The new TV deal will be huge for the Tennessee Titans cap space

This is important for Titans.

The Tennessee Titans are officially under the projected cap after releasing Adam Humphries earlier in the week.

Right now they have the 19th most cap space in the NFL, but they are still only $2 million below the salary cap ceiling right now. With nearly a third of the NFL still behind the 8-ball financially, there is a reason for optimism here.

The NFL has assured teams that the cap will not “be below” $180 million this season, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be higher. Normally NFL teams aren’t champing at the bit to pay players more money, but when it means that half of the teams in the league are being forced to cut key players, suddenly they are ready to sign checks.

There is no official cap number yet, and the obvious reason is that the NFL is on the brink of signing new TV deals with CBS, Fox, Disney, NBC, Amazon, and I may be missing some people here.

Recently a rumor came out that should mean a LOT of new money for NFL teams. Sports business journal reported this:

"Sources said Disney is expected to pay an increase of up to 30% from its current deal, which based on an average of $2B per year would equate to around $2.6B. An agreement comes after news leaked last week of a stalemate between the two sides, which initially were so far apart in price that some ESPNers questioned whether to cut a deal.When reached for comment, NFL Media VP/Communications Alex Riethmiller said, “The report is incorrect and as we don’t negotiate through the media, there will be no further comment.” ESPN declined to comment.The increase that Disney will pay is far below the other networks — as Fox, CBS and NBC all are seeing the average annual value of their contracts double. ESPN is paying the highest rights fee in the current deal and the increase aligns Disney’s NFL package closer to its broadcast competitors."

So the summary of that is that FOX, CBS, NBC are doubling what they are currently paying the NFL and Disney is upping their current deal from $2 billion per year to $2.6 billion per year.

Forbes noted that in 2020 this is what the major networks were paying for their broadcasting rights:

CBS: $1 billion

NBC: $1.1 billion

Fox: $1.2 billion

So if you double those and then add in the 30% increase from Disney, that means that the NFL’s TV revenue would jump from $5.3 billion in 2020 to $9.2 billion. That is a massive increase in cash flow.

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Keep in mind that I have no idea how the salary cap is figured out. However, a 73% increase in money from TV deals should have massive ramifications for the salary cap.

Now, I have to say that the NFL has denied that a deal is done with Disney, but there have been rumblings that the NFL has been seeking a deal that would double what everyone was currently paying them. The only holdout is Disney, so the total sum of all these deals could still be anywhere from $9.2 billion to $10.6 billion depending on whether the NFL gets what they want from Disney.

Regardless of the final number, it looks like this could be a massive boon for the NFL and while we wait on both parties to sign the deal, the big takeaway is just how much a new TV deal would help the Titans and every team in the NFL.

More money means more action in the free agency market, but for good teams like the Titans, it can also mean fewer hard choices to make. Fans should be keeping an eye on this as we near free agency.

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