Hamilton Tiger-Cats lone CFL team to exceed league’s salary cap in 2014

TORONTO – The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were the lone team to exceed the CFL’s $5-million salary cap last season.

The league announced Thursday the Ticats finished $8,939 over the cap, earning them a $8,939 fine, or $1 for each dollar they were over. Hamilton was the lone team to go over the cap last year.

“The salary management system was brought into the CFL to provide competitive balance and responsible business practices,” CFL president and chief operating officer Michael Copeland said in a statement. “It is clear, with eight of nine teams under the cap, our teams understand that for the continued growth of our league, we have to remain fiscally responsible.”

The CFL’s salary management system was introduced in 2007.

The Ticats cited injuries and uncertainty with a new salary management system as the reasons for going over the cap.

“Unfortunately in 2014 we had some challenges to the (salary management system) that were injury related, including several to high profile players,” the club said in a statement. “We worked to our best ability to mitigate that to get under the SMS, but with the record number of injuries, coupled with the unknown SMS factor of all-star bonuses for our 10 all-stars, we ended up over the cap by less than $10,000.

“We look forward to a great 2015 season and once again working within the parameters of the SMS system.”