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When a pro sports league is experiencing its greatest profits and expansion like Major League Baseball is right now, it is not going to tinker with what is making it great. Part of what makes MLB successful right now is that the rules are clear for owners and general managers who pay large amounts of money to their employees (players, coaches, staff, etc.): if your payroll gets too large, you'll have to share some money to make other teams more competitive. Frankly, the "luxury tax" in MLB has worked for the most part, so why alter it now?

For those who believe that a salary cap is necessary for reasons of parity, a shining example to the contrary can be found in the '03 Florida Marlins. The Marlins won the '03 World Series with a payroll under $90 million, which is a mark that 11 teams - over one-third of MLB - exceeded that year. In fact, the Marlins' payroll was $63 million during that season, which placed them at 20th out of 30 MLB teams. So clearly, the Marlins did not need a lot of money to field a successful baseball team, while the Yankees paid about $11 million in luxury tax on their payroll that season, and fell to defeat at the Marlins' hands (fins?) when it mattered most - in the World Series.

Now, as a Cubs fan, it doesn't necessarily thrill me to mention the '03 Florida Marlins. However, that ballclub was able to fully compete without the benefit of a hard salary cap on their competitors. Plus, the team they faced in the World Series that year actually paid money into a pool that actually HELPED the Marlins pay some of their players! If that isn't a deterrent to having an exorbitant payroll, then what is?

Finally, only two clubs, the Yankees and Red Sox, exceeded the luxury tax threshold in 2006. So, this must mean that Major League Baseball franchises are regulating their own payrolls without the use of a salary cap, and allowing their spending to grow along with MLB as a whole. So, if clubs' payrolls are getting increasingly larger, it is more a result of the strong financial health of the league than it is of a maverick owner who wants to buy a championship.

As long as MLB continues to see record attendance numbers, media contracts, apparel sales, etc., teams' bank accounts are naturally going to swell in turn. True, more money will be spent on players, but it is not money that necessarily upsets the competitive balance of the league. Business is booming for Major League Baseball under its current revenue and payroll guidelines, and there is absolutely no reason to tinker with them while times are good.

Learn more about this author, Matt Tarnawa.
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