NFL News:

• The NFL projects that the salary cap will go up next year. 
  • Currently at $188.6 million, the league projects the salary cap will be in the range of $196.8 million to $201.2 million for next season.
    • It all depends on year-end revenue.
  • Reminder: the first salary cap under the current CBA was $120 million in 2011.
    • That CBA expires after the 2020 season.
    • League-wide, salaries & benefits add up to $7.7 billion.
  • DAK! is reportedly the most expensive contract coming up for renewal.

• People are jockeying to be the first on the bandwagon: Rapoport is raporting that Jason Garrett will indeed be not re-signed after this season.
  • He is 83-66 in his ten years in charge – averaging less than nine wins per season – and has only won two playoff games in that time.
  • JERRAH! is already denying rumours that he’s met with Urban Meyer.

• On a different bandwagon? Troy Aikman, who is rumoured to be looking at trying to land a GM job.
  • He’s adamant it won’t be the Cowboys.
    • Because Jerry Jones is “real stubborn and steadfast in that he’s the one in charge.”
      • “I think in a lot of ways, until that changes, this team’s going to have some problems,” Aikman said.
  • Sitting beside Joe Buck all these years must have had him wishing he was somewhere else.
    • Time will tell if he’s either an Ozzie Newsome or John Elway.

• Speaking of bandwagons, the fans hurt Kyle Van Noy’s feelings on Sunday.
  • During an interview with NBC Sports Boston this week, Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy said, “I thought it was disrespectful.”
  • Granted, as Patriots player he’s used to handjobs & high-fives from the townies, but it must be shocking to find out for the first time that love isn’t universal.

Finally, you may have heard – in amongst all the impeachment folderol – that the new NAFTA, or USMCA, was signed off on yesterday by the US House. It now goes to the US Senate and the Canadian Parliament for separate ratification. (Mexico approved the treaty prior to its 2018 election.)

Why is this significant for the Commentists of [DFO]? Well, aside from enshrining higher duty-free shopping allowances for cross-border shopping & mail-ordering (cheaper fleshlights!), one suggestible downside is that it eliminates previous SimSub (or “Simultaneous Substitution”) regulations on Canadian advertising during the Super Bowl.

In Chapter 15 of the USMCA, Canada “shall rescind Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-334 and Broadcasting Order CRTC 2016-335,”  referring to the CRTC’s broadcasting order, made in August 2016, that banned SimSub for the Super Bowl’s broadcast on Canadian TV. At Roger Goodell’s insistence, Donald Trump had his negotiators add this in as part of the US platform for codifying broadcast standards as part of the trade agreement.

The USMCA makes clear that it sees the Super Bowl as not just a US product exported oversees, but as an economic asset. “With respect to simultaneous substitution of commercials during the retransmission in Canada of the program referenced in those measures,” says the USMCA, “Canada may not accord the program treatment less favorable than the treatment accorded to other programs originating in the United States retransmitted in Canada.” Because Bell has the exclusive broadcast rights, they – and their US partners – lose revenue if SimSub is prohibited, and the calculated value of those broadcast rights drops accordingly.

I’ve gone off on this topic before, but at this point there’s no reason to give myself a stroke about it. Roger Goodell got the US President to pressure the Canadian government to protect US broadcast re-transmission rates for a football game, going so far as to stroke the ego of the once-potential Bills owner:

“We greatly appreciate President Trump’s leadership and determination in bringing about a resolution to our intellectual property issue in Canada,” Goodell said in a written statement released by the NFL.

SimSub, according to the fact-checkers at “Awful Announcing“, has been around in Canada since 1972, the result of Canadian broadcasters who wanted to make money off rebroadcasting American programming instead of creating their own programming. In a perfect world, the profits from that US programming would be used to create Canadian TV shows. By the late 1990s, it meant that most Canadian networks with rights to U.S. series aired them at exactly the same time as the U.S. networks so they could capitalize off SimSub.

Under ideal conditions, SimSub shouldn’t be a pain in the ass. Why it is is because it leads to delays in returning from commercial breaks, and errors in feed substitution when Joe Buck tosses to a 15-second in-game ad for Verizon (because the Canadian feed either goes black or cuts to a 30-second Canadian ad). Also, if the US feed switches to another game due to a blowout or the scheduled game ends early, the Canadian feed doesn’t switch. It’s an irritant that builds up quite a bit over the years, and makes me want to punch Canadian sports broadcasters square in the mouth.

Anyway – it’s the law now, and I have to accept it.

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • Bruins at Capitals – 7:00PM | NBCSN
  • Sens at Habs – 7:30PM | Sportsnet
  • Flyers at Avalanche – 9:30PM | NBCSN

• NBA:
  • Lakers at Magic – 7:00PM | Sportsnet1
  • Clippers at Toronto Raptors – 7:00PM | ESPN / TSN
    • There is NO OTHER sports story in Canada today. None.
      • Don’t believe me? Here is TSN’s front page:

 •   Pelicans at Bucks – 9:30PM | ESPN / TSN5

 •   Knicks at Warriors – 10:30PM | Sportsnet1

• NCAA:
  • Women’s College Basketball:
    • Iowa at Iowa State – 8:00PM | FS1

• Wrasslin’:
  • AEW Dynamite – 8:00PM | TNT / TSN2
  • NXT – 8:00PM | USA

• A good walk spoiled:
  • 2019 Presidents Cup Golf: Day 1 – 5:30PM | Golf Channel / TSN3
    • Team matches from Royal Melbourne GC in Australia.

Enjoy your evening.