It was getting lonely being the one of the only outlets writing anything about the whereabouts of the 2012 salary cap. FOX’s Jay Glazer, who has been cranking out more scoops lately than a creamery worker on meth, says via Twitter that he’s hearing the number, when unveiled on Monday, will be $120.6 million per team.
That’s not much of an increase at all over the 2011 amount, $120.375 million.
At a time when the NFL continues to see increased popularity and revenue, an essentially flat cap seems odd, to say the least.
As we’ve been told, unexpected increases in benefits held the cap down. Another factor is the return of the performance-based pay system, which sets aside $3.46 million per team that otherwise would boost the salary cap. Some league insiders believe that this specific payment, which gives significant payment to players with low salaries but extensive playing time, was omitted in 2011 in order to keep the cap on the right side of $120 million.