League Notes

FOXSPORTS.com's Alex Marvez cited a source as saying that the NFL Alumni Association (NFLA) has "started its search for an executive director." N.Y.-based exec-search firm Spencer Stuart Consultant Jed Hughes "will head the project." The NFLA "would like to hire a former NFL player for the position and fill the vacancy by early September" (FOXSPORTS.com, 7/10).

ON THIN ICE? The GLOBE & MAIL's Eric Duhatschek wrote of the NHL's salary cap for the '10-11 season, "The early indications are that the drop may not be as dramatic as some had feared." The general thought had been that the cap would remain flat for 2009-10 and "then drop -- some estimates put it as high as 20[%] -- for next year," which would "put most teams, operating at or near the cap for the coming year, at a competitive disadvantage." However, there is a "new emerging sense that the NHL has been spared the larger effects of the slumping economy and that next year's cap -- if it shrinks at all -- won't be nearly as bad as originally thought" (GLOBE & MAIL, 7/11). However, SI.com's Allan Muir wrote, "We don't know the actual damage until late next June. ... But judging by the rumbles, things could get very ugly" (SI.com, 7/10).

LEAD BY EXAMPLE: In Cleveland, Brian Windhorst wrote of the NBA's salary cap, "The current CBA does work, and what is going on now is showing that. The salary cap is flexible depending on the league-wide revenue -- which is decreasing -- helping to protect the owners. So is another aspect of the CBA." A source indicated that the NBA "will send a $6.5[M] check to every team this month as part of the current agreement" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 7/12).