So much for smoothing.
With the pandemic losses paid off and new TV deals activated and gambling revenue rising, the salary cap has expanded accordingly.
The NFL has announced that it will be $255.4 million per team for 2024. There also will be another $74 million per team in benefits.
The cap number for 2023 was $224.8 million. It has increased by 13.6 percent.
Earlier this weeks, multiple sources told PFT that the number was expected to be in the range of $242 million to $243 million. One source said, “Higher.” Another said it would be closer to $250 million.
It’s now over $250 million. And there’s no reason to think it won’t keep going up.
That gives all teams more flexibility when it comes to managing the cap, especially if they’d been bracing for a lower number. It also provides more money to spend in free agency.
Keep that in mind when a player gets a big contract and you think he doesn’t deserve it. The players and the league roughly split the money. So if $10.54 billion is going to players, another $10.54 billion is going to the teams.
And it will be interesting to see whether teams previously set their 2024 budgets at a lower number. In December, the owners didn’t get an estimate of the upcoming number. The NFL’s in-house media conglomerate reported that it would “exceed $240 million.” It’s entirely possible that multiple teams picked a number much lower than $255 million and allocated resources accordingly.
