The Gnarly Rager : 97.1 - Surfers Cutting Salary

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With the franchise leaking money since last season, it was apparent that it was time for something to be done. After a losing 1996 season, and not having the ability to sign any free agents, Surfers ownership and General Manager Chris Wilson have decided to cut whatever salary the club could cut in hopes of being able to sign some of their recent draft picks as well as be able to rebuild this franchise for future seasons. With that said, the club has traded away the big contracts of Hi Brown and Donnie Rotten in effort to relieve some of that burden of high salary.

The duo of Brown and Rotten were making a combined $37 million this season. While the Surfers have paid some of that this season, eliminating the debt of paying that for the rest of the season will help the club re-sign some key players as well as allow the team to sign some free agents in the off-season. The Surfers have now managed to trim their payroll down to just over $61 million which is $15 million below the owner's budget and has allowed the club to get into the green for this year's projected balance.

With the new surplus, the club will look strongly into releasing Rashardo Menne who the club acquired from Des Moines in the Hi Brown trade. Menne is scheduled to make over $11 million through 1999.

"If we're going to fix the problem here in Long Beach, it isn't going to be a quick fix" said GM Chris Wilson. "Our offense isn't very good and neitehr is our offense right now. It is a real possibility that we could be looking at trading off some key pieces just to try and get some prospects for the future. If we're going to blow this thing up, then we really just need to blow it up real good and start from scratch."