Lions, Bombers and Ti-Cats fined for exceeding salary cap

[SammyGreene]

I thought we would have been in pretty good shape in regards to the cap given they cut Lemon to sign Jonathan Kongbo then abruptly traded him and his $123,000 contract to Hamilton for a draft pick albeit he did receive a $20,000 signing bonus from BC.

Maybe too many players hit their performance bonuses?

https://3downnation.com/2024/04/19/cfl- ... p-in-2023/

[David]

And all this time I thought it was the Bombers who were the culprits. Turns out, we exceeded them by $60K!

**Eats crow**


DH

[don corleone]

Sounds like the Lions need do more "marketing" and it would be nice to see the totals in that column to have an objective opinion of the compensation.

[Hambone]

Sounds like the Lions need do more "marketing" and it would be nice to see the totals in that column to have an objective opinion of the compensation.

Can you translate that into layman's English Don? For whatever reason I can't figure out what you're trying to say.

[don corleone]

Can you translate that into layman's English Don? For whatever reason I can't figure out what you're trying to say.

I was making reference to the portion of the player compensation package exempt from the SMS.

While contract details remain highly guarded information Tim White was one who was said to have received $12,000 for off field "marketing" services in the deal he signed earlier this year. Sounds like autograph sessions will qualify. Dalton Schoen who was reported at $230,000 was registered with the league at $190,000. Also reported at the time of his signing were significant marketing opportunities for Chris Streveler who apparently signed for $120,000.

It was discussed on this forum with others more knowledgeable than myself on the matter. There were a few checks in place so we'll see how close they look at it. Zero mentioned in the article on the 2023 SMS violations although this could be the first year for it. It won't take long before every player in the league is on a league minimum plus deal that includes a lump sum tax reduced bonus payment.

As long as it is fair is my position.

[Hambone]

Thanks DC. Now I understand where you were coming from.

I don't see why they'd report the marketing exemptions because these violations are all about the non-exempt salary portions. If there was anything extra I'd like to see them report it would be the total SMS salaries all teams laid out. We know who goes over and by how much but we don't know what the teams are spending who come up short of the SMS max. I'm curious how close the rest get to the cap wall. Is everybody else within a few grand of those who exceed the SMS or are there some who are like $200K short?

[DanoT]

The important thing is to not go so far over the cap so as to lose a draft pick. I think the threshold is $100k, so a team with a well managed SMS would figure out the theoretical situation in which every player with incentive bonus performance clause maxes out, and then make sure that number does not go over $100k.

The Lions were $85,979 over the cap so is cost them that in player salaries plus another $85,979 in fines. To me, this means that pretty much everyone got their performance bonus which means the team had a good year on the field and this probably lead to a good year at the box office to help pay for the extra salaries and fine.

[don corleone]

I was wondering which injury or event pushed the Lions over but can't recall an extended stay on the one game that would have caused the issue. Couldn't find it but thought Dom Rhymes was moved to the six game list which would have made even more space given his contract. Even V.A. was on a team friendly deal. Shows that there is not a lot of wiggle room. That said, six other teams did manage to comply.

[Hambone]

Going to the Lions amongst 3D's reported highest paid players by position here's the salaries, bonuses and bonuses earned as best as I could ascertain:

ADAMS: Hard Money $285K, Max Value $350K, Potential performance bonuses $65K, Earned $60K.
EVANS: Hard $94K, Max $151K, Potential bonuses $57K, Earned $18K
DAVIS: Hard $90K, Max $143K, Potential bonuses $53K, Earned $12K
NOTE: usually the only way one QB can earn some of his bonuses is at the expense of another QB earning his because they can't both be behind center at the same time.

COUTURE: Hard $178.8K, Max $188.8K, Potential bonuses $10K, Earned $10K
CHUNGH: Hard $155K, Max $190K, Potential bonuses $35K, Earned $35K
NOTE: for both their only bonuses were achieved when they played their first game of the season. Barring a season ending injury before the season began it was safe for management to assume they would earn 100% of their bonuses.

