The NFL had a decrease in the salary cap in 2021 due to the loss of revenues in 2020 that were the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With little to no fans allowed in stadiums last season, revenues were down.
The salary cap was set at $182.5 million for this season, a drop of about $16 million, but it could have been more. The league and the NFLPA agreed to spread the cap impact over several seasons instead of all at once.
Related to that is an agreement for 2022. According to multiple reports, the NFL and players’ association have agreed to a salary cap ceiling in 2022. It will not go up past $208.2 million.
That does not mean it will necessarily go to that number, but it will not go higher than that.
If revenues are such that the cap would go beyond that number, the excess would be used to begin to pay back the roughly $17 million in player benefits that were canceled last year due to the pandemic.
Those benefits were scheduled to be paid back after 2023, after the league had presumably recovered from the losses in 2020.
Teams anticipate having full stadiums in the fall when the season begins.
After a rough 2020, it appears the league will fully recover soon.
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