NFL Salary Cap Takes Massive, Unprecedented Spike That Could Shape The Future Of The League

Is your favorite NFL team dealing with some difficult salary cap constraints?

Well, not anymore.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the league’s salary cap is set to take an unprecedented $30 million spike to over $255 million in 2024.

The 2023 salary cap was $224.8 million and a large spike was always anticipated. But previous reports estimated of jump of around $15 million, which was consistent with prior growth trends. Instead, the new number blew that out of the water.

NFL Credits Increased Revenue For Unprecedented Cap Spike

Schefter reports that the NFL said the “unprecedented $30 million increase per club in this year’s Salary Cap is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season.”

The new cap is more than double the $120.4 million number from 2011 when the NFL first began revenue sharing.

A prior report from David Rumsey of Front Office Sports states that “the league is believed to have brought in close to $20 billion in revenue — inching the NFL’s 32 owners closer to commissioner Roger Goodell’s long-stated goal of $25 billion in annual revenue.”

The massive spike could significantly change the immediate future of the league. Teams that were up against the cap now have money to play with. While teams like the Dallas Cowboys who are in line to give quarterback Dak Prescott a new contract can now do so without significantly restricting their purchasing power elsewhere.

But that’s not all.

An additional $74M is available per club payment for player benefits, which includes performance-based pay and benefits for retired players. That brings the total 2024 player costs to $329.4M per team. That works out to over $10.5B league-wide.

So yeah, business is booming for the NFL these days.