NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement
Salary Cap Accounting Rules
Section 6(c)(xv)Valuation of Player Contracts
Notwithstanding any provision in a Player Contract to the contrary or when such payments are actually made, the following rules shall apply in determining the amount of a player’s Salary that is to be included in Team Salary in a particular League Year for purposes of the Salary Cap:
Any incentive bonus based on the team’s performance automatically will be deemed “likely to be earned” if it sets a minimum level of statistical performance that is equal to or lower than that achieved by the team finishing fifth from the bottom in the League in the applicable category during the previous season. For example, an incentive bonus based on a team winning at least a specified number of games will be evaluated by determining whether this number of wins was equal to or lower than that achieved by the team that was fifth from the bottom of the League in wins during the previous season. Conversely, any incentive bonus based on the team’s performance automatically will be deemed “not likely to be earned” if it sets a minimum level of statistical performance that is equal to or higher than that achieved by the team finishing fifth from the top of the League in the applicable category during the previous season.