New York (AFP) – NFL teams will have a salary cap of $255.4 million per club for the 2024 season, an unprecedented $30 million increase per team, the league announced on Friday.
There will also be an addition $74 million per team for player benefits, which includes performance-based pay and benefits for retired players, lifting total per club player costs for the 2024 campaign to $329.4 million — or more than $10.5 billion across the entire NFL.
The record one-year leap in the salary cap, the NFL said, is the result of full repayment of all amounts advanced by the teams and deferred by players during the Covid pandemic — plus “an extraordinary increase” in media revenue for the 2024 season.
New rights deals combined with expanded regular-season schedules and playoff formats caused the leap in rights fees revenue.
NFL salary limits have soared over the past decade, rising from $123 million per team in 2013 to $198.2 million by 2020.
After a slide in 2021 to $182.5 million due to the pandemic, the salary cap rose to $208.2 million in 2022.
The final totals were well above projections the 2024 per-club cap would be about $242 million, providing relief for clubs that were near the league limits.
All NFL teams have until March 13 to have their salary totals fit under the new cap.
The new league year will begin that afternoon ahead of the start of 2024 free agency.
