Owners need to pay

Imagine you own a professional sports team. Now, imagine it’s a baseball team. Why is the fact that it’s a baseball team important? Because they don’t really have a salary cap in major league baseball. They have one technically, but all you have to do is pay a “luxury tax” if you exceed it.

Especially if you’re in a big city (New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston.) or desirable location (Miami), you can be successful for a long time if you just spend your money. Most owners don’t even want to pay their minor league players. How can you be successful and have good prospects if you don’t invest heavily into it? You simply can’t.

Big city means a big fanbase, and a big fanbase means a lot of sales. If you invest in your team, you’re guaranteed success. The Yankees invest heavily into their team and have 27 World Series wins to show for it. Los Angeles is another prime example of a team investing and obtaining success.

The money will come right back with ticket sales, merch, food, and postseason appearances. As a die-hard fan, I don’t understand why owners don’t just shell out every penny they can, especially if they’re in a big sports town.

Teams in smaller markets are a different story entirely, but teams like the Mets, who have the richest owner in the league, should throw every dollar they possibly can at their entire organization. What some don’t think about is if you invest in your minor league system, you save money by having “homegrown talent” for your team.

If an owner truly cared about the team they own, they would invest heavily into their players and take advantage of the lack of salary cap.

📸 Credit - NBC Sports

📸 Credit - Adobe Stock

Kylee Sullenberger - Beer Battered Sports/ Olde City Sports Network