Short Playoff Series and the Salary Cap - Larry Coon

If we assume this year’s playoffs will finish in 80 games, then we will have about five fewer games than average. Taking the worst-case loss of $2.5 million per game, it means the league will have to contend with $12.5 million less coming in than Stern might originally have expected.

How will this affect next year’s salary cap? $12.5 million less revenue means the 2010-11 cap will be about $212,000 lower. In other words, instead of a $56.1 million cap, we might have one that is about $55.89 million.

That’s not enough of a difference to get too excited about.