The NFL, similar to the NBA, has a salary cap. That means there is a limit to which the teams can spend on players in a given season.
In the NFL, the salary cap is $192.8 million per year. To get around that limit, you would assume some teams might not spend much money so that the money can carry over, and they have a lot more cap space than other teams. While part of this is true, there is carryover regarding the salary cap and there is a rule to prevent teams from having much more money than others.
This rule states that over three years, a team must spend 90% of the cap. Over three years, the team must spend $535.15 million of the $594.6 million. What is the purpose of the salary cap?
In the NFL, you never know who will win the Super Bowl, and a lot of that has to do with the salary cap. The amount of money each team can spend is equal and doesn’t allow teams to win just because they have more money. This allows smaller market teams like the Green Bay Packers to compete with a New York Giants team.
The amount of money for players is determined by the number of profits the NFL makes. 47% of the profits go to the player and 53% go to the owners. 18% of the player’s money goes to player benefits, such as health insurance and playoff bonuses. The salary cap keeps increase because, for many consecutive years, the NFL profits have increased.
Coronavirus has broken the profit streak. It will be the first time since before 2000 that NFL profits won’t be higher than the year before.
