WHAT is UP with CAP managing?? *CONFUSED*

[ZoneKIller]

I am seriously confused at what goes on with the money in Madden 25.
This is what I thought at first.
The CAP is for regular contracts, Bonus money comes from your funds you collect through the year.

I'm in like 2018 or something and have collected well over $300million in my funds. Most of my BIG money players have retired, so I decided to start giving out HUGE bonus money(I have alot to spare) and small contracts, so that I could get more players on my team with higher ratings.

So here is my problem. At the beginning of Free Agency, I had $10mill give or take in my Cap to use. I offered only TWO contracts. Each contract was for $1mill(a year I thought) with a bonus contract totaling $30mill or so over the course of 5 years. Now originally I thought, only $1mill would come out of my Cap, because it was a $1mill a year contract. Every bit of the bonus money came out of my funds, but instead of having around $8mill left in my Cap, I only have somewhere around 40k???? Can someone please tell me WHAT IS GOING ON?

And please don't tell me it all comes out at once, because I looked at their contracts under the salary tab and they're making $5mill+ a year over the 5 year contract. Plus too if you look under finances, money comes out every week for player contracts......... SO PLEASE ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED!!!

Thanks

[DrDoctor]

I believe salary cap, and the funds you have, are separate issues.

A player's total contract, both Bonus and Salary, for that season are counted towards your salary cap.

[ZoneKIller]

Okay, so when I give a bonus, why does the total bonus come out of my funds the next week and then it tells me it does under finances tab?

[nekolas]

I am just guessing here, but maybe bonus comes out of your funds AND counts toward your salary cap?

[DrDoctor]

Quote: Originally Posted by nekolas

I am just guessing here, but maybe bonus comes out of your funds AND counts toward your salary cap?

I believe so. You need the funds to pay it, but it also counts towards your cap. A player's full contract falls under the salary cap, or at least it used to in Madden.

[mercalnd]

The bonus gets paid in full when you give out the contract. That's why it comes out of your funds immediately. As far as the cap goes, the bonus is spread out over the length of the contract. For example, say you give out a 5 year contract at 2 million per year with a 20 million bonus, you need the 20 million in funds right away to pay the bonus and that contract will count on the cap at 6 million per year.

[CheesHd09]

Your bonus is guareented money which gets paid from available funds BUT also contributes to the annual avg of the contract.

If this wasnt the case then teams like the Cowboys (in real life) would just give out huge bonus' with no contract and then small teams like the Pack wouldnt be able to compete.

To summarize

Bonus:
1. Takes from for funds
2. Contributes to the annual avg cap hit
3. Is the solo factor is deciding the cap penalty to a play when and if u cut them

Contract money:
1. Only counts against your cap in the year your in.
2. Does not contribute to any cap penalty
3. In essence this is "promise money" that can be taken back at any time. This makes bonus money that much more attractive to players

[tarek]

From my limited knowledge, I also think that players value contracts with a higher bonus than base salary. Because not only is the bonus paid straight away, but it represents guaranteed money for the player.

The only issue is really high cap penalty you incur for a contract with a high bonus. I think what happens is that the penalty is taken purely off the remaining bonus money and not the base salary.

So if a player has 3 years @ $6M per year, $1M base and $5M bonus ($15M total).

If you release prior to the start of Year 1 you incur a $15M penalty for THAT season. If you release DURING year 1, you get $5M penalty for that year and $10M for the next year.

If you release prior to starting year 2, its a $10M penalty for the year. During the season it's $5M +$5M next season.

If you release in year 3 it's just a current penalty for that year but nothing for the next year.

I think that is correct, but I'm not entirely sure so if someone knows whether it is right or wrong just let me know.