I am curious as to why the CFL salary cap is so low .
The Average attendance in the game is about 29,000
a game and that would be so much higher if Monteal were not playing in such a small stadiun and if Toronto would ever take the team seriously.
The western teams are doing vey well with large stadiums
http://stats.cfldb.ca/league/cfl/2012/attendance/
They also hav a decent TV deal with TSN …
I fnd it odd that the salary cap is so low .
The CFL has a $4.4 million salary cap in 2013 . The AVG salary is around 60 - 80 k and the minimum salary is 45 k .
The minimum player salary as dictated by the Collective Bargaining Agreement is $45,000 in 2013,
I think the simple answer is that there is no need for the salary cap to be any higher.
It really doesn't matter if the minimum salary is $45k or $65k, new players will sign regardless of the compensation. When the minimum was $30k a few years back, there was no shortage of players who were willing to sign.
I realize it looks bad to be paying players so little, especially compared to the NFL, NBA & NHL salaries but there is no way the CFL can compete with NFL salaries. Even if the CFL doubled their salaries, most players would still want to play in the NFL.
Another factor is two CFL teams are currently money-losing, which includes the Ticats, even with $45k minimum salaries. Raising salaries could put those franchises further into debt (although the Ticats have said they'll be in a position to be profitable once they get their new stadium).
I believe the salary cap will be increased next year with the new CBA and new TV contract, which will double or triple each team's TV revenue. Overall that amounts to about a 15% increase in team revenues, so we might expect the salary cap to be raised by the same 15% next year (to approx. $5.2 million with a $52,000 minimum salary, for example).
Players got shafted when they gave up their percentage of revenue clause. I have no clue why they did that but their representation is reminiscent to Alan Eagleson.
I would say it look excellent though that this league exists, any league in any sport, where people can actually make money playing a sport. One of the reasons I like the CFL besides liking gridiron is that the players don't make some ridiculous amount of money playing a sport and need to think about another career. I'm just not one who likes to buy tickets to play a millionaire athlete that is an average player in the big 4 leagues here in N Am. Doesn't sit well with me. That's just me even though I know most people it doesn't bother.
Yes we can all relate to the salaries in the CFL.
Having said that, it is time for a much needed increase.
Especially for a product that provides the best entertainment value in any sport.
The owners used the possible elimination of the ratio as a bargaining chip to reduce the players share. CFL players have the lowest percentage of revenues of any of the pro leagues in North America (not counting the MLS)
While we are spending the leagues money, an immediate increase in the Grey Cup winnings for each winning team player to $25,000 and the losing team would get $20,000 per.
Also, a similar increase for playoff victories is long overdue.
If the CFL wants to take it to the next "level" of marketing type entertainment, it pains me to say this but they need to make more money available to higher name US college imports. As I say, pains me to say this but I do agree with seymour as the more Canadian university players are using the CFL and saying "CFL, who cares" sort of thing and coaches like that guy at Laval, the more they will need to and not be ashamed to provide more money to US college stars.
I can see the day coming where there may be no Canadian quota system in the CFL, it's just becoming too aggressive out there for perception of what is "valuable" for people to spend their money on. Joe Blow seems to more and more like American based entertainment, perhaps. :?