I understand your concern, and I'm glad you aren't leaving because of this. I have been running this league for 30+ seasons now and there have been very few problems, and since this is the first time I have ever done contraction this is the first problem of it's kind for this league, and should be the last since I don't plan on any more contractions. Btw, George's contract wasn't as massive as it could have been either. One GM did offer $20 mil a year but he didn't like the team.
So far I am leaning towards OM's idea. I would have to do some work on Pitt's money situation since they would be out a lot of FA money, but it seems like it would be fair/beneficial to all teams, although Sabu would probably argue otherwise.