NFL salary cap jumps to US$188.2 million

NEW YORK — The NFL’s salary cap will jump next season to US$188.2 million — an increase of $11 million.

In the ninth year of the 10-year labour agreement, the cap moves up from $177.2 million. It has increased in every year of the contract, with the biggest move in 2015 to 2016, when it went up by just under $12 million.

This is the third year out of four in which clubs must reach 89% in cash spending, and the NFL Players Association said Friday that four teams are under that threshold: Dallas, Buffalo, Indianapolis and Houston.

League expenditures for benefits are $40.5 million per team. Add that to the salary cap number and each club’s player costs are above $228 million.

Benefits includes pension payments to former players; the Bell/Rozelle retirement and disability plan for active players; annuities and 401 (k) plans; health care; injury protection and severance; veteran performance-based pay; a separate pool of performance-based pay that’s essentially a cash bonus to players who outperform their contracts.

With the NFL’s revenues at more than $14 billion and every team worth at least $1.6 billion (Buffalo), with a high of about $5 billion (Dallas), it’s hardly a surprise how high the cap has gone. In the first year of the current CBA, reached after a lockout of the players from March-July 2011, the cap was $120 million. It has increased by at least $10 million every year since 2014, when it went up to $133 million from $123 million.

There should be plenty of money available to free agents when the league’s business year begins March 13. On average, teams have about $35 million in space after making off-season moves, with more certain to come. Also, only placekicker Robbie Gould of San Francisco has been given a franchise tag; the deadline is Tuesday.

Two clubs, Philadelphia and Jacksonville, still must make moves to get under the cap.

Agents for players can begin negotiating free-agent deals with teams on March 11, but can’t officially close them before 4 p.m. EDT on March 13.

from Canoe https://ift.tt/2SDUWAK