re: Miles buy out spells even more trouble in the future

Grandad, your analysis is all screwed up. First, Miles' buyout isn't as expensive as you list, because his salary at his new job gets subtracted. Second, your assumption that because the cost per year goes up, that we didn't fire him this year means we won't until his contract runs out, is just wrong.

Here is what is going to happen. Miles will either perform well enough next year to quiet the uprising, or he won't. If he does, he'll still have three years on his contract, so it won't be extended. More than likely we'll arrange a coach-in-waiting deal.

If he has a bad year he'll be replaced. As you point out, contractually this would necessitate a $12.9 mm buyout. Instead, there will be a negotiated buyout. In my opinion it will be about $7 or 8 million dollars. This is because you'd subtract about $1.5 million per year of Miles' new job salary.