The salary cap debate is not a new issue in baseball or in sports. Owners have been playing with the issue for a while, w

ith the first discussion occurring in 1989-1990 (Staudohar, 8). The purpose of these discussions was to protect teams in small markets from having their talented free agents bought up by big market teams, and to equal the revenue gap. The first proposal in 1990, by then Major league baseball commissioner Vincent, did not have any equal revenue clause, so the owners dropped their demands for a salary cap and began a 32-day lockout. As a result, a four-year collective bargaining agreement said that all teams of big and small markets would get an equal amount of revenue from national broadcasts (Staudohar, 8). This lockout was not very significant, but set the stage for the 1994 players union strike.

The view of the smaller market teams that baseball is leading to a monopoly with dominant forces squashing the competition. Bob Costas says, “Money is not just running the game, but whipping it: All eight teams that made the playoffs in 1999 had payrolls in the top ten of the majors” (Costas, 16). Which shows the fact that many teams often start opening day with little to no chance of making the post season. The Yankees won the last three World Series. In doing that the 2000 team picked up four new high priced free agents from last World Series, two of these were starters and perennial all-stars Jose Conseco and David Justice (Bradshaw). This fact strengthens the arguments of small market fans that what is happening is not a dynasty by a talent of ones team but by the talent of a few greedy individuals.

Thus, The issue of salary caps in baseball is an extremely hard issue to answer. Many people have different opinions and different solutions to the problem. Whenever two groups with relatively equal power are in a disagreement and need to settle on a compromise, one is rarely reached. The team owners and baseball players are at odds over the subject. The sport of baseball has extraordinary circumstances because the deep-rooted love for it by the American people. Each baseball fan has his or her own team that they love and support. But unfortunately the current state of baseball has a wide gap between big and small market teams.

Some topics in this essay:
World Series, Jacksonville Jaguars, Rangers Fisher, Bradshaw Player, Players Association, Justice Bradshaw, Agreement December, Bob Costas, Jordan Bulls, Players Union, salary cap, market teams, free agents, world series, major league, league salary cap, free agency, teams markets, team owners, bargaining agreement, major league baseball, league salary,