For the last several weeks, it has been reported that the 2014 NFL salary cap is going up and now it appears we finally have an official final number and that number did not stay flat as many speculated it would last year.
Several media outlets are now reporting on Friday that teams have been notified by a memo that the salary cap for the 2014 season will be $133 million and that’s a $10 million increase over the 2013 number.
As far as the Pittsburgh Steelers go, they are roughly $5.7 million over the $133 million number as of Friday and they now have until March 11 to get compliant.
The NFL transaction wire was busy on Friday as several re-signings and terminations were announced around the league. Several of those, however, will not become official until Monday.
As for the Steelers, we can expect them to announce a termination or two over the course of the next week. As far as contract restructures go, those might very well have already taken place at the end of this week, but the team is not obligated to report them publicly. Any that may have been completed by now will certainly surface on the NFLPA site next week.
Below is information about the 2014 Salary Cap that was put out Friday by the NFLPA.
What is the 2014 Salary Cap?
The 2014 Salary Cap is set at $133 million per Club, a $10 million increase over the prior year.How does that number impact each team?
The $133 million is the per Club salary cap. However, each team may, at its own discretion, carry over unused salary cap room from the prior League Year. Most Clubs elected to carry over Salary Cap room from 2013 to 2014. The average carry over for those teams that elected to do so was $6.1 million per Club. Thus, those Clubs have an average of $139.1 million to spend on player salaries in 2014.How is the Salary Cap calculated?
The Salary Cap is calculated by taking a percentage of all projected NFL revenues, subtracting projected benefits for the upcoming season, and dividing by 32 teams.What are team minimum cash spends?
Under the current CBA, Clubs have minimum cash spending requirements. For the years 2013-2016, Clubs are required to spend an average of 89% of the Salary Cap over the four-year period. League-wide, Clubs must spend an average of 95% of the Salary Cap over the four-year period.This creates a cash-spend floor, forcing historically low-spending Clubs to offer overall competitive compensation for packages.
Are player benefits taken out of this $133 million?
The $133 million Salary Cap is the cap on active player salaries. In addition, each Club will spend in excess of $33 million in benefits. This includes pension, severance, workers’ compensation, insurance premiums, disability benefits, etc.
