Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Moyer
Screw a salary cap. What the MLB needs is a draft bonus/rookie salary structure that lets smaller markets develop young talent. That's the area where the rich teams are really getting the edge... If I were a Pirates fan, instead of lamenting the loss of overpriced players to free agency I'd be a lot more depressed by their inability to get anyone worthwhile with their constant high draft picks because they can't and/or don't want to spend the money it would take to sign them.
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The numbers do not seem to bear this out.
In 2008, according to
Forbes, Tampa Bay was 25th in MLB in terms of revenue, Pittsburgh was 28th, and Kansas City 29th. And yet, according to
Baseball America, in terms of total money spent on signing bonuses from the 2008 amateur draft, these clubs comprised the three out of the top four clubs. Kansas City was first in signing bonus expenditures, while, Tampa Bay was second, and Pittsburgh fourth. Not only that, but the Royals, Rays, and Pirates were each all willing to spend some $6 million to sign their first-round picks.
If there is a problem it likely has more to do with smaller market clubs not wanting to spend the money rather than not being able to. Thanks to revenue sharing, smaller market clubs can make handsome profits without ever having to improve their teams.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mlyons
That has a lot more to do with [NFL] scheduling than the salary cap, though. Those terrible teams may look a lot better in terms of overall record the next season, but they're rarely better in head-to-head matchups against the perennially good teams.
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Considering that every team in a given division in the NFL plays 14 of its 16 games against the exact same opponents, blaming scheduling does not seem warranted. There are only two games each season which are allotted based on the prior season's results.