The NFL salary cap will rise significantly in 2023, jumping to 224.8 million dollars. This has been an upward trend the NFL has grown to expect with each new league year. The salary cap rising is beneficial for business and it benefits all 32 teams in the NFL. In professional sports, a salary cap is an agreement or rule that limits the amount of money a team can spend on players’ salaries. This is implemented for the team rosters that do not include the coaching and front office staff. A salary cap keeps overall costs down and maintains a competitive balance. Over the years the NFL salary cap has continually grown each season. Likewise, in 2023 the NFL salary cap will increase by almost 16 million.
2023 Cap Increase
In 2023 the NFL salary cap will hit record highs for the season. The rising salary cap will be about 16 million and all 32 NFL teams will benefit from the raised salary cap. During the 2022 season, the salary cap was only 208.2 million. Then in the 2021 season, the NFL salary cap was 182.5 million which was adjusted because of the covid pandemic. In addition, for the 2020 season, the cap was 198.2 million while in 2019 it was 188.2 million. However, because of the pandemic, the salary cap decreased between the 2020 season and the 2021 season.
Reasons For Cap Increase
For the NFL generating more revenue is priority number one. It helps the bottom line of NFL owners, their franchisees, and the players that are on these rosters. In other words, there are various ways that drive up the salary cap. According to Tom Pelissero the new collective bargaining agreement is a revenue-sharing deal. Under this deal, new media contracts have been agreed upon. As well as adding a 17th-time game to the NFL schedule helps drive up more money coming in. These things contribute to a rise in the NFL salary cap that should continue to grow. The league anticipates that more info will be provided in March on projected costs and player benefits.
Record Increase
The NFL salary cap will increase significantly to around 16.6 million dollars. That is the biggest increase in the salary cap since 2006. However, this does not take into account the 25.7 million dollar increase in 2022. That massive jump was because of the covid pandemic. In that situation, the cap went down from 2020 to 2021. Similarly, this is the ninth time since 2006 the cap ballooned at least 10 million dollars.
Billion Dollar Media Deals
As shown above, the main cause for the massive increase is directly attributed to media contracts being agreed upon. The NFL has agreed upon billion-dollar sponsorships and broadcast deals that played a role in the cap increase. The league signed media rights contracts with the likes of CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN, and Amazon in 2021. Therefore, these deals will go into effect in 2023. In other words, the league will net upwards of 110 billion dollars over 11 years. In addition, the NFL signed a new deal with Google to bring the NFL Sunday ticket to Youtube for 2 billion dollars a year. This deal will give teams more financial freedom and flexibility. However, there are still 14 teams over the cap limit. Those teams will have to find ways to reduce their cap number.
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