Sports: If Major League Baseball Mimicked the NBA

During the past week or so, I've been bogged down in research. I know that Major League Baseball has problems. I know that the Yankees represent that problem. Still. I wanted to compare baseball to the other major sports leagues that I perceived to provide more parity.

Today, I want to focus on the NBA. The NBA has a soft cap, so the league is able to do a pretty decent job of managing payroll. The "soft" cap allows teams to exceed the cap under certain circumstances -- namely, keeping players, but there are several exceptions. Those who otherwise go over a certain level ("tax level") are taxed dollar for dollar.

Outside of there being a soft cap, there is a great deal of structure in the NBA. There are minimum and maximum salaries for players, depending on service time. There are minimum salaries in baseball, but that's really it. No other restrictions. That's how the MLBPA likes it.

Of course, it's never that simple. I encourage you to read Larry Coon's NBA Salary Cap FAQ. Very informative.

While it would be nice to apply such a structure to Major League Baseball, I'm not going to go there yet. Instead, I simply want to review the disparity between the highest and lowest spending teams in each league and then put baseball on a similar scale to see how the league would look.

Baby steps.

So here are the two leagues and their payrolls from top to bottom:

Team	Payroll		Team	Payroll
1. NY Yankees	$208,097,414		1. Los Angeles Lakers	$91,377,313
2. NY Mets	$145,367,987		2. Utah Jazz	$84,654,219
3. Chicago Cubs	$134,058,500		3. Boston Celtics	$84,220,991
4. Boston	$122,435,399		4. New York Knicks	$82,504,966
5. Detroit	$119,160,145		5. Orlando Magic	$80,532,126
6. LA Angels	$118,964,000		6. Cleveland Cavaliers	$79,975,195
7. Seattle	$112,053,666		7. San Antonio Spurs	$79,583,715
8. Philadelphia	$111,209,046		8. Dallas Mavericks	$78,516,175
9. Houston	$102,996,414		9. Washington Wizards	$77,908,291
10. Chicago Sox	$100,598,500		10. Houston Rockets	$74,271,249
11. LA Dodgers	$100,008,592		11. Miami Heat	$74,233,956
12. Atlanta	$94,313,666		12. New Orleans Hornets	$73,656,549
13. St. Louis	$87,703,409		13. Denver Nuggets	$70,325,150
14. San Francisco	$82,616,450		14. Chicago Bulls	$69,967,615
15. Kansas City	$81,384,553		15. Charlotte Bobcats	$66,975,036
16. Milwaukee	$80,182,502		16. Milwaukee Bucks	$66,819,300
17. Cincinnati	$73,558,500		17. Indiana Pacers	$63,830,172
18. Arizona	$73,516,666		18. Golden State Warriors	$63,147,477
19. Texas	$73,439,238		19. Phoenix Suns	$62,325,810
20. Toronto	$72,563,200		20. Sacramento Kings	$62,165,268
21. Colorado	$72,428,000		21. Philadelphia 76ers	$61,945,532
22. Tampa Bay	$68,230,934		22. Atlanta Hawks	$58,911,721
23. Minnesota	$67,634,766		23. Los Angeles Clippers	$58,871,653
24. Cleveland	$66,757,366		24. Toronto Raptors	$57,269,516
25. Washington	$62,001,000		25. New Jersey Nets	$56,776,067
26. Baltimore	$61,885,566		26. Portland Trail Blazers	$56,713,022
27. Oakland	$56,089,250		27. Memphis Grizzlies	$56,292,253
28. San Diego	$37,800,800		28. Minnesota Timberwolves	$54,577,640
29. Florida	$35,774,000		29. Detroit Pistons	$49,914,212
30. Pittsburgh	$25,197,000		30. Oklahoma City Thunder	$49,887,530

The differences between the two are striking at first glance, but let's put some objectivity behind it.

Comparison	MLB	NBA
Total Players	910	407
Total Payroll	$2,648,026,529	$2,048,149,719
Avg Salary	$2,909,919	$5,032,308.89
Avg Players/Tm	30.3	13.6
Avg Payroll	$88,267,551	$68,271,657
Highest Payroll	$208,097,414	$91,377,313
Lowest Payroll	$25,197,000	$49,887,530
Hi/Lo Payroll Disparity	$182,900,414	$41,489,783
Lo/Hi Payroll Disparity %	12.1%	54.6%
Med Payroll	$80,783,528	$66,897,168
Hi/Med Payroll Disp	$127,313,887	$24,480,145
Med/Hi Payroll Disp%	38.8%	73.2%
Hi/Avg Payroll Disp	$119,829,863	$23,105,656
Avg/Hi Payroll Disp%	42.4%	74.7%
Min Salary	$400,000	$457,588
Max Salary	$33,000,000	$23,239,561
Lo/Hi Player Disp %	1.2%	2.0%
Avg/Hi Player Disp %	8.8%	21.7%

I'm comparing MLB to NBA for a couple of reasons. First, both leagues have the same number of teams, so it makes for a more uniform comparison. Second, I'm having a heck of a time finding dependable 2009 salary data for the NFL. If anyone has it, let me know.

