10-28-2022, 02:38 PM
There is a workaround for the NBA - which would be
1 the NBA agrees (a) that there will be no "Hard Cap" or "Limit" that is strictly enforced (the idea that makes players freak out), and (b) to allow teams to keep spending as they do now,
2 BUT they instead tweak the tax penalties significantly to make the financial hill impossible for spending way more than X.
The reality of it all is that a Hard Cap -- which the players won't accept -- has very little real downside to them, and probably more upside. With one or without one, the League as a whole is still going to be paying the same in total salaries among all the teams, because it is a split-revenue partnership. A Hard Cap is a mechanism to try to spread out the salaries (and, in effect, the opportunity to play, be paid, and win) with 30 teams rather than in just a few. More teams spending at the same level, equals greater number of higher salaries (and opportunity to be a star and be paid for it).
I would wager that NBA owners don't truly want a Hard Cap, since it doesn't increase their share of the financial pie, but they always propose one so that when they let the players "negotiate" them away from that demand, then they are able to get concessions in other areas that might matter to them.
1 the NBA agrees (a) that there will be no "Hard Cap" or "Limit" that is strictly enforced (the idea that makes players freak out), and (b) to allow teams to keep spending as they do now,
2 BUT they instead tweak the tax penalties significantly to make the financial hill impossible for spending way more than X.
The reality of it all is that a Hard Cap -- which the players won't accept -- has very little real downside to them, and probably more upside. With one or without one, the League as a whole is still going to be paying the same in total salaries among all the teams, because it is a split-revenue partnership. A Hard Cap is a mechanism to try to spread out the salaries (and, in effect, the opportunity to play, be paid, and win) with 30 teams rather than in just a few. More teams spending at the same level, equals greater number of higher salaries (and opportunