Subjects:
faced Major League Baseball for years. Every time a new
labor agreement is needed, there seems to be a battle
between the players and owners. And the players have won
every time. Baseball salaries are the highest of any sport,
the gap between large-market and small-market teams is
getting wider every year, and fan interest continues to
drop. This year, as the most recent labor contract was
coming to an end, it looked as if the players association
was going to go on strike. But at the last minute, an
agreement was reached, and baseball will go on, at least for
now. But has this agreement really helped solve the
problems of baseball? I will look into the facts of this
new contract and see if there is any chance of competitive
balance being improved, and if fans will continue to lose
their interest in Major League Baseball.
It has been argued that this new agreement will help
baseball regain competitive balance. But I believe that
this is only a very small step in the right direction, and
that any hope of balance in baseball will occur later rather
than sooner. One of the main points of interest, and one
. . .
Ever since they have instituted the salary cap, competitive
balance in the league is unparalleled. In
football, once a player is cut from the team, he is owed no
money except for his initial signing bonus. A player can sign for $10 million
a year for 5 years, play miserably for the next 3, and even
if the team cuts him, they must pay him for the next 2
seasons of his contract. These would
be the institution of a salary cap, and the problem of
guaranteed players contracts. This tax will however slow down the
sky-rocketing salaries being offered to players. This
money in essence can be used for anything the commissioner
wants, but is meant to be given towards the smaller-market
teams with low payrolls to help make them more competitive. This simply states that if a teams
payroll exceeds the said amount, that they have to pay a
penalty. So that $10 million over those 2
years is being wasted on a player not even on the team, and
cannot be used by the owner to improve the overall team. If
baseball instituted a salary cap around this same amount,
teams could not spend over that, and it would redistribute
some of the talent. This would definitely help regain some
form of competitive balance.
The luxury tax is again a small step in the right direction,
but the amount you have to spend before you are penalized is
simply too high, and will even rise in the next few years. Although they just seem to be
too small. Not only does
this keep athletes playing up to their potential, but allows
you to cut a player and have that money free the following
year to spend on some more talent. This states that a total of $10 million
will be taken from the central fund and that it can be
redistributed by the commissioner at his discretion.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.