The NFL's salary cap era began with sweeping changes in 1994

NFL fans in the modern day have grown accustomed to constant talk about the salary cap. How can a team maintain all its stars while staying within the parameters of the cap? Why is the cap so confusing to the average fan? Why does the NFL have one in the first place? These are just a few questions that come to mind with this system.

The salary cap is such a hot topic that fans may be surprised to learn it is relatively new for the more than century-old NFL. In fact, it began in 1994 and ushered in sweeping changes to the league.

The NFL decided to use a salary cap in 1994

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So why did the league make this move? Well, it begins with the idea of free agency. For decades, players could not move freely from team to team as they can now. Unless a team wanted to move on from you, that is where you would play for your career.

Yet time passed and players started demanding rights. The players won a legal battle to institute free agency in the league. The catch was that a hard salary cap was put in place to ensure a handful of teams could not outspend the others to acquire all the top talent.

Let's say there was free agency without any sort of salary cap in place. What would that look like? It would likely mirror was remains the case in Major League Baseball. There is a clear distinction between "big market" and "small market" teams.

For example, a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers can spend well over $300 million, while a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates may spend well under $50 million. With no salary cap or floor, it's a true free market. The result, however, is a competitive imbalance where one team can sign all the league's top stars because they have a rich owner.

This is a reality the NFL wanted to avoid and successfully did with the implementation of the salary cap. But did this new rule limit spending?

The salary cap is good news for players

As mentioned, the salary cap was introduced as a response to free agency. Players could move about freely, but no team could drastically outspend another. One way to look at this is that the NFL slashed potential spending all throughout the league. But that ignores what truly took place.

The cap meant every team was on a level playing field in terms of spending. Thus, a team that just went 0-16 is free to spend the same amount as a team that just won the Super Bowl. This system allows for quick turnarounds and explains why there are usually a few worst-to-first teams in the league every single season.

Parity is key to the success of any professional sports league. That is why the league added the cap in response to free agency. With every franchise having a chance at a Super Bowl, fans from every quarter are more engaged. That means more viewership and more money for owners and players alike.

A simple strategy for sustained success

The implementation of the salary cap meant it was harder for teams to remain consistent contenders. Winning a Super Bowl usually means players up for new deals want to be paid big money. The cap makes it impossible to retain everyone, meaning championship talent flows out into the league and improves other franchises.

With every rule, there is an exception. The New England Patriots honored the tradition by ignoring it and won six Super Bowls with Tom Brady under center. So how did they find such sustained, dynastic success?

That was due to Brady never demanding a top-dollar contract. The Patriots did not have to make him take up a significant part of the cap, and the result was sheer dominance. That is essentially how top teams operated before 1994.

Analysts can easily point to Brady and say he did the right thing to help his team win. Yet it is hard to fault players for earning as much as possible, especially in a brutal sport such as the NFL.

A constantly rising figure

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The unique thing about the NFL salary cap is that it is a dynamic figure. This means the numbers coincide with revenue and how the league is performing. Anyone who has watched or followed the NFL as of late knows the league is doing great.

Television contracts are bid on in the billions and the entire league benefits by sharing this money. When the salary cap was introduced, it started at just over $34 million. That figure eclipsed $100 million in 2006 and just went over the $200 million mark this year. So if the trends hold, the number may reach $300 million in the next decade or so.

This is a shocking increase from when this all began back in 1994. Did anyone think the NFL would grow so much in such a short amount of time? Perhaps this was the plan all along, as every single team being on a level playing field increased the league's popularity.

Aside from a few exceptions like the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, teams all over the NFL have enjoyed notable periods of success since 1994. This is why NFL playoff droughts are so shocking. It is simply not in the plans for a team to be bad for so long when they can spend just as much as every other team out there.

The NFL may have cemented its own future in 1994 by adding a salary cap to the mix. It allowed for parity, which in turn allowed for serious growth. The NFL has 32 teams and may only continue to grow. Adding another team that will spend over $200 million per season proves just how well the league is doing, and why a salary cap may be a fantastic idea for every single league out there.