I heard a good analogy of it on the radio yesterday....
In the past, the owners have had American Express cards. No limits, they spent spent spent spent spent. Now they are all up crap's creek with no paddles. They have admitted it is their fault, but it's too late to change...
What these owners need are Visa cards. A limit. To protect them from themselves! So many owners are so concerned with the "now" that they have no care for what happens in the future. Take Tampa for example, they won the cup last year with a team worth around $32 million, and they were making a small bit of money off it.
Payroll this year for the owner for the same group of guys, no changes, would've been $49 million. The owners cannot handle their own money.