MLB Salary Cap Is Needed Essay -- essays research papers

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 luxury tax was put into effect for teams that go over the spending limit. However, the Yankees are the only team that pays the tax because they are the only team that exceeds the spending limit. The players, coaches, fans, and I have argued that a s alary cap would be the best possible way to allow teams in the Major Leagues an equal opportunity getting to the World Series. For the last 30 years, the New York Yankees have been a dominant force in Major League Baseball. Other teams do not make as much money as the New York Yankees therefore they have less capital to spend on big name players. In 1994, the Major Leagues put the luxury tax into place. The idea was to tax a club’s payroll if the total payroll exceeded a certain limit. However, the Yankees seem to exceed this limit every year. The Yankees are a notable team not only for their impressive history on the field, but also for their financial situation. The Yankees owner spends more on player salaries than any other franchise in baseball. â€Å"As of 2004, the team payroll is more than $182 million, which is $51 million more than the second-highest team, the Boston Red Sox, and more than the six lowest-payroll teams combined† (Wikipedia Encyclopedia†). The millions of people who are associated with baseball in this country, many of whom had only a vague idea of what was happeni ng, are now asking themselves whether or not the game is being played fairly. Even though teams like the New York Yankees are able to assemble top-notch teams by ignoring the spending limit, a salary cap is necessary to maintain the equal competitive nature of major leag... ...uld be acceptable would be to issue a salary cap like every other major sport in America. The NFL and NBA were forced to have a salary cap and we haven't seen a dominant team like the Yankees since the Celtics in the 50's and 60's. Every year there is usually a different "dominant" team and the Super Bowl and NBA Championship is always up for grabs. Attendance is slowly declining in the MLB because people do not want to support their home teams when in reality, they will lose to the usual dominant high paid teams. This is not fair to any sports fan and the only acceptable solution to keep attendance high and ratings up is to issue a salary cap. Selig, Bud. â€Å"Baseball Almanac Biography.† January 12, 2001. [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/budseligs_biography.shtml] Staudohar, Paul D. â€Å"Salary Cap in Professional Sports† June 21, 1998 [http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/archive/spring1998art1.pdf] George Bob. â€Å"Money Battle† December 1, 2000 â€Å"Wikipedia Encyclopedia.† Accesses November 27, 2004 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page] Steinbrenner, George. â€Å"Steinbrenner Speaks To the Press† September 21, 2002 [www.baseballjunkies.com/articles/2001/april/seasontalk.html]