• Is the salary cap in professional sports fair?
• Article by Hai Bao on November 9, 2009

• These days, the most loyal fans in sports are Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Redskin fans. They can sympathize with each others teams, which are both among their respective leagues top teams in attendance every year and have rich histories of winning championships. That victorious history however, hasnt repeated itself in many years.

  According to Forbes magazine, the Redskins is the second highest valued football team in the league at $1.6 billion dollars, behind the Dallas Cowboys. Yet out of the past eight years, the Washington Redskins have only made the playoffs twice (2005 and 2007).

  Toronto has yet to make the playoffs since the salary cap was introduced into the NHL after the 2004-2005 lockout. Prior to the lockout, the Leafs were almost guaranteed to make the playoffs. Every year, it seemed like they played against either the Senators or the Devils in crucial post season games, giving fans hope that the team would break the curse and finally win the Stanley cup. In fact, the Leafs made the playoffs for six consecutive seasons, from the 1998-99 season to the 2003-04 season.

  Fast forward to the present. The Leafs are now as likely to make the playoffs as they are to win the lottery. Yet, according to Forbes magazine, they are the highest valued franchise in the hockey league, at $448 million dollars.

  So, is the salary cap really fair? The only league that does not impose one is baseball. The Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, Cardinals, Cubs, Phillies lead the league in attendance. The same teams are in the post-season year after year. It almost seems like baseball fans are rewarded for showing up to see their teams play, no matter how badly the owner or the general manager mismanages the team.

  Being able to spend freely takes the effort out of running a franchise and building a competitive team from the bottom-up. While the average franchise is forced to rely on developing young players in their farm systems in hopes that they will one day improve the quality of their team, high-income franchises such as the New York Yankees get to skip that entire process, signing the best available free agents with all the disposable income they possess.

  There is no denying that salary caps level the playing field and create more competition within the league. But they also keep professional sports franchises where they have no fan base. This is most evident in hockey, where 12 teams operate at a deficit this year while the Leafs operate at a profit of $66.4 million dollars (the Montreal Canadiens come in at a close second at $39.6 million dollars). These profitable franchises are forced to pay their deficit operating counterparts equalization payments under the newly formed salary cap system in the NHL.

  If the Leafs cannot spend the money that they are making, commissioner Gary Bettman will struggle to keep the league afloat and to put a competitive team on the ice. With all the profits the Leafs have made since the introduction of the salary cap, they could buy out the Pittsburgh Penguins. But would Gary Bettman allow such a thing?

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Tags: Baseball, fair, Hockey, Leafs, salary cap, volume-36-issue-8, yankees

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