How To Fix Major League Baseball:NFL Model

Several analyst across Major League Baseball think the current system needs to be fixed to create more of a competitive balance in Major League Baseball. Here is my first suggestion to Major League Baseball. I will have my second suggestion published on Friday. Feel free to comment and offer suggestions. 

Model 1: Model of the NFL System:  My first suggestion to Major League Baseball would be to adopt a plan similar to the NFL model. The National Football League has been known for its parity. Many teams with poor records one year are good within 1-2 years. The Miami Dolphins in 2007 lost 15 games. During the 2007 offseason through the signing of free agents and draft picks the Dolphins were able to compete for a division title during the 2008 season. Another example, in the year 2000 the New England Patriots finished the season with a 5-11 record.  The following season in 2001 they reversed the record to 11-5. How would a system like this work in Major League Baseball?

Create a “hard salary cap” in which no team in Major League Baseball would be permitted to exceed that amount. What would be a fair salary cap for Major League Baseball?   The Yankees payroll currently is $220,000,000 and the Pirates have a payroll of $34,000,000.  A maximum payroll would be somewhere between those two numbers.  An equitable amount would probably be something between $120,000,000 and $150,000,000. How would the large salary baseball teams, like the Yankees, cut payrolls?  Current player contracts would run their course and teams would be given a 3-5 year grace period to come down to the salary cap. This would accomplish the main objective of the new system: keeping the big market teams from spending freely and having less pressure on the owners to hand out huge contracts.  A decline in contracts which would result in teams would having lower operating costs which in turn could result in lower ticket prices for the fans. A “hard salary cap” in Major League Baseball would be a huge undertaking but if done correctly would make the game of baseball very entertaining game again.

A second proposal is to create a minimum cap that would require a team to spend so much each season.  The owners and players would have to come to a consensus on this proposal. For example, if the salary cap was $130,000,000 the minimum cap could be ¼-1/2 of the maximum payroll.  In this example the minimum would be between $65,000,000 and $95,000,000. How would teams that do not have that kind of money to spend get the money to keep their payrolls above the minimum?  This is where “revenue sharing” comes into play.  The big market teams would share revenues with the smaller market teams.  If the Yankees are bringing in $20,000,000 - $30,000,000 a year in profit a percent of that profit would go to the smaller market teams.  This “revenue sharing” money would be used to help achieve the minimum payroll.  Major League Baseball would probably need to evenly distribute revenue received from ESPN, Fox, MLB network among the teams to help the smaller markets teams reach the minimum payroll. The “revenue sharing” would work in a way that each team receives an amount based on need. The smaller markets would get bigger checks while the bigger markets would get smaller checks because they would be more likely earn more profit from being in a big market. The way you ensure teams are using their revenue sharing money is to make their spending records public knowledge and be reviewed by the commissioner’s office on a annual basis.

The third piece of the puzzle when it came to placing a hard salary cap on Major League Baseball teams along with a minimum salary cap and a evenly distributed revenue sharing plan would be a system that the smaller market teams would be able to draft and sign the best players coming out of the draft each year.  I believe Major League Baseball would need to move to have a maximum rookie salary where a player could not earn more than certain amount. What would be a fair amount? Since most rookies drafted do not play right away I would say a salary of no more than two million a season would be a starting point. Also all rookies would have to sign for no less than 6 years the longer they sign for the more bonuses and extra incentives they can receive from the signing team and Major League Baseball. This would help teams like the Pirates draft the best talent on the market and be able to sign their draft picks for long term contracts to they can play a good part of their career for the team that drafted them.  When their contract is up that team would be allowed to match any other team that bids and again create more incentives for that player to stay with the team for his career. Such as signing bonuses and Major League Baseball itself could help in creating and giving out those incentives to players who stick with their teams throughout their career. Lastly can contract be bought out? If a player is not performing up to his value then a team can buyout the contract and both parties can move their separate ways.

In reality a system like this baseball will likely not happen the way I pointed it out to be but a system similar could be in the future as owners and players negotiate new collective bargaining agreements. The players and owners will have to open minded to deviations in their proposals.  Many say something needs to be done in Major League Baseball and this is one avenue to explore to making baseball America’s greatest pastime again.