Courtesy: Thomas Skrlj/CFL.
There has been additional money made available for 2025 following a settlement between the CFL and CFLPA.
According to a memo obtained by 3DownNation, the three-down league and its players’ association have agreed each club will have an extra $50,000 to spend in 2025 that’s excluded from salary cap calculations. In other words, each team has an additional $50,000 to spend on top of the current $6.062 million salary cap.
CFL teams recently put “load management” designations on players for rest purposes after clinching playoff berths or shut athletes down after being eliminated from postseason contention. Those moves led to a grievance being filed by the CFLPA as the union wants salary cap money being paid to players who are on game day rosters and are playing football.
It’s important to know that salaries for players on the one-game injured list count towards the salary cap, while athletes who are on the six-game injured list for the full duration or longer do not count against the salary cap.
With that in mind, the agreed upon result means $450,000 combined has been committed by franchises across the CFL to pay player salaries which will not count towards the per-team $6.062 salary cap number in 2025. It’s designed to be a one-time solution with teams agreeing to abide by the collective bargaining rules going forward.
In February 2025, the CFL’s salary cap jumped over $400,000 to $6,062,365 million due to increased league revenues. That lift came from the revenue growth-sharing model in the CBA. However, the one-time per-team salary cap exemption in 2025 was not derived due to increased monies. Those calculations will come after the year is complete.
According to the CBA terms, the CFL established an initial baseline mark for defined league revenue during the 2022 season, which takes into account the revenue for the league itself and its nine franchises. If revenues exceeded the initial baseline in subsequent seasons, that uptick can be added to the following year’s salary cap at the players’ association’s discretion.
For every dollar revenue increases above the baseline, a quarter is supposed to be allocated to the salary cap, which is then split evenly between all nine teams. However, the cap increases are not compounded and the formula result needs to exceed the previously mandated minimum increase per team to take effect — $125,000 in 2025.
3DownNation has requested comment from the CFL and CFLPA. This article will be updated if either organization provides a statement.