Posted by
Closet GOP on Sunday, February 01, 2009 2:21:55 AM
As we come upon the most watched game in the world, (yes, more than the World Cup Finals) there is one thing the National Football League is doing well. It is an extremely well regulated socialistic machine. Don’t get me wrong I think socialism in government is a very bad idea but not so much for professional sports. The old joke goes socialism is communism without the gun in your back. I look at countries like Europe and hope that our country doesn’t climb in to socialistic hell that has been created. I think some aspects of socialism have even helped the league become so strong. NBC just sold over $400 million for advertising.
The Arizona Cardinals will be playing the Pittsburg Steelers for the Super Bowl title this year. It is particularly interesting that the Cardinals are there this year. For those of you who may not know the Cardinals were horrible since they moved the team to Arizona in 1987. They have pretty much had losing seasons since then. I have admiration for the Steelers too as NFL powerhouse but I seem to gravitate to underdogs.
The NFL has had strong success from their hard salary cap. It is executed wonderfully and has worked well for the league. Basically a team has a maximum amount that they can’t exceed. That is why year in and year out it seems any team can have a chance. I have no problem with owners or players making money. That is capitalism at its finest. But teams in smaller markets (Green Bay, Buffalo, Jacksonville) would have an almost impossible task of competing year after year.
I was born and grew up in Wisconsin so it is almost a state mandate that I am a Packers fan. Since 1992, the Packers have had 10 post season appearances and 13 winning seasons. I think without this hard salary cap the Packers would have not only had losing seasons but probably would have died out long ago. My own personal bias aside, I think the Packers are one of the gems of the NFL. The Packers home stadium, Lambeau Field has been sold out since Eisenhower was President. The team leads the NFL with 12 Championships.
Major League Baseball on the other hand still has trouble embracing this hard salary cap socialism. It is true that the MLB does have some aspects of cap in a “luxury tax” where teams who go over a certain amount do pay into the system but it isn’t working. The New York Yankees spent over $200 million in 2008 on their team while the Florida Marlins payroll was $22 million. The Yankees have a few players who are making more than that amount.
The Milwaukee Brewers (you guessed it, I am a “cheesehead”) made the playoffs for the first time since 1982 with a payroll of $74 million. Since then they had had an Arizona Cardinal like existence with only 5 winning seasons and a lot of losing seasons. The Yankees are always in the running year after year. Since 1982, the Yankees have had 21 winning seasons and 4 World Series titles. Baseball needs a hard cap so that team like the Marlins, Twins and Royals can compete with the Yankees. If the Yankees are still successful I would not hold that against them.
Am I a “socialist” for wanting to have a hard cap in Major League Baseball? It would probably be the only use of socialism I would ever think would be acceptable. It is not wrong for the players or teams to make money. This is a free market in all accounts and they can take advantage of that. But for the success of professional sports it would be in their best interests to embrace some aspects of their own self regulated socialism.