The NFL’s landscape changed a bit on Thursday, when the league announced new long-term agreements with its broadcasting partners — a stable that includes CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN/ABC, and Amazon — which will bring in $10 billion in revenue each year for a decade, starting in 2023. That’s great news for the New Orleans Saints and other teams that maximize their salary cap resources.
That’s because the salary cap is directly linked with league revenue, which is tied to these media contracts as well as other income sources like advertising partnerships and stadium attendance and concessions. Even once it’s spread among all 32 teams, that $10 billion will go a long way, and it’ll help the Saints get back on track.
For context, the NFL’s previous broadcasting deals brought in $4.4 billion per year, and that was enough to see the salary cap rise nearly $10 million each season. Once the cap spikes in 2023 when this agreement kicks off, we could see annual cap rises that dwarf past expectations.
But getting there is key. Right now, the Saints rank sixth in salary cap commitments for 2022, with just 30 players under contract after the upcoming season. Even if they extend a handful of their top pending free agents (Terron Armstead, Ryan Ramczyk, Marshon Lattimore, and Marcus Williams are each due new contracts in 2022) and hit on all seven of their draft picks this year, the Saints will still have a dozen or more vacancies to fill just to field a team. It’s a complicated situation. That seems to always be the case for the Saints and the salary cap, but they’ve managed it well until an international pandemic turned everything on its head. Now the recovery begins.
Still, knowing that this big bump is on the way is good news for everyone. For now, the league plans to enforce a flat cap in 2022 (keeping it at $182.5 million), but that’s expected to be renegotiated with the NFL players union. If the Saints can weather the storm of salary cap restrictions in store for them in 2022, they’ll reach a veritable promised land in 2023. There are other changes ahead with the new broadcasting rights agreements, like making prime time games on Sunday and Monday nights flexible and limited Thursday night distribution, which you can get up to speed on over at Touchdown Wire.
