Bag receivers: The NFL salary cap is going up

2/25/24 7:00PM

Bag receivers

‍The NFL is allowing teams to boost their already bumper wage bills next season, raising the salary cap by more than $30 million to take it north of $255 million, the league announced on Friday.

That 13.6% leap is the largest on record since the NFL first introduced the salary cap 30 years ago, when the most each team could pay out in wages was “just” $34.6 million. In the '24 season, franchises can also dish out a further $74 million on player benefits (think performance bonuses or retirement packages for former stars), taking the total top spend to $329 million per team, or a whopping $10.5 billion across the whole league.

‍More money ball

‍As you may expect for the most valuable sports division in the world, where TV deals alone could reportedly be worth over $126 billion by 2033, the NFL’s cap towers over other leagues, and the size of the increase underscores just how healthy the financials are for America’s most popular sport. Even the ascendant NBA is only projected to reach a $141 million salary cap — a figure that the NFL passed nearly a decade ago.

While salaries for every position on the gridiron have increased in recent decades, it’s interesting to note that there wasn’t a single football player in Forbes’ 10 highest-paid athletes of 2023. This is perhaps owing to the fact that the ranking also takes off-the-field earnings into account, an area where other sports have encouraged their players to command higher sponsorship and endorsement deals.

Note: stalling NFL collective bargaining agreement negotiations meant that the 2010 season was uncapped — though that didn’t lead to teams splashing the cash as much as you might imagine.

Hyunsoo Rim

appy birthday

4/1/26

Apple is turning 50 today and it doesn’t look a thing like its younger self

From Macs to iPods, iPhones, and now services, here’s how Apple’s business has looked every 10 years.

The entrance of Allbirds seen from Hayes St. in San Francisco, Calif.

Allbirds, the once buzzy multibillion-dollar sneaker startup, is selling up for $39 million

That’s less than 1% of its peak market cap about four years ago.

Tom Jones3/31/26

Max Knoblauch3/30/26

JetBlue is raising its bag fees as fuel costs squeeze airlines

JetBlue will reportedly hike its bag fees, as the cost of jet fuel continues to climb amid the war in Iran. It’s the latest example of carriers finding ways to push rising costs onto travelers.

Last week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said that if fuel prices remain elevated, fares would need to rise another 20% for his airline to break even this year.

As CNBC reported, when one airline raises fees, others tend to follow.

Earlier this month, JetBlue hiked its first-quarter outlook for operating revenue per seat mile to between 5% and 7%, saying that strong Q1 demand helped “partially offset additional expenses realized from operational disruptions and rising fuel costs.” Now, the carrier appears to be making moves to further boost revenue to offset those costs.

Earlier on Monday, JetBlue rival Alaska Air lowered its Q1 profit forecast. The refining margins for the carrier’s cheapest fuel option — sourced from Singapore and representing about 20% of Alaska’s overall supply — have spiked 400% since February.

JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.