surfing for news around the recent Spygate meetings between former Partiots employee Matt Walsh and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has undoubtedly heard a resonating theme: The Denver Broncos cheated too.

Yes, fans, the Denver Broncos cheated the salary cap. But not the way so many think. Take a closer look – even a minor, inch-deep look beyond the surface – and you’ll see the salary cap infringements were a mere technicality. And it’s the type of thing that still goes on around the NFL every year, for every team.

John Elway and Terrell Davis accepted deferred payments in those seasons (1996-1998), “deferred” of course meaning “delayed or put off.” The money they were owed wasn’t to be paid until later, with interest. In fact, the now-infamous Washington Post article (linked above) made it clear that this WAS NOT intended to circumvent the salary cap in order to get better players or avoid cutting anyone, but in order to help the Broncos organization during a money-tight period while the new stadium was being built.

“These agreements were plainly designed to help the club cope with seasonal cash flow problems exacerbated by the Broncos’ need to fund front-end expenditures associated with development of the new stadium in Denver.”

The Broncos had to put up around $100 million toward the new stadium, and that was a struggle for the franchise. They basically went into The Bank of Elway and Davis and took out a loan. They weren’t trying to squeeze cap room for their championship run. By all accounts, that money still counted against the cap. They weren’t trying to cheat the sport itself.

Is this so dissimilar to contract restructures we hear about all the time? Every year you’ll hear about players “converting roster bonus into signing bonus.” These moneys that were owed the players in that year then spread out over the life of the contract. Kinda like a deferred payment, don’t you think?

Some members of the organization cheated the system – none of those people were still with the team just a few years later. The Broncos organization as a whole received pretty stiff financial and draft penalties (losing a 3rd round draft pick and nearly $2 million).

What the Patriots are dealing with is so much more substantial to the credibility of their Super Bowl championships. They broke league rules that directly related to the sport itself, not the business back end. What’s more, it’s beginning to appear the Bill Bellichick knew they were breaking the rules from the start.

So were the Broncos cheaters? No. Did they break league rules regarding player payment? Yes, members of the organization did, unbeknownst to Pat Bowlen and Mike Shanahan. And then those employees got canned. Connecting Spygate to the Broncos cap issues is as ridiculous as it comes.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    Bravo Kyle, bravo. This article reads like a rag.

  • http://mrherculesrockefeller.blogspot.com/ hercules rockefeller

    I love how everyone always forgets that the 49ers got busted for even more egregious salary cap circumvention.

    It’s always “ooh, the Broncos are such chop-blocking, salary cap cheaters.”

    http://www.boulderpublishing.com/sports/football/a382023a.shtml

  • moon

    “So were the Broncos cheaters? No. Did they break league rules regarding player payment? Yes”

    Dude, breaking the rules is cheating….hate to tell you.

  • azbronco7

    moon, he’s trying to say that the Broncos didn’t break any rules that pertain to football. and they didnt.

    Thanks for clearing all this up guys, i’ve always been confused about what really happened. “The Bank of Elway and Davis…” wish I could hit that up some time hehehe

  • http://na cutlerfan

    Didn’t break any rules that pertain to football? How about keeping players like Davis and Elway instead of having to let them walk because you couldn’t pay them enough. The salary cap is in place to help keep a level playing field, bypassing the system gives you an unfair advantage that translates to the playing field.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    They didn’t bypass the salary cap. All player salaries still counted against the cap. They bypassed the rule that you have to pay a player right away. All moneys still counted against the cap for that season.

  • HateCutler

    Just saying “Bronco’s” leaves a bad taste my my mouth. Yuck

  • jibbons

    cutlerhater, thats not the taste of the broncos, just the flavor of al davis’ semen, if you don’t like it, stop being a raider fan

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GPEMROFIZKNC6W2ANZJYJP4G5Q WhateverIWant

    You break the salary cap, you cheated plain and simple. An Australian rugby team did the same thing and instead of losing two 4th round draft picks, they were stripped of their titles and prize money. In my mind, those 2 Superbowl wins have a HUGE ASTERISK by them.  Sorry Bronco fans, but you're still losers, hate to burst your bubble.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GPEMROFIZKNC6W2ANZJYJP4G5Q WhateverIWant

    There's a precedent in sports from around the world about this, read and weep: 
     
      http://deadspin.com/5522008/au… 

    The rugby team only broke it by 1.7 million Aussie dollars and were stripped of their titles; the Broncos broke it by 29 million U.S. dollars and penalized only one 3rd round draft pick and a fine of $950,000????? Something's wrong here

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GPEMROFIZKNC6W2ANZJYJP4G5Q WhateverIWant

    You break the salary cap, you cheated plain and simple. An Australian rugby team did the same thing and instead of losing two 4th round draft picks, they were stripped of their titles and prize money. In my mind, those 2 Superbowl wins have a HUGE ASTERISK by them.  Sorry Bronco fans, but you're still losers, hate to burst your bubble.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GPEMROFIZKNC6W2ANZJYJP4G5Q WhateverIWant

    There's a precedent in sports from around the world about this, read and weep: 
     
      http://deadspin.com/5522008/au… 

    The rugby team only broke it by 1.7 million Aussie dollars and were stripped of their titles; the Broncos broke it by 29 million U.S. dollars and penalized only one 3rd round draft pick and a fine of $950,000????? Something's wrong here

  • Evan

    ok retard…what part of “the money still counted under the cap don’t you get”? Bc they were paying for the new stadium, they basically gave Elway and Davis IOU’s that still counted towards the cap…

  • Evan

    they did not break the salary cap moron

  • JohnnySpiesGays

    Denver’s titles are more tainted than the mystery meat at Quizno’s

  • Ted Hurtz

    Nice spin by a spin site. “Yeah.. we cheated but we didnt REALLY cheat…”

    bunch of BS. they should be stripped of those trophies. biggest * in football!

  • boyblue122

    They couldnt afford Elway AND Davis so they just made up their own rules to keep both those guys. No big deal, right? Not like those guys were key pieces of their SB run. lol

  • kron1k 

    Except now having the money to afford two HOF players? Oh ok, wonder what those two would’ve done on another team that year.

  • kron1k 

    Because they were paying for there stadium…a lot of teams rebuilding there stadiums right now suck because they can’t afford two future HOF players to take them to the SB

  • Scott

    Thank you for giving an explanation. I had never heard about the broncos salary cap issues before (was 9 when it happened), and spent 30 minutes trying to find out what exactly happened.