There is no "extra money". That $2.5m is 100% spoken for if your top 26 are already under contract.
Here is how it breaks down. Hopefully this clarifies a few things. I'm using the numbers found in
this article. Please correct me if there is a newer version or additional info has been released.
New number of $12.1m in total.
This is made up of $11.45m for the top 30 and $650k for the development list.
Minimum wage is increased for players 27-30.
* In 2022 minimum wage for players 1-26 was already $120k.
* In 2022 minimum wage for players 27-30 was $80k.
All players who have the standard clause get an 18% increase.
* Note that this wouldn't apply to a player who is #27-#30 with the clause, since they are already receiving a 50% increase.
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Warning - Maths below
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Players 1-26 before: $8.88m
Players 1-26 increase: $1.59m (18%)
Players 1-26 after: $10.47m
Players 27-30 before: $320k
Players 27-30 after: $480k
Match payments before: 0
Match payments increase: ~$500k (Based on speculation. 20 players each get $1k for 25 games)
Match payments after: ~$500k
So the total number of $11.45m is made up of...
$10.47m in payments to the top 26
$480k in payments to players 27-30
$500k in match payments.