But you can't deny the enormous differences here. Let's highlight the bomb shells:

• Lowest payroll is 54.6% of the highest payroll in the NBA; 12.1% in MLB
• Median payroll is 73.2% of the highest payroll in the NBA; 38.8% in MLB
• Average salary is 21.7% of the highest salary in the NBA; 8.8% in MLB

Pretty incredible.  How can a team ever compete (Pittsburgh Pirates) when they have a payroll that is 12.1% of the Yankees?  Granted, the Pirates should be subjected to a minimum payroll because it's a little ridiculous that they only shelled out $25 Million in salaries this year.  But the difference between median and high payroll is also atrocious.

Something that is easy to overlook is the disparity between average player salary and highest salary.  In the NBA, there's not a big jump.  Not the case in baseball.

Of course, you could argue that this has something to do with the number of players in baseball pulling the average salary down.  But it also has a lot to do with the fact that there is no cap, allowing some teams (one in particular) to pay a seemingly unlimited amount for the best players.

There's no need to continuously repeat this, but Major League Baseball doesn't play with anything that is close to an even playing field.  And as the NBA shows, you don't need everyone with the same payroll.  Just give everyone the same tools and put a system in place where the disparity is negligible.

So what would Major League Baseball look like if the disparity between the teams was equal to that in the NBA?  Here it is (in addition to current payroll and the difference):

Team	2009 Payroll	Adjusted	Change
1. NY Yankees	$208,097,414	$118,142,483	-$89,954,931
2. NY Mets	$145,367,987	$109,450,140	-$35,917,847
3. Chicago Cubs	$134,058,500	$108,890,016	-$25,168,484
4. Boston	$122,435,399	$106,671,353	-$15,764,046
5. Detroit	$119,160,145	$104,120,652	-$15,039,493
6. LA Angels	$118,964,000	$103,400,591	-$15,563,409
7. Seattle	$112,053,666	$102,894,443	-$9,159,223
8. Philadelphia	$111,209,046	$101,514,212	-$9,694,834
9. Houston	$102,996,414	$100,728,274	-$2,268,140
10. Chicago Sox	$100,598,500	$96,025,912	-$4,572,588
11. LA Dodgers	$100,008,592	$95,977,695	-$4,030,897
12. Atlanta	$94,313,666	$95,231,161	$917,495
13. St. Louis	$87,703,409	$90,923,968	$3,220,559
14. San Francisco	$82,616,450	$90,461,708	$7,845,258
15. Kansas City	$81,384,553	$86,592,578	$5,208,025
16. Milwaukee	$80,182,502	$86,391,225	$6,208,723
17. Cincinnati	$73,558,500	$82,526,557	$8,968,057
18. Arizona	$73,516,666	$81,643,895	$8,127,229
19. Texas	$73,439,238	$80,581,555	$7,142,317
20. Toronto	$72,563,200	$80,373,989	$7,810,789
21. Colorado	$72,428,000	$80,089,890	$7,661,890
22. Tampa Bay	$68,230,934	$76,167,451	$7,936,517
23. Minnesota	$67,634,766	$76,115,647	$8,480,881
24. Cleveland	$66,757,366	$74,044,231	$7,286,865
25. Washington	$62,001,000	$73,406,246	$11,405,246
26. Baltimore	$61,885,566	$73,324,735	$11,439,169
27. Oakland	$56,089,250	$72,780,719	$16,691,469
28. San Diego	$37,800,800	$70,563,882	$32,763,082
29. Florida	$35,774,000	$64,534,497	$28,760,497
30. Pittsburgh	$25,197,000	$64,500,000	$39,303,000
TOTAL	$2,648,026,529	$2,648,069,706	$43,177

Note that total payroll is nearly identical between actual 2009 and adjusted. Some teams would need to take on more payroll and some would have to take on less (and the Yankees would need to take on significantly less).

For those needing to take on more, it's possible they would do this naturally if you put a cap in play. What motivation do the Pirates have to dish out more salary? Very little.

For all of the teams taking on more, you suddenly have a chance. Every year is "your year." Go for it. Make some signings. Add payroll. It's a risk worth taking.

Right now, it's not a risk worth taking.

Obviously, the league doesn't need to look exactly like this, but it's how Major League Baseball would look if payroll distribution were identical to the NBA. This analysis does nothing to explain how baseball would actually get to this point -- or at least, not yet. We'll pursue it.

How does it look to you?