Ending big-league paydays: Maj. league baseball salary cap - sample sports economics essay

Are professional baseball players being paid too much? This sample sports economics essay argues that the salary cap is needed to restore balance and fairness to the game. This sample social science essay draws comparisons with other professional sports leagues like the NFL that have salary caps in order to draw its conclusions. It would be a good reference for a student who wants to write about economics of a current event situation.

Saving America's Pasttime

Imagine that a boss of an advertising agency asked three different employees to each go out and convince a famous athlete to endorse their product. The boss then gave the first employee fifty thousand dollars to spend on getting the athlete. Next he gave the second employee ten thousand dollars to put toward the athlete. Finally, he gave the third employee one thousand dollars to pay the athlete with. The first employee would probably be able get a well-known famous athlete to endorse the product. While the second employee might be able to get a lesser-known athlete, and the third would probably only be able to get an athlete that no one had heard of to support the product. This assignment would certainly have seemed unfair to those who had been given a financial handicap at the start, and this poor balance of money is the exact problem that is plaguing Major League Baseball today. Due to the fact there are no restrictions on team spending in baseball, those teams with large markets and rich owners are able to unjustly dominate, through their ability to buy the best players. Teams with smaller markets are simply being bought out of competition, as they are unable to attract the best players because of their inability to match the offers of large market teams. Therefore, in order to save the integrity and fairness of Major League Baseball, a salary cap must be implemented to ensure equality throughout the league.

Paul D. Staudohar, a business professor at California State University Hayward and the author of "Salary Caps in Professional Team Sports," in which he examines the economic effect of a salary cap states, "a salary cap is a limit on how much money a team can pay their players." These restrictions are exactly what Major League Baseball needs to solve the numerous problems that are killing the game. As baseball is now, the teams with large markets are able to use the loads of money generated by their rich owners, to essentially buy championships, while those unfortunate small market teams have to rely on their farm systems and young cheap inexperienced players. The best players are only signing with the teams that can pay them ridiculous amounts of money. Teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Dodgers are making it impossible for financially inept teams to draw the big name players. Thus making it harder and harder for the small market teams to compete with the financial powerhouses. The same teams are making it to the playoffs every year, creating a rather boring league with little surprise or change.

Some argue that annual team spending has nothing to do with success citing the fact that "since the expanded playoffs began in 1995, twenty-two of the thirty big league teams have reached the postseason at least once"(deMause). They also point out that the Yankees haven't won a World Series since 2000 as if this is a terrible atrocity. However, large market teams such as the Yankees, and the Braves, have never missed the postseason under the current playoff system, and have combined for nine World Series appearances from 1995 on (World Series Winners). The Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and Dodgers spend more money than any other teams, and have combined to win 35 World Series. Whereas the Pirates, Padres, Brewers, and Royals spend the least, and have only combined to win 4 World Series. Consequently, proving that the teams who spend the most have a much better chance of succeeding. Ben Fry's evaluation of salary vs. performance showed that in 2006, the Yankees spent 198,662,180 dollars and had the second best record in baseball. Contradictorily, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who had the worst record in baseball spent 35,417,967 dollars.

The only true downside to limiting what a team can spend is its effect on the players and the teams who have made a living outspending small market teams. The salary cap would force many players to take a pay cut to enable their teams to afford them. While this would most likely anger the players, one has to ask if they really need to make ten million dollars a year? The cap could also lead to a strike by the players union, possibly causing a season to get canceled. Although the long-term results would be well worth the short-term struggles faced by the league. In addition to those specific problems, salary caps have not had a perfect track record in eliminating domination by a particular team. The New England Patriots won three out of four straight Super bowls. However, they didn't accomplish this by outspending the other NFL teams, they managed to dominate by playing like a team without relying on a super star. In this instance the Patriots were able to win in a way that was fair, rather than simply buying victory.

Moreover, both the NFL and the NBA have salary caps in place. Although they each use different types, they have experienced the same kind of results. The NFL uses a "hard cap" which no team can exceed for any reason under penalty from the league. The hard cap has been in the NFL since 1994, and has successfully kept the playing field equal, creating a greater turnover in playoff teams than either the NBA or MLB. Furthermore, the NFL has become the most popular sport in America according to a March 2001 Gallup poll (Gillette). The NBA utilizes a "soft cap", which allows a team to exceed the pay limit to keep a player who has been on the team previously. The soft cap basically lets basketball teams exceed the monetary limit in order to retain their "franchise player" or star. Although this isn't as strict as the NFL, it has helped make basketball less predictable than baseball. Seeing as to how the NFL is the most financially stable of the major North American sports organizations, MLB would be smart to adopt the hard cap in order to obtain the success the NFL has achieved.

In addition to the economic benefits a salary cap would have for MLB, it would help gain fan support for baseball. In a recent poll done by Sportscolumn.com 82% of fans polled said that they would like to see baseball adopt a salary cap. In 2002 baseball owners were pushing toward a salary cap with the hope of making the game more competitive. The only people in opposition are the players and fans of the few teams who benefit from the lack of spending restrictions. As a result of a cap, the league would become more interesting, because playoff races would go deeper into the season and individual games would be closer and more exciting. Ticket prices would lower due to the teams spending less money, enabling more people to come to games, thus helping teams draw higher fan support and raising the overall interest in MLB. Instead of teams buying players in the off-season, the development of youth in the farm systems would have a larger impact on the game. Most importantly, every team would have the same opportunity for success. Therefore teams would have to play together to win instead of relying on the "star" to save the team.

Another aspect of Major League Baseball that has been hurt by the lack of restrictions is the integrity of the game. Baseball is as much a part of America's history as our quest for independence. However, baseball's role as our national pastime has been jeopardized by things such as steroids, strikes, and the varying amounts of money per team. By allowing baseball teams to unrestrictedly spend money, MLB is sending quite an anti American message. The lack of equality directly opposes America's commitment to equal opportunity and quest for a country without discrimination. Although comparing baseball to America may seem a little dramatic, one needs only to remember the contributions of Jackie Robinson to America's civil rights movement. As well as the cultural icons such as Babe Ruth and Joe Dimaggio who had an effect on the culture of their day. Furthermore, if baseball is going to be called America's pastime then it is important to ensure that baseball upholds the standards that have defined our beloved country.

After all of the steroid problems associated with MLB the last few years, from Barry Bonds to Jose Canseco, many fans have become disgusted with the game and the league has lost popularity as a result. Television ratings are at an all time low for baseball, with the 2005 World Series drawing a rating of 11.1 compared to the 2005 Super Bowl's rating of 41.1 (Gillette). Even worse than the World Series television ratings, are the playoffs drawing an average rating of 6.6 in 2005. As well as The All Star game, labeled baseball's midsummer classic drew an average rating of only 8.6 (Gillette). This decline in the interest of baseball clearly shows why a salary cap is desperately needed. Fans are tired of an unvarying league with low moral standards and an uneven playing field. Through the introduction of a salary cap baseball would surely regain much of the support that made it such an influential part of our history.

Although a salary cap may not be a perfect solution for fixing the enormous unbalance in Major League Baseball, it would certainly be a good start. To let the same teams continually dominate the league by willingly paying players exorbitant amounts of money is a terrible injustice. Through the introduction of a salary cap, restricting how much a team can spend could alleviate this problem. In order to bring baseball back to its roots as America's pastime, restrictions must be implemented. Baseball has been the source of national pride for Americans throughout its colorful history and its blue-collar background. If we continue to let baseball be ruined by its ever-increasing price for fans as well as owners, we will lose a part of our culture that has made America what it is today.
 

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