A "Level" Playing Field

A “Level” Playing Field

The NBA, NFL and NHL have bluffed and bullied and b.s.’d their way to a hard salary cap while MLB maintains a soft one in the form of a luxury tax.  The Republican Party may love a flat tax, but baseball owners have had no problem embracing a steeply progressive tax on payrolls.  Go figure.

The main argument for a cap is that it maintains competitive balance—how else to keep franchises afloat in places like Columbus and Green Bay?  Nothing could be worse for fans—and it’s always about the fans, right?—than a Yankees’-like dynasty.  Hmm.

Since 2010, the Giants have won the World Series three times along with four other teams.  During that same timeframe in the NHL, the Black Hawks have won three Stanley Cups to two for the Penguins and Kings.  In the NBA, the Heat and Warriors have won two apiece in finals that have featured Miami four times with Cleveland and Golden State three times (the last three finals, against one another, no less).  It only seems like the Patriots win every Super Bowl.

What’s my point?  That contrived brakes on spending in pro sports don’t work as promised.  What nobody talks about in baseball is the punishment meted out to teams that spend wildly.  When was the last time those salary-busting Yankees won a World Series?  Why, it was in 2000, or 17 long seasons ago.  As for the Giants, they have the second-worst record in baseball (after the ever-rebuilding Phillies, which is a story for another day).  Who wants to take on Hunter Pence’s contract?  Or Jeff Samardzija’s?

So, the Warriors went out and got Kevin Durant at the end of last season, and he helped them win their second title in three years.  So much for competitive balance.  Also keep in mind everything else a salary cap  involves.  Besides Durant, the Warriors’ front office identified talent, acquired it and then grossly underpaid it (thank you, NBA collective bargaining agreement).  In the end, it’s not how much you spend but how smart you are spending it.