Thursday Night Football Deal Could Affect 2015 Salary Cap

According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the recent agreement between the NFL and CBS regarding a new Thursday Night TV deal could end up boosting the 2015 NFL salary cap by a few million dollars.

“The initial bids reportedly fell in the high $200 million range,” Florio writes.  “If CBS ultimately paid $300 million for the package, that money will dump directly into the bucket from which the salary cap is calculated.

“Still, even if the net gain is a mere $250 million — and assuming half of the money goes to the players — that’s nearly $4 million per team in extra 2015 cap space,” Florio writes.

The framework of the deal with CBS was announced this morning.

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement mandates that players receive an average of at least 47 percent of all revenue for the duration of the 10-year agreement.  Accordingly, this additional revenue will likely result in an increase in the salary cap.

This increase however, will not take effect until the 2015 season.  The salary cap is contingent on the revenue made in the previous year.  Thus, the money from this deal is not part of the NFL’s budget for the upcoming season.