5 March 2010

The NFL’s salary cap does not exist from today, and nor is there any longer a lower limit to what teams can spend on wages. For those who don’t follow the NFL closely, there’s some background to the current extraordinary situation on the NFL website, while Reuters gives a short and simple precis.

The New York Times’ round-up on the issue is as good as any. (On a wholly unrelated topic, the NYT also had a quirky tale a couple of days ago about Sidney Crosby’s Olympic kit being pinched).

Sports Illustrated’s live Free Agency tracker is running at the time of writing (9.20pm UK time, 4.20 East Coast USA, Friday), and has just reported, citing ESPN: “Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers of the Carolina Panthers has agreed to a six-year, $72 million with the Chicago Bears.  The deal calls for Peppers to earn $40 million over the first three years.”