$50 Million

So, how long until the players start losing salary back to the league/clubs via escrow? Probably not much longer.

To go from $39mil to $50mil in 2 years is quite a jump. Each year the free agents get more, each year the arbitration awards go up and the fans get outraged.

But there's no need. As soon as salaries are above a certain percentage of revenue, all top-tier players will make the same amount of money, with the rest that they are contracted to going back to the league.

It's likely this will happen in '07-'08 or maybe '08-'09. When it does, I think we will finally see the real beauty of the CBA. All of the top-tier talent will be spread out across the league - more so than now - because they will all make the same money no matter where they go.

Even the Predators HAVE to spend $34.3 million this year, and that's a good thing for the league.