Inefficiencies In Sports

Anyone who has been involved in an organized sport, whether it is backyard football or a high school sports team, knows that these sports all have organizations that are responsible for setting rules, determining conditions of play, and penalizing individuals who infringe the rules. Some of the organizations like the National Football league and the MLB are familiar to most people, the rules they follow are not generally understood by anyone who is not closely associated with the sport. Most fans and sport critics assume that what is happening inside these organizations are of little concern to them. However, this is not the case. In the MLB, the New York Yankees spend an excessive amount of money every year to obtain big name players. A

Jayson Stark, ESPN columnist, presents an interesting argument of the downfall of baseball after free agency. He uses sarcasm and slight humor to introduce the reader to the topic of free agency and uses the argument style of comparison and contrast to predict what today might have held had there been no free agency. But within his column, player agent Tom Reich states, “The people who criticize free agency to easily today don’t realize how bad baseball was twenty-five years ago” (Stark). It is Stark who realizes that the talent of the game has improved, but the overall passion in each player may have decreased.

At the beginning of the twentieth century and the outset of the professional sports industry the existence of underpaid players at the premier level of athletics was a legitimate problem. It was this problem that played a role in the fixing of the

Labor relations did not play a dominant role in professional sports until the early 1970’s. Prior to unions and collective bargaining, professional athletes were treated like “privileged peons.” Today sport is more career and business than avocation and pastime. Today professional players pursue their playing careers as businesses. And agents

From chapter 6-3: Does Baseball Need a Salary Cap? by Neil deMause Perhaps no two words in baseball generate as much controversy and emotion as "salary cap. " Depending on whom you ask, a salary cap would either save the game, destroy the players' union, provide hope for small-market fans, pervert the free market, or create a tangle of red tape that would turn every trade deadline into a battle of wits among dueling "capologists. " Whenever owners and players have to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement -- the next tussle is scheduled for after the 2006 season -- discussion of a cap is sure to follow.

For teams with smaller salary caps, it was difficult to compete with the most prestigious organizations which had more to offer the top caliber player. This made acquiring top players extremely difficult for the smaller teams, however a former player turned executive implement a method that leveled the playing field. The former player introduced a method changing the

In this paper we will examine the history of the salary cap structures in sports focusing mainly on the version that the NFL uses. We will also take a in-depth look at the four different areas that makes up the salary cap (Salary Cap, Active Spending, Dead Money and Cap Space) and impact the cap has had on the players themselves. As well as how it has reshaped the teams and leagues itself to help the NFL to grow into the Multi Billion Dollar sports empire that it was become today. Who would have thought that making the decision to place a limit upon spending and giving everyone the same opportunity for success would have such a profound effect on the growth and popularity of the sport?

Baseball is considered America's pastime as it is steeped in history and prestige. However, due in part to the emergence of alternative sporting events such as skateboarding, snowboarding and competitive biking, the profits previously garnered within the industry are not growing as fast as they once where. In fact, in many instances, individual player salaries are outpacing the growth of ticket and television revenue. Table 1 within the appendix was constructed by Michael J. Haupert, a professor at the University of Wisconsin. The table depicts TV revenue (excluding local markets), average ticket price, and average player salary from 1964 to 2002. For your convenience the pertinent information is highlighted in yellow. As depicted from the chart, total television revenue from 1964 to 2002 increased nearly 1000% on an inflation adjusted basis. During this same period however, player salaries have increase by over 2500%. Likewise, average ticket prices have not increased by this magnitude either (Haupert, 2010). Futhermore, according to the Forbes, every team in baseball with the exception of one (The Florida Marlins) spent at least 80% of their revenue on baseball operations last year. These operations include player salaries as well. The percentages vary and ranged from the Detroit Tigers who spent 116% of their revenue (operated at a loss), to the Marlins who spent 68%. Seventeen teams spent 90% or more on baseball operating expenses (Pasnanski, 2010). To many individuals,

Worsnop also states that professional sports leagues are thriving in the United States. Fan attendance is at an all-time high and TV revenues are skyrocketing. But the issue of free agency continues to plague player-management relations. This is especially true in major league baseball. The owner's feel that there must be restrictions placed on players' movements from team to team to create a competitive balance and also to keep salaries down. The players do not totally reject management's argument, but they believe that they should have latitude to test the market and negotiate with other teams in

    Team misuse of rules has made it so large teams are making it harder and harder for small teams to stay competitive. Loren Jorgensen, a sports writer for the Utah paper Deseret News, states that big market teams like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles can pay players enormous amounts that make it impossible for the small market teams to hold

Under the protection of Major League Baseball’s (“MLB”) longtime antitrust exemption, Minor League Baseball (“MiLB”) has continuously redefined and reshaped itself according to Baseball’s overall needs. But while MLB salaries have increased dramatically since the MLB reserve clause was broken in 1975, the salaries of minor league players have not followed suit.

A reoccurring issue every year in sports is assessing how valuable a player is and what his annual salary should be. The highest annual salary in the history of the game was just given out this off-season to a pitcher who will be pulling in 34 million dollars per year. This study will be done with position players, but the purpose will be to judge whether huge money deals like this one are worth it. In a 162 game schedule, many different things go into a player’s contract, so this study will be strictly from a data perspective. The results should show a few players who are both under and overrated based

The passages present a discussion about arguments concerning whether or not professional athletes are overpaid. This is an important debate since professional sports represents a multi-billion-dollar-per-year industry. The two positions argue whether or not professional athletes should be paid the large yearly salaries they are paid. Both viewpoints have valid claims warranting consideration. For example, evidence suggests that people with far more important jobs are paid much less than professional athletes; in contrast, opposing evidence suggests that since professional athletes generally have short careers and must train very hard to build and maintain their skills, the higher salary is justified. While both sides of the issue have valid points, the viewpoint that professional athletes are not overpaid is the best-supported position, the position supported by the preponderance of the evidence cited in the passages. The strongest and best reasons supporting this position are that professional athletes must endure grueling and intensive training, they generally have short careers that often end in injury, and the amount that they are thought to be paid is often inflated. Accordingly, these reasons and opposing viewpoints will be discussed next.

Major League Baseball is known as America’s favorite pastime, and MLB teams spend an extensive amount of money in the excess of a billion dollars with the ultimate goal to win the World Series. This learning team’s focus throughout this descriptive statistics paper is the MLB players’ performances, salaries, salary caps, and winning percentages. Though salaries will by no means be a trade for wins, the goal is to use the less experienced players and pay them a lower salary. Research has been done on whether or not player’s salaries and wins are connected.

Even though team owners sometimes acknowledge that the subsidies they receive are related to the scarcity of franchises, owners ' demands for public assistance is more often pressured by financial issues that have changed the financial side of professional sports. For example, player salaries have increased rapidly as a result of athletes earning the right to sell their services to the highest bidders (free agency). Normally, these high bids come from teams in the largest markets (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc.). Since the leagues protect the power of teams in these markets are able to refuse the creation of new franchises or the movement of existing teams into their market areas, the owners of these coveted franchises amass large revenue bases and can thus afford the best players. To offset the advantages of large market teams, owners in smaller regions seek public subsidies that will permit them to earn revenues similar to those of the teams in the biggest markets. (Pitts, Statlor 2007)