The NFL salary cap for 2013 will rise to $123 million from $120.6 million in 2012, an NFL Players Association official told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The increase, which is larger than some in the NFL had anticipated, is a result of greater-than-expected revenues last season — primarily from NFL Properties — and a jump in projected league revenues.

The league and the union work together to establish a cap number, based on parameters established under their collective bargaining agreement. The current 10-year CBA was signed in August 2011, ending the owners’ lockout of the players.

One of the main areas of contention during that labor dispute was how to divide the more than $9 billion in annual league revenues, a figure that will keep rising, particularly once the NFL’s new TV contracts kick in for 2014. Those additional revenues will be reflected in the salary cap for 2015, which is expected to see a more significant increase than the roughly 2 percent uptick from 2012 to 2013.

Over the next four seasons, from 2013-16, each of the NFL’s 32 clubs will be required to spend an average of at least 89 percent of the salary cap in contract dollars, while overall league spending must average 95 percent in that span.

 

COWBOYS: Dallas reworked the contracts of five starters, including DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten and Miles Austin, to save salary-cap space.

Dallas, which was penalized $5 million off its cap in both 2012 and 2013, needed to scramble to free up space. By restructuring the deals of star linebacker Ware, tight end Witten, wide receiver Austin, cornerback Brandon Carr and center Ryan Cook, the Cowboys wiped out the $20 million they were projected to be over the cap this year.

 

TITANS: Tennessee tight end Brandon Barden, 23, was arrested in a roll-over drunken driving crash in Lincolnton, Ga.

A Lincoln County Sheriff’s report said Barden lost control of a truck carrying two passengers on Feb. 23 and crashed into a ditch in eastern Georgia. The player was charged with DUI and failure to maintain lane.

 

BRONCOS: Denver is sticking with young safety Rahim Moore although he allowed Jacoby Jones’ 70-yard touchdown catch in the final minute of regulation in the playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

John Elway, the Broncos’ vice president, and Coach John Fox said Moore made great progress last season and will put the blunder behind him.

 

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