Should There Be a Salary Cap in Baseball?
Uploaded by tommy53565 on Dec 06, 2001
Salaries in Baseball are skyrocketing every year. Why would a salary cap be needed? It would be needed to help keep ticket prices down, and help make for a more even level of competition for all of the teams. A salary cap is needed to keep baseball thriving in the future, to keep the game exciting and enjoyable to watch for every fan.
The four major professional sports in America are MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL. Out of those four, only Major League Baseball does not have a salary cap. A salary cap keeps players salaries from getting to high because of the need to get your whole team under a certain dollar amount set by the league.
A salary cap in theory would give every team a chance to build a competitive ball club. But teams today that are not in a big market city have a disadvantage. Because “these teams will never reach the World Series until baseball owner’s do the right thing and agree on a better system of revenue-sharing with a salary cap.” (Hochgesang) A salary cap would help bring the competitive playing level to a more equal level.
But some people say that small market ball clubs could field competitive teams without a salary-cap by developing a good farm system. “But this theory has been disproved in recent years. Montreal and Pittsburgh have two of the best minor league systems in baseball, but their top young players only play for them a few seasons before becoming free agents and moving on to teams with bigger payrolls.” (Hochgesang) The Cleveland Indians though are a small-market team and they seem to be able to have success by acquiring key players and through a successful farm club.
Players salaries are beginning to be more than some teams entire rosters. Alex Rodriguez was recently given a contract for $252 million for 10 years. That is more than several teams entire team payroll. Alex’s salary and others that are close to him in yearly salaries would make it difficult for there to be a salary cap. Their salaries would not have to be counted on a cap because there teams wouldn’t be able to field a team by taking that kind of hit on the cap.
“The biggest problem is the owners that are willing to pay these astronomical salaries. Until the owners all get together and agree something will never happen.” (Zook) There...