How the Steelers plan for another late arrival by Le'Veon Bell

[AtlantaDan]

Without emotion there really are no sports. Fandom is based on emotion and without the fans Bell isn't asking for $17M, but trying to sell enough life insurance in the offseason to make ends meet.

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Or sticking it to the fans by letting your star players get injured in preseason. It's a catch 22....

Preseason is about who makes the team and who starts. Guys who are locked in at their positions don't need to play at all IMO.

I agree - but the practice of forcing purchases of preseason tickets has not evolved with the practice of playing starters less since the salary cap hurts depth to replace anyone that is injured - ticketholders got a lot more for their $$$ back in the day

Coaches followed a near-universal format years ago, similar to what Steelers radio analyst Tunch Ilkin remembers while playing for Chuck Noll.

The first units would play a quarter in the first game, two quarters in the second game, sometimes into the second half in the third game and three full quarters of the fourth game. That last game was considered a dress rehearsal for the start of the regular season. Today, it’s something to avoid almost altogether, as few starters even play in the preseason finale.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/s...s/201808240120


I am old enough to remember when in the 70s the preseason ended with the Steelers at Dallas every year - it was always a national broadcast and almost like a regular season game in terms of the quality of play

[steelreserve]

Another factor which you didn’t mention is that the Steelers have been starved for talent at the CB position for years. Not so much at RB. This makes fans over-value even the perception of an upgrade - i.e., Haden.

The difference it's that the RB position is one where - like WR, TE, QB, DL, and LB - there is a 1:1 relationship between skill and effectiveness, so you are as good as your best players.

CB - like OL - is one where the whole unit is as bad as your worst player. So replacing a bad player with a merely decent one can have as much (if not more) impact on the unit as adding a top-10 guy at another position. Haden might "only" be posting like a $5 or $6 million guy, but that can be making $9 million worth of difference because he is replacing someone who gave the whole secondary an automatic F.

Basically the positions where you are "attacking" something work on the individual-talent principle and the ones where you are "protecting" something (OL and DB) work on the weakest-link principle.

I guess this is why you see so many OL and DB players get contracts that are inflated for the value the player adds ... but I actually think that backfires more often than not because teams will be below-average at two or three positions in the unit and then add one lineman or one DB for $12 million thinking it will fix everything. Well, guess what, the unit is still going to be below average.

This is why I think dollar for dollar, Ramon Foster is one of the most "valuable" players on the team, probably adding like $6-7 million of value on a $3 million salary just by not being bad. Whereas soneone like Pouncey gets paid $10 or $11 million but still adds ... about $6M or $7M of value. The difference is, you can get away with that when you are actually strong at all five positions across the unit. But I would say most teams aren't in that situation, and if you are adequate at all nine (ten?) positions across OL and DB, then you are fortunate indeed.

[Dwinsgames]

Right - I understand why people react differently to the two guys. It is not confusing. I also like Haden far more than Bell.

All of this is being dragged up from months ago and doesn't really matter now. But my only point was that MB posters, bloggers, podcasters, and pundits both here and across the Steelers related internet were attempting to parse their evaluation of Bell's "value" as coldly clinical and logical. I wanted to point out, largely to be a pain, that the exact same chain of logic leads you to conclude that Haden is pretty over-paid.

Again, none of this matters now and will only matter if by some bizarre chain of events, the Steelers and Bell actually begin to negotiate in 2019.

another aspect is ...

this is a passing league Bell is a RB so not as important as WR's or those who defend WR's .... yet wants paid as a THE top WR in the game ...

yes he wants more than Brown ... more than anyone at the pos ... https://overthecap.com/position/wide-receiver/

[DesertSteel]

I agree - but the practice of forcing purchases of preseason tickets has not evolved with the practice of playing starters less since the salary cap hurts depth to replace anyone that is injured - ticketholders got a lot more for their $$$ back in the day

Coaches followed a near-universal format years ago, similar to what Steelers radio analyst Tunch Ilkin remembers while playing for Chuck Noll.

The first units would play a quarter in the first game, two quarters in the second game, sometimes into the second half in the third game and three full quarters of the fourth game. That last game was considered a dress rehearsal for the start of the regular season. Today, it’s something to avoid almost altogether, as few starters even play in the preseason finale.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/s...s/201808240120


I am old enough to remember when in the 70s the preseason ended with the Steelers at Dallas every year - it was always a national broadcast and almost like a regular season game in terms of the quality of play

I agree mostly. I think expectations just have to be different. As a diehard fan, though I may not be interested in preseason, in general, I am more interested in Steelers preseason if Mason Rudolph is playing than if Ben was behind center. All I'm thinking if Ben is out there is "He's gonna get hurt in a meaningless game." But with Rudolph I know it's the only time I'll get to see him on the field. So it's actually a better product in those terms. What's the price of admission for that??? I don't know, but it can't be free.

[Dwinsgames]

I agree mostly. I think expectations just have to be different. As a diehard fan, though I may not be interested in preseason, in general, I am more interested in Steelers preseason if Mason Rudolph is playing than if Ben was behind center. All I'm thinking if Ben is out there is "He's gonna get hurt in a meaningless game." But with Rudolph I know it's the only time I'll get to see him on the field. So it's actually a better product in those terms. What's the price of admission for that??? I don't know, but it can't be free.

seats as cheap as 11 bucks so .... still a good value IMO https://www1.ticketmaster.com/pittsb...4&minorcatid=8

[DesertSteel]

seats as cheap as 11 bucks so .... still a good value IMO https://www1.ticketmaster.com/pittsb...4&minorcatid=8

But the real question is how much are season ticket holders forced to pay for them???

[Dwinsgames]

But the real question is how much are season ticket holders forced to pay for them???

they are for purchase via ticketmaster at those costs 11 bucks up to 209 I think it is

[AtlantaDan]

But the real question is how much are season ticket holders forced to pay for them???

In 2017 the season ticket package for the best seats (club level sections 208-213/232-237) cost a total of $2854. You had to buy the entire 10 game package but for some reason the price per ticket within the package was tiered for preseason tier at $195 per game, premier tier (Packers & Patriots) at $346 per game, black tier (Vikings & Ravens) at $330 per game, and gold (Jags, Bengals, Titans & Browns) at $278 per game. I guess those were the face value prices for those seats for single game purchases when available

Tiering for all season tickets, with lowest 2017 package price of $732 (sections 518 and 527) with preseason tier for those seats at $38 per game


https://heinzfield.com/football/pitt...ticket-prices/