There is some ambiguity in the wording of the rules, so I understand your confusion. It is the CFL we must remember--if there wasn't confusion, what would we have.
Anyway, I believe the FIRST 100,000 is fined at 1:1.
That doesn't change when you go further over. Then 2:1 from 100,001-300,000. And 3:1 from 300,000+.
So if you are over by 50,000, the penalty is 50,000.
If you are over by 150,000, the penalty would be 100,000 + (50,000*2=100,000), so 200,000.
The financial penalties are "non-discretionary". That means if you are deemed over by said amount, you must pay. No if, ands, or buts.
The draft picks are different.
They are up to the discretion of the league.
There is nothing in the wording of the rules that says a draft pick will or will not be lost at level X.
People are saying it is as soon as you are over, the Edmonton Journal and Jim Barker think it is once you are more than 100,000 over.
Nobody ever says what their source for that is.
But the rules as posted on the CFL website do not particularly support those beliefs.
The loss of a draft pick is a serious penalty. Why would it be one of the first penalties, or even the middle penalty. It is only logical that it is applied AFTER the finacial penalties are exhausted, not first. And as that is how the rule appears to be worded, there is really no reason to assume differently.
And it still makes no sense to have a team that is 299,999 over not lose a draft pick, but one that is 300,001 over will?
I suspect the logical thing , and this is where discretion comes in, would be to not take a draft pick until a team is well over the 300,000 mark, say 400,000.
But it is a discretionary penalty, so at no time MUST the league take a draft pick. Personally, I think the league should only take a draft pick if a team has flagrantly, or repeatedly ignored the cap.
At least this is how I understand and interpret the rules.
As no one has ever actually been fined yet, and as far as I know the league has never fully explained these things, there is room for me to be mistaken.
Hope that helps, LB.