"Numbers Game: The Accounting Side of Sports"
             For the most part, expenses are final, and for the most part, expenses are player
             salaries. Like any business, teams are always looking for the competitive advantage,
             something to set them apart. Each team gets a equal price of the league's shared revenue
             pie. Just like in a regular business, the business has a fixed amount on how much can be
             spent and in professional sports they have a "salary cap" which provides this same
             When in a cash-flow crunch, a team looks to its roster for fast cash as in the 1995 New
             York Mets, who cut $12.8 million out of their payroll by trading superstars Bret
             Saberhagen, Bobby Bonilla, and Bret Butler. Another accounting aspect in sports is the
             naming of a "franchise player". When a player is named this and is about to be signed by
             another team, he must be paid a salary equal to the average of the top five players of that
             In baseball the financial gains is mostly made out on the field, with the leagues most
             successful teams having the highhest payrolls, but in football sometimes the teams with the
             most success can lose money and the worst ones can be the most profitable because of
             factors such as fan attendence and the popularity of the team.
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