Athlete Contracts — The Financial Growth of the Three Biggest US Sports Leagues

Millions and millions of people watch US sports each year, with the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and Major League Baseball (MLB) at the top. These three leagues collect billions of dollars in revenue each year. While this means that the billionaire owners of the organizations in these leagues get richer, so do the players.

The symbol of the NFL’s growing power — a $255.4 million salary cap.

This football off-season, the NFL announced that the team salary cap would rise to $255.4 million, a 13.6% increase from last year’s cap of $224.8 million. This $30.6 million salary hike is the largest dollar increase in NFL history, underscoring a new age of sports money. The salary cap is calculated and set based on the league’s earnings, with the NFL referencing an “extraordinary increase in media revenue” as the source of this year’s financial leap.