Baseball v. Football: salary.

Football has both a team salary cap and floor.  Baseball needs a floor.

bleacherreport.com
How Does the Salary Cap Work in the NFL?
BY TYLER BROOKE JUNE 10, 2013

The cap was introduced to the NFL back in 1994, with the cap set at $34.6 million. This number is determined each year and adjusted based off of the revenues of the league...

For the 2013 season, the cap for each team is set at $123 million. This means that no team can spend more than that amount of money against the cap (although we will talk later about what counts against the cap and what doesn’t). Teams must be in compliance with the cap by no later than the first day of the league year.

There is also a minimum salary under the new CBA. The salary floor for each team is 89 percent of the cap. For 2013, this means that each team must be over $109.47 million.

Along with a team minimum salary, the league itself must spend 95 percent of the cap in 2013. This means that all teams combined must average 95 percent of the cap or higher. If the league fails to meet this mark, they must pay the remaining amount needed directly to players.

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The articles goes on to discuss things like signing bonuses.

The NFL $123 million cap is almost exactly half the estimated $246 million spent in 2013 by the Yankees according to baseball-reference.com.  The Dodgers spent the most: $256 million, the Red Sox the third most: $177 million.

The Major Baseball League (MBL) has a roster limit of 25 players before September when teams can expand.  The National Football League (NFL) has a roster limit of 53 but only 46 players may dress to play in a game.  But 46 is still almost double the 25 baseball players.

So the New York Yankees spent about twice as much on salary as the NFL New York Giants even though the Yankees had about half as many players.  And NFL salaries are generally not guaranteed although bonuses are.

Giant quarterback Eli Manning is paid about 17 percent of the Giants salary, about $21 million.  No other Giant football player makes as much as $10 million.  The Yankees paid three players over $20 million:

Alex Rodriguez $28 million

CC Sabathia $23 million

Mark Teixeira $22.5 million

Vernon Wells $21 million (salary adjusted so it will be lower in 2014)
Alfonso Soriano $18 million (acquired at mid-season)

Derek Jeter $17 million
Robinson Cano $15 million
Curtis Granderson $15 million
Hiroki Kuroda $15 million
Kevin Youkilis $12 million
Andy Pettitte $12 million
Mariano Rivera $10 million

Football has 22 starters on offense and defense plus two kicking specialists: 24.  Baseball has 8 regular players plus five starting pitchers.  If you want to throw in the closer who pitches fewer than 70 innings but is paid way too much, that's 14 baseball starters.

Friday, October 11, 2013
Final Four: traditional teams. Coincidence?

Houston had the worst record and the lowest payroll.  14 of the 30 teams spent at least $100 million and the Dodgers and Yankees well over $200 million...

Cleveland: 18 in payroll, 29 in attendance
Tampa: 23 in payroll, 30 in attendance
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Houston Astors had a team payroll of $14.7 million.  Even if compared against the 2014 soft cap of $189 million, Houston paid well under ten percent.  The floor in the NFL is 89% of the cap.  The only other MBL team under $60 million: Miami Marlins at $24.8 million.  For the complete list:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2013-misc.shtml

To me it clearly makes sense for the Yankees to reach their goal of getting their team payroll under the MBL mandated limit of $189 million for 2014.  Doing so would reduce any luxury tax (extortion paid to small market, a.k.a., minor league teams for spending more) to 17%.  Otherwise it would be 50%.  Even at $180 million, a reduction of $66 million, the Yankees would be $3 million higher than the Boston Red Sox were in 2013.

In addition to Houston and Miami, that $66 million reduction would still be more than the 2013 payrolls of the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota and San Diego.  Next would be the Mets at $69 million.

Too many MBL teams are simply paying too little to their players.  If they get better players, they'll naturally be paying higher salaries.  Higher priced players are available between seasons but these cheap teams won't spend the money to improve their teams.  Then they whine about their fate and status.  Hey, it's the MAJOR Baseball League.  Pay up!  The MBL needs a MINIMUM team salary and no luxury tax.