Since any salary cap or floor is most likely going to be based on the CBT formula or something close to it I figure that is what we should list in these discussions in order to compare apples to apples. The regular 40 man payroll figures are not the figures being used by the negotiators.
In 2024 the Cardinals had a CBT payroll of $207M so yes they can afford $170M assuming attendance gets back to normal and the tv revenue is stabilized.