Games Played Bonuses
There is a list of A and B bonuses for entry level contracts on the site but then I read that Ryan McLeod hit a games played bonus last year to contribute to the $896,000 ($850,000 for Bouchard and $46,000 for McLeod) of bonus overages from last year. What is this bonus for and why isn't it includes in the A and B bonus lists?
Answer
Players are eligible for Games Played bonuses if they're on an Entry Level deal and their total base + bonuses is less than the max ($925K up until the 2022 draft class, $950K for 2022 draft class). If a player has performance bonuses and their salary + signing bonus is less than 925K or 950K (depending on the draft class), then the performance bonuses you see listed are Games Played bonuses.
A and B bonuses are only if the base + bonus is 925K or 950K.
The main reason Games Played bonuses are used are to have a high signing bonus. The signing bonus cannot be more than 10% of base salary + signing bonus + games played bonus. So in McLeod's case, he had a 775K Salary and a 92.5K signing Bonus. That means he had to have 57.5K in Games Played bonuses, because 92.5K is 10% of 775K + 92.5K + 57.5K.
