The National Basketball Association (NBA) has raised the league’s salary cap by 7.5 per cent to an all-time high of $63.065m (€46m) for the 2014-15 season and has appointed Pamela El as its new chief marketing officer.
The salary cap goes into effect today (Thursday) when the league’s “moratorium period” ends and teams can begin signing free agents and making trades. The minimum team salary, which is set at 90 per cent of the salary cap, is $56.759m for the 2014-15 season.
The current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) provides for three different mid-level exceptions depending on a team's salary level. The non-taxpayer mid-level for this season is $5.305m, the taxpayer mid-level is $3.278m and the mid-level for a team with room under the salary cap is $2.732m.
The NBA salary cap is expected to rise again for 2015-16 before potentially seeing a significant increase in the following campaign when revenue from a new national television deal bolsters the league’s coffers.
In other news, El will join the NBA as its new chief marketing officer on August 18, filling a role that has been vacant since 1999. Formerly the senior vice-president of financial brand marketing for Nationwide Insurance, El will be responsible for marketing and advertising for the NBA, women’s league the WNBA and NBA Development League.
She will report to NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, who said that El, who began her marketing career in 1983, will be “a huge addition as we work to build our brand on a global scale.”
