Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace bracing for a salary cap reduction in 2021

With the coronavirus temporarily shutting down all sports, the NFL is in a bit of a dilemma regarding the 2021 salary cap should games be played without fans or with a limited capacity of fans. The Chicago Bears must be prepared.

If you have been paying attention to NFL news this week you already know that stadiums are going to be required to tarp off the first six to eight rows of the stadium to help limit the players’ exposure to fans and the coronavirus. This means the first six to eight rows of seats at Soldier Field will also be tarped off and the Chicago Bears will be out any revenue normally generated by selling those tickets.

The Chicago Bears stadium already has less seating than most stadiums in the NFL. Now you are removing approximately 6,000 to 8,000 seats. If you consider the face value of these seats to average around $175 per seat, the team is looking at a loss of between $1 and $1.5 million dollars in revenue. Now, imagine if the stadium is only at 20 to 40 percent capacity. Yikes. That is a large amount of money being lost. No wonder the league is doing anything and everything to play.

Now, most of the NFL revenue comes from television contracts, but this is still a major blow when spread out over all 32 teams. This is why the salary cap might see its first decrease since 2009 when the offseason kicks off in 2021. All teams, including Ryan Pace and the Chicago Bears must prepare for such a reduction. This could lead to some tough decisions in regards to who stays and who goes in 2021 too.

Chicago Bears and teams looking to find new ways to earn revenue

To help offset some of the revenue loss, the league is allowing advertisements to be placed on those tarped off seats. Each team will sell these off to local sponsors. Reports are that the league will loosen some of its restrictions on what type of advertisements will be allowed. The league also follows a “40-foot rule” which restricts the teams from selling ad space 40 feet above field level. Reports are this could change for the 2020 season as these ads will be seen on TV too.

Instead of a $10 million dollar increase in 2021 as many were expecting, early reports suggest that the league might have to reduce the 2021 salary cap by as much as $50 million. That would drastically change teams’ roster situations. These reports were before the ad space plan and honestly would not be allowed. Seeing a decrease of $25 million might not be out of the question though as the league tries to spread revenue loss over multiple years.

Things are looking to be difficult for the Chicago Bears and the NFL heading into 2021 and 2020 has not even happened yet. Imagine if Mitchell Trubisky balls out. How will they pay him? What if Nick Foles plays so well he opts out of his contract expecting a larger one? How will Pace pay him? These are all questions that could come up depending on how the 2020 season and the pandemic play out. All I know is that Pace better be bracing himself for tough decisions next year.