Friday, April 20, 2018 — TORONTO (April 20, 2018] –
An extensive audit process has confirmed that all nine teams were under the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) Salary Expenditure Cap, the CFL announced today.
The salary cap for the 2017 season was $5.15 million.
The system’s review process includes detailed field audits of all nine clubs, including following the season. Teams are also required to provide regular updates on compensation levels at the six-game, 12-game and 18-game points of the season.
The salary cap for the 2018 season is $5.2 million.
So the cap goes up by 50k this year? That's a joke in its own. The salary cap should be 10 million and let the teams spend their money to keep talent here. If teams can't balance their books its on them.
The cap has been going up by 50k for years.
10mil is a joke. There would be somewhere between 2 and 4 teams not losing money. I am all for paying more…they might be able to bump up to as much as 8mil and only have 2-3 teams losing money…but remember that you are kissing a lot of expansion interest goodbye the more teams lose money. There is nothing to “balance” if the money simply is not there. Remember that before the boost in tv contract it was normal for 3 teams to lose money…you are now suggesting that the salaries be bumped up to more than that TV revenue. Common sense says this is not viable.
I'm not implying that a team must spend the max amount but to cap a team at 5.2mil keeps many talented players from coming up to Canada and playing. Each team is responsible for the way they spend their money. If you can't spend the max then you simply don't. Put in a minimum and maximum amount.This way players can be paid fair and the talent on the field gets better.
The CFL already has a salary floor so there is a minimum. The floor is 4.6 million for 2018.
you make the minimum 5.2mil and max 10mil. Let teams spend if they have the money to do so. A max of 5.2mil is way too low.
I would rather they bring back the option year (preferably with some kind of transfer agreement). Reaching the NFL one day will also be the dangling carrot.
The CFL already has a salary floor so there is a minimum. The floor is 4.6 million for 2018.Exactly.
I'm not implying that a team must spend the max amount but to cap a team at 5.2mil keeps many talented players from coming up to Canada and playing. Each team is responsible for the way they spend their money. If you can't spend the max then you simply don't. Put in a minimum and maximum amount.This way players can be paid fair and the talent on the field gets better.
you make the minimum 5.2mil and max 10mil. Let teams spend if they have the money to do so. A max of 5.2mil is way too low.So what you are saying is that you want the teams that have the money to have a monopoly due to cash flow and dominate the teams that can't afford to spend 10 mil. This goes against every fiber of a salary cap. "5.2 is too low" you say...yet finances say that 10 mil is too high and if you raise the cap every team needs to approach it or they may as well pack it in...because they won't compete without doing so, and they won't make money spending that. Why not 50 mil if you are going to set an arbitrary number that is not presently sustainable? I have been nothing but vocal about the need to raise the base...I felt the cap should have went up to 6 mil by now....I see no possible way that it could be any higher than 8 mil without giving a death blow to some teams under present financials and that, again, would make people interested in adding a team lose a lot of interest. What you are suggesting and having that big of a gap in max and min in a small cap small league would be an absolute death sentence for the league.
If you want to see the end of the CFL, then increase the max. cap to $10.0 millions. You can't spend what you don't have. Teams can't afford such an increase, unless the TV revenues increase to $80.0 millions a year.
Richard
Yes because it went up half a million in year one of the deal plus the 12k each player got to sign the deal.
In June 2014, the then max. cap was increased by $600,000, i.e. from $4.4 millions to $5.0 millions. For the next 4 years the cap was to increase by $50,000 yearly, reason why we are at $5.2 millions in 2018.
The ratification bonuses WERE NOT $12,000 per player. What was approved was $1,500 per rookie and an average of $7,500 per veteran. The union was to determine the scale of what veterans would receive for bonuses. These payments were to be paid to players on rosters as at June 22,2014. The payments to veterans were as follows:
Veterans of 6 years or more: $12,000.
Veterans of 5 years: 10,000.
Veterans of 4 years: 8,000.
Veterans of 1 to 3 years: $5,000.
Richard
A whole 50K? Amazing. (not)
A cap of $6-8 million keeps all the teams that make money still in the money while the number of those that don’t would stay the same. Would also solve the problem of attracting and possibly more importantly, retaining talent.
$10 million is still too high as of now and at that point only a few (maybe only a couple, or even one) would make money and we don’t need a repeat of those days.
Richard, where can one learn more about the CFL salary cap? I’ve always been curious about it but it seems CFL salaries are such a “hush” issue. Any resources you have to offer would be appreciated!
I don’t think it is really hush…it is just fairly in depth and seeing as clubs don’t report numbers publicly it makes it difficult for media to really do much of an expose on it all.
It is all laid out in the CBA…which you can download. Some here have read it, bylaws and appendixes multiple times and can answer questions or even quote them if you want…pretty sure Richard has done much of that. some even have access to the CFLPAPP and such.
I recommend appendix A and AA, Article 11 of the PA Constitution, Article 11 and 15 of th CFL constitution. The CBA is of course loaded with information…you really have to read most of it to see finer details…stuff like moving expenses and gifts are all in there, but section 14.09 has a blurb, section 17, and section 30 gets into ratification bonuses and potential revenue sharing (more specifically, the clause that they get more money if it goes up 27 mil). I don’t think there is a one stop shop for info…CFLdb takes a respectable swing at it…but still largely references back to original literature.
As depopulationINC wrote, saskfan23, the information about the cap and other matters pertaining to the CFL and its players are included in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the League and the Players Association.
Richard
Agreed. It doesn’t take a financial genius to figure out that teams merely have to double ticket prices to pay for doubling the salary cap.
How would increasing the cap change anything? The CFL is the number 2 gridiron league in the world. It is the best option for any player not making the NFL.
If we paid all the players twice as much… those who could make the NFL and leave, still would. Every team would still try to get the best players, and therefore spend to the cap. Each player would still get the same proportion of the total salary that they do now. There still wouldn’t be a lot of room for raises or free agents.
Exactly. It may be that we lose a player every now and again who decides to start his post-football career early because it pays more than he can make in the CFL, but it’s pretty rare. I’m not sure doubling the cap would help in that regard.
And, of course, doubling the cap without a simultaneous increase in revenues could have drastic negative effects on most current teams and make it that much more difficult to attract investors in expansion franchises.
I would say $6 mill cap is not unreasonable… the SMS was way too low to begin with, and at least we are not having the endless debates about team(s) being over the SMS. If you look back, a lot of people were whining about the Riders being over the cap in 4 of 7 years, but have been under for quite a few years now… the only reason for them to be over was the amount for the SMS was just low to start with… if the CFL wants to be a viable option for players , the cap has to increase by quite a bit for players to want to play here.
While I expect or foresee that the max. cap will increase between $300,000 and $400,000-to $5.5 or $5.6 millions- in 2019, I definitely don't agree that it has "to increase quite a bit for players to want to play here." No problems to attract players.
I foresee a max. cap of $6.0 millions or so in 4 to 5 years from now and the minimum salary at $70,000 or so. The only exception or reason that it could be more is if the TV revenues increase by at least 50%. The 2 main sources of revenues for CFL teams are TV and gate revenues. No substantial increase in cap without substantial increases in these revenues.
Richard