Bobby Black

Professor Malcom Campbell

UWRT 1103
4/11/16
NFL Salary Cap: Competitive Tool or Restrictive Entertainment?
Does the NFL need a salary cap? The argument that has been made against it is that it
restricts the possibility of greater entertainment. The entertainment being, allowing more than
just a handful of great players on a team. Currently the NFL salary cap realistically only allows
three or four super star players to be on the same team and be paid what they deserve/demand.
However, the counter argument is that with the restriction of how much money teams can spend,
it provides more competitive and close games. So which argument is the correct one?
A sports salary cap as defined by Louis Bien, a writer for SB Nation as at its heart, a
way to maintain competitive balance within a sports league by placing an upper limit on how
much teams can spend on players.. To summarize, salary caps are used in three of the four
major sports leagues in the United States:, The NFL, NBA, and NHL (MLB excluded). The
NFLs salary cap was introduced in 1994 at $34.6 million per team. It has continued to grow
every year since then. In the past 10 years it has increased roughly 10% each year. The upcoming
2016-17 season is now set at $155.27 million. It is used for paying players on any particular
franchise as their salary. Players will sign contracts from anywhere from 1 year to 6 or 7 years.
Both parties, the player and General Manager, will agree to a set amount to pay over the length
of the contract that years with a percentage of the sum guaranteed to the player. This is to ensure

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the player will continue to play competitively and not just bank in the money. As high as this
salary cap may seem, the NFL has the lowest average salary of the four major sports.
The average NFL contracts salary is one year and $1.9 million. Now this may still seem
like a lot to make over the course of a year, but when compared to the other major sports average
it is far below. The NBA is around $5 million, MLBs average is around $3 and a half million a
year and the NHL is still ahead of the NFL at $2.4 million. However for those that argue that
NFL players are paid too much and the salary cap should be lowered bring up the following facts
stated by William Petroff from Quora:.
The average NBA Salary is about $5.1 million, or $62,000 per game The average
MLB salary is about $3.31 million, or about $20,000 per game The average NFL
salary is about $1.9 million, or about $118,000 per game; nearly twice that of the
average NBA player and about six times the per-game salary of the average
baseball player. (Petroff).
This argument is brought up because of the vast difference in the amount of
games in a season in the NFL compared to the other sports. The NFL only has a meager
16 regular season to the NBAs and NHLs 82 and then the MLBs whopping 162 games.
However, supporters for the salary cap to continue to grow or not even exist have a
counter argument to the nay neigh-sayers.
There are many variables that affect this average and why it is so low per year,
but so much per game. The obvious is the risk of injury. The NFL is arguably the most
physically demanding game out there, most definitely the most of the four major sports.
Though some could and like to argue the NHL could compete with the NFLs physicality

, but where it loses the argument suffers is its lack of constant contact. In the NHL the
contact are just short hits that are very quick and at most there is a 60 second fight that is
monitored very closely for safety. There is no other sport that has the head to head, body
to body contact play after play the NFL does. With this amount of contact and violence,
General Managers can be a tad hesitant when it comes to investing big money into a
player who may be injury prone. Another variable that comes into play on why players
are paid so little yearly is the way the salary cap is set up.
As stated before, the NFL salary cap is basically the budget for NFL teams. Each
team is allowed 53 men on their roster and have to stay under the cap while paying all of
them. When a player signs, they sign for a year or multiple years, there are no monthly or
weekly contracts in the NFL like there are in the NBA or MLB. General Managers are
forced to plan out their salaries by the year., Ttherefore they want to spend the least
amount possible for average players. This way they have more to spend on those super
star players;. hHowever, with the salary cap growing, the average salary is destined to
grow with it, but why try to grow the salary room when the money could be unlimited?
Without a salary cap the NFL wouldnt have a carved in stone restriction to how
much a team could spend on players in a given year. This would allow teams to pursue
great players who demand more money to create so called super teams. These teams
would be filled with superstar players and talent out of this world. The only problem is
smaller market teams would suffer. Without a cap these teams would have to rely on their
own money or donated money to pay players. The NFL would not support franchise at all
in supplying money. To be seen as a more competitive and prestigious company the NFL
offers a share of its revenue to its teams to spend on players. With this the NFL will

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continue to grow and profit and so will the salary cap, this is viewed as a win win by
most associated with the league. .
With the salary cap growing year by year many wonder how its price is
determined and where the NFL gets this mass amount of money. The way the salary cap
is calculated is best explained by Al Lackner, from askthecomish.com.
The Cap is determined through a complicated calculation system, which has
changed with the latest extension of the CBA. The Cap is based on income that the teams
earn during a League Year. Originally that "pot" was limited to what was known as
Defined Gross Revenues (DGR), which consisted of the money earned from the national
televison contract, ticket sales, and NFL merchandise sales. In 2006 the CBA was
modified, and the "pot" was expanded to include total revenue. Thus, other sources of
revenue, including such other items as naming rights and local advertising, were added.
As was the case with the original DGR, the expanded revenue is divided equally amongst
all 32 teams for purposes of calculating the salary cap. (Lackner).
To sum up Lackners quote, the salary cap is calculated by projecting the overall
revenue for the future season and multiplying it by a percentage the CBA seems fit. The
Collective Bargaining Agreement or CBA is a labor agreement between the NFL and the
NFLPA or NFL Player Association for bargaining negotiations. The CBA was put into
place so the NFL wouldnt miss treatmistreat their players., Iit classifies the distribution
of league revenue to players, also known as their salary as that money leads to a teams
salary cap. It also sets health and safety standards and established benefits. The CBA
unlike the salary cap is not something to argue to go away. It protects players and

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provides them with the security blanket they need to pursue a financially stable career in
the NFL.
Now if the NFL didnt have a salary cap most of these extra securities may not be
in place. The salary cap is more than just a teams budget, it allows players to be treated
as equally as possible even through their skill sets may differ. Without it teams would be
made to pay players out of their back pocket instead of receiving money from the league
annually. The NFL would become none as more corrupt as many already argue it to be.
They would take in revenue from teams and not give it back. Smaller market franchise
would soon become bankrupt and be forced to switch owners and move to a different
city. The salary cap helps these smaller market teams be able to stay competitive and
under the same ownership for many years.
Now with the NFL making gaining more money than ever before, their total
revenue projections will continue to climb, causing the salary cap to grow as well. And
with more money to spend, players are going to make more than players of their skill
have made in the past. Kevin Seifert, a writer for NFL Nation on ESPN states: Give or
take, there will be $1 billion in salary-cap space available when the markets open
(Seifert). He is referring to the total amount of salary cap space by all teams combined.
Thats more than a billion dollars to spend on just over 1,600 players. Former Eagles and
Browns executive, Joe Banner stated, This thing is just going to explode (qtd. in
Seifert). Banner continues to share his opinion about the growth of the salary cap.
With this much money available," Banner said, "you're going to be saying
in free agency, 'This player got more than I thought he could ever get' if

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you have a good idea of who he is comparable to in the market. Guys are
just going to be getting big increases over that (qtd. in Seifert 1).
Players who are viewed as average players will begin to make much more
money than players of their caliber in the past. This is all due to the fact of the
NFL becoming a bigger and bigger organization company and earning more
revenue. The more the NFL grows, the more money will be available to spend on
the average player. Now what if there wasnt a limit to this money?
If the NFL was to go without a salary cap the competition level would
severely suffer. Teams would only have their own money to spend and receive
nothing from the NFL itself. Smaller market teams or teams who dont have a
filthy rich owner would be left to fight for the crap of mediocre players left.
Teams such as the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, and New York Giants
would have the money to spend to create super teams. This is where fans argue
that the salary cap is a restriction of possible entertainment. These fans want to
see amazing players play together on the same teams and destroy easy
competition. A prime example is La Liga, a Spanish futbol league where there is
no limit to how much teams can spend. With this there are only two or three
teams that have a shot at winning the league each year because they just so
happen to have more money to spend.
The NFL would soon become just like La Liga if the salary cap was to
dissipate. Andrew Brandt states that Teams would still have their own caps,
meaning budgets (qtd. in Seifert 2). Meaning that teams would be limited to the
amount of money they as a team or owner possesses. Without a set cap teams

would be completely skewed in opposite direction. This would without a doubt

cause a decrease in the amount of competition the NFL is so known for. Yes, it
would allow for those super teams many fans want to see, but it would tarnish the
image of competition the NFL strives to protect.
No matter how much the salary cap grows, it will always be used and
viewed as a tool for creating more competitive games and overall a competitive
league. If the salary cap was to dissipate, the players would have no limit to how
much they could be paid. Only the big market teams would be tittle contenders
and the small market teams would be fighting for only low playoff spots. So at the
endo of the day it really just comes down to what NFL youd like to see.

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Works Cited
Bien, Louis. "The 2015 NFL Salary Cap Explained." SBNation.com. SB Nation, 02 Mar. 2015.
Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
Lackner, Al. "Ask the Commish.Com." NFL Salary Cap. The Fantasy Advisors, 2015. Web. 11
Apr. 2016.
Larsen, Andrew. The Impact of Free Agency and the Salary Cap on Competitive Balance in the
National Football League. Sage Jjournals (2006) : n. pag. Web. 3 Mar 2016
Madell, Robin. 7 Steps to Smart Salary Negotiation. Usnews. USnews and World
ReportMoney, 7 Oct. 2013. Web
3 Mar. 2016
Perez, Alex. NFL free agency options. Isportsweb, 29 Feb. 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2016
Petroff, William. "Why Do NFL Players Make Less Money Compared to Other Major League
Players like NBA and MLB?" Quora. Quora, 11 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
Seifert1, Kevin. How $1 billion in cap space could alter NFL free agency. ESPN, 18 Feb.
2016. Web. 3 Mar. 20162016.
Web. 3 Mar. 2016
Seifert2, Kevin Inside Slant: Without a salary cap, how about $300 million for
Russel Wilson? ESPN, 2 Jul. 2015.Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

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