Thursday, July 8, 2010

Salary Caps

You will probably figure out very quickly that I may or may not be a little long winded in my posts. I guess I go by quantity over quality with the attitude that if I write enough, I'll eventually come to a valid point...


So, all this talk about who will win the LeBron sweepstakes, why the money the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Phillies and Mets throw at players makes baseball too predictable (although, with the Mets and Cubs throwing awful money after bad, they are trying their best to disprove this), hockey players signing very long contracts to spread out the big pay day – to allow more high priced talent to follow - and the looming uncapped NFL season got me thinking about the state of major sports and their salary caps. It’s hard to ignore the differences and the issues that each salary structure brings. There are some that I feel work better than others (I don’t think baseball works, whereas the NFL has been doing a good job for the most part), and I would like to take a look at each of them individually – in a six part column. But wait! Don’t stop reading yet. Four of the entries will be talking about each individual sports league. If there is a league you don’t watch or care about (example: the NBA), simply skip that entry. You won’t miss anything because each of the four “body” entries will be independent of each other.

I will start off with the NBA, to talk about what I think is the most glaring issue at the moment in any major sport (aside from that whole lock-out thing in the NFL that’s coming at us faster than Chris Johnson and his 4.2 speed) – the courtship of King James. Aside from the terrible moniker – that I probably stole from someone – this is a big deal that I think is going to be an even bigger deal to the NBA when all is said and done.  Also, I will wonder aloud to anyone that will listen about why GM’s fall all over themselves to sign bad players to massive contracts that will end up crippling to the team.

Next, I’ll talk about the NFL, and it’s issues that will be addressed by a lockout in the near future. I know it’s not for sure that there will be a lockout, but I don’t see how it can be avoided since neither side has blinked and it seems like the owners want waaaaay to much. Big issues include how many teams want nothing to do with high draft picks (large investment in an unproven commodity), how do you pay for new stadiums that owners demand seemingly much too often, and how do you keep both sides happy with incentive laden contracts that sometimes cause both players and staff (coaches, GM’s, trainers, etc.) to make decisions that don’t necessarily help the team - all in the name of making/saving money.

The MLB. Most of you are probably rolling your eyes and praying that I don’t spend the whole time talking about the Red Sox and Yankees (since I’m sure most baseball fans would rather watch an endless loop of Royals vs. Pirates with Paris Hilton as the commentator than read one more thing about the Yankees and Red Sox), but hear me out. Baseball, unlike the other three major sporting leagues, allows the rich to stay rich instead of completely sharing revenue. This unfortunately leads to runaway trains like the Yankees since America loves a winner and there are much to many fair-weather fans and front-runners (don’t believe me? How many Cowboys/Steelers, Yankees/Red Sox, Lakers/Celtics, and Red Wings/Penguins fans do you know? I know more than a few, and these people are sick in the head). I’d like to talk about how baseball could actually be fairer than the other leagues since it allows the owners to spend as much as they want to create a winner, but since not all cities and fan-bases are created equal, this is near impossible.

Finally, I’ll take a look at hockey. A sport that only recently found their way out of a lock-out and is still trying to dig their way out of being more than just a quirky sideshow. This could be done simply by allowing ESPN to absorb them like they do every other sporting even worth watching – and some that aren’t – but that’s a story for another day. The real problem seen in the NHL is the length of contracts. High priced players are signed by teams to exceedingly long contracts in order to spread out the GDP of a second world country that’s being paid to them as much as possible in order to lessen the hit to the salary cap in any given year. This is a new development that will be interesting in about five years to see what it does to the league. Will it be like the NBA where teams are looking to dump terrible contract and collect expiring ones, or will it work out with the majority of players keeping their skills up enough to marginally justify their price tag?

In the end, I hope to at least begin a discussion by pointing out some interesting, frustrating, and great aspects about each of the major four sports leagues and their finances.

1 comment:

  1. Seriously!Already a dig on the NBA...C'mon Man! No love for the professional hoops! You Yinzers are unbelievable :)

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