Baseball needs a Salary Cap
Christopher A. Caraballo
December 16, 2006
Baseball has been America’s past time for over 100 years. The game is filled with a rich history, unmatched by any other sport. Baseball has iconic figures such as Babe Ruth, Ted William and Jackie Robinson, and also has the most storied franchise in all of sports the New York Yankees. Today popularity and interest in baseball is measured upon how much money a team is willing to spend or what market the team is in. There is no parity in baseball which has allowed other sports, notably the NFL to become more popular. The NFL imposes a salary cap, and most of the player contracts are not guaranteed. The result is a team going worst to first, evenly matched competitive games every week and fans all around America spending their Sunday afternoon in front of the television. That is why the NFL has been synonymous with the phrase “On Any Given Sunday”, because every team has a chance to win on Sunday. The question to ask is: What should baseball do to regain its popularity? The answer is a salary cap.
Currently there is no salary cap in baseball. The players union and owners recently agreed on a new collective that runs through 2011. In 2006 any team over $128 million payroll threshold had to pay a luxury tax of percentage the difference between their payroll and the threshold. The luxury tax was designed to create competitive balance in baseball. Teams such as New York and Boston pay this luxury tax if they exceed the threshold and the payment is spread out amongst the small market owners. If the luxury tax was implemented to create a competitive balance then why is there no parity in baseball? The small market owners have not re-invested their earnings from the luxury tax into fielding competitive team; the luxury tax earnings get pocketed.
The national popularity of baseball is not where it should be. With the recent exploitations of the steroid era and historic records being broken, baseball needs leverage. During the off-season there are few cities that have interest in baseball such as New York, Boston, Chicago and LA because those are the teams that are most likely going to land the big free agent with big contracts, contracts smaller markets cannot afford. Also, the small market teams who do have star players that they have developed wind up trading them away midseason for prospects because they know they have no shot of retaining that player via free agency. They can’t compete with the cash being laid out by the big markets. What we have now is fans who feel their team is giving up on the season and a front office that is unwilling to invest in the team.
In 1994 players went on strike and marked the first time the World Series was not played. Baseball again faced the task of getting the fans back. MLB instituted the Wild Card; which was designed to create a playoff team that had the best record aside for the 3 division winners. The wild card has been a success. Many more teams feel they have something to play for mid-summer and less non-contention teams are trading off star players to save money. The Florida Marlins, a small market team, has taken advantage of the wild card winning two World Series in the last 10 years; the only two appearances in the playoffs for the franchise.
Baseball now needs to pull another card from their sleeve. The players union and owners need to agree and push harder for a salary cap, both min and max. The small market teams would be forced to spend at least the minimum on payroll while the big market teams cannot go over the maximum. A salary cap will also alleviate the tension between those owners that do pay the luxury tax and their animosity towards those owners who receive the “free money” and don’t spend it to make their team competitive.
From a nation wide perspective this is what baseball needs. With parity comes excitement, with exciting comes interest. Interest in baseball continues to diminish. A salary cap will get more fans interested in baseball across the nation instead of the usual suspects like New York, Boston, Chicago and LA. Today’s kids see all the excitement and attention in football and basketball, baseball is on the back burner. If we want to get the kids more involved in baseball and developing great talent it needs to start from the top. The owners and players have a responsibility to the game to promote, and preserve baseball. A salary cap will help turn the tide in popularity and show why baseball is America’s national pastime.
Currently there is no salary cap in baseball. The players union and owners recently agreed on a new collective that runs through 2011. In 2006 any team over $128 million payroll threshold had to pay a luxury tax of percentage the difference between their payroll and the threshold. The luxury tax was designed to create competitive balance in baseball. Teams such as New York and Boston pay this luxury tax if they exceed the threshold and the payment is spread out amongst the small market owners. If the luxury tax was implemented to create a competitive balance then why is there no parity in baseball? The small market owners have not re-invested their earnings from the luxury tax into fielding competitive team; the luxury tax earnings get pocketed.
The national popularity of baseball is not where it should be. With the recent exploitations of the steroid era and historic records being broken, baseball needs leverage. During the off-season there are few cities that have interest in baseball such as New York, Boston, Chicago and LA because those are the teams that are most likely going to land the big free agent with big contracts, contracts smaller markets cannot afford. Also, the small market teams who do have star players that they have developed wind up trading them away midseason for prospects because they know they have no shot of retaining that player via free agency. They can’t compete with the cash being laid out by the big markets. What we have now is fans who feel their team is giving up on the season and a front office that is unwilling to invest in the team.
In 1994 players went on strike and marked the first time the World Series was not played. Baseball again faced the task of getting the fans back. MLB instituted the Wild Card; which was designed to create a playoff team that had the best record aside for the 3 division winners. The wild card has been a success. Many more teams feel they have something to play for mid-summer and less non-contention teams are trading off star players to save money. The Florida Marlins, a small market team, has taken advantage of the wild card winning two World Series in the last 10 years; the only two appearances in the playoffs for the franchise.
Baseball now needs to pull another card from their sleeve. The players union and owners need to agree and push harder for a salary cap, both min and max. The small market teams would be forced to spend at least the minimum on payroll while the big market teams cannot go over the maximum. A salary cap will also alleviate the tension between those owners that do pay the luxury tax and their animosity towards those owners who receive the “free money” and don’t spend it to make their team competitive.
From a nation wide perspective this is what baseball needs. With parity comes excitement, with exciting comes interest. Interest in baseball continues to diminish. A salary cap will get more fans interested in baseball across the nation instead of the usual suspects like New York, Boston, Chicago and LA. Today’s kids see all the excitement and attention in football and basketball, baseball is on the back burner. If we want to get the kids more involved in baseball and developing great talent it needs to start from the top. The owners and players have a responsibility to the game to promote, and preserve baseball. A salary cap will help turn the tide in popularity and show why baseball is America’s national pastime.
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