RHYMES: Hard $173K, Max $193K, Potential bonuses $20K, Earned $20K
WHITEHEAD: Hard $159K, Max $174K, Potential bonuses $15K, Earned $0K
NOTE: Like Couture and Chungh above Rhymes only bonus was achieved by playing 1 game. Whitehead was to get $5K for every kick or punt return TD.

MACKIE: Hard $109K, Max $128K, Potential bonuses $19K, Earned $19K

BETTS; Hard $180K, Max $206K, Potential bonuses $26K, Earned $26K
MENARD; Hard $147K, Max $157.5K, Potential bonuses $10.5K, Earned $8K

LOKOMBO; Hard $135.3K, Max $141.3K, Potential bonuses $6K, Earned $0K

SAYLES; Hard $140K, Max $157K, Potential bonuses $17K, Earned $10K
LEE III; Hard $137K, Max $154K, Potential bonuses $17K, Earned $13K
PETERS; Hard $123.2K, Max $136,2K, Potential bonuses $13K, Earned $10K

WHYTE; Hard $130K, Max $133K, Potential bonuses $3K, Earned $?K
FLINTOFT; Hard $82K, Max $90K, Potential bonuses $8K, Earned $0K

[Hambone]

I was wondering which injury or event pushed the Lions over but can't recall an extended stay on the one game that would have caused the issue. Couldn't find it but thought Dom Rhymes was moved to the six game list which would have made even more space given his contract. Even V.A. was on a team friendly deal. Shows that there is not a lot of wiggle room. That said, six other teams did manage to comply.

That's what I was thinking too. Having a bunch of short term injuries can play hell with the SMS as can having to use the 1G to stash healthy players. Overall BC was fairly healthy with most pit stops on the 1G being brief as in 1 or 2 games. BC had 37 players suit up for 16-18 games

Bemiy was listed on the 1G for the first 7 games then moved to the 6G for game 8. 3 games later he was pulled from the 6G to draw into the lineup to replace Cherry. Bagayogo spent 4 games stashed on the 1G before suiting up for the rest of the year.

Without doing a game by game analysis on all 18 2023 depth charts (which are available on the Lions' website) I did notice anecdotaly that they seemed to put all injured players, regardless of severity, onto the 6G later in the season than they did earlier. Perhaps they were seeing they were going to be in cap trouble come season's end.

[cromartie]

Nice to see the Riders not going over the cap for a change.

[Hambone]

Nice to see the Riders not going over the cap for a change.

It's been a while for them. They busted it 4 times in the first 7 years of the SMS but have managed to keep their noses clean since the 2013 season. Despite not being busted for the past 10 seasons they still hold the record for most violations and most dollars in fines.

SSK - 4 violations $208531 in fines.
WPG - 3 violations $135133 in fines.
MTL - 2 violations $117364 in fines + 1 lost 1st round pick. NOTE: $116570 in fines & the pick came in the 1st season of SMS enforcement.
HAM - 2 violations $11593 in fines.
TOR - 2* violations $49735 in fines. NOTE: it was deemed Argos violated the SMS in 2019 but with the CFL in full blown Covid survival mode in 2020 the CFL chose to not levy discipline. I don't think it was ever revealed how much over they were.
BCL - 1 violation $85979 in fines.
OTT - 1 violation $11994 in fines.
CGY - 0 violations.
EDM - 0 violations.

[Hambone]

Just an observation on all the factors that can lead to going over the SMS. Winnipeg went over this year by $25947. With first locked up they chose to rest 10 starters for their final regular season game. Those 10 all spent the final game on the 1G counting against the SMS. In the meantime 10 others were activated from the PR to replace them. The game salaries of the 10 starters don't matter as whether on the game roster or 1G they would still count on the SMS. However assuming the 10 promoted from the PR were on basic PR pay that added an extra $31389 to their SMS. That's the difference between 1 game salary ($3889) at CFL min ($70K/season) and 1 week PR pay ($750) times 10 players. Ironically resting 10 veterans for the final game put them over the top.

That aspect didn't apply to BC's violation as they didn't rest any starters for the final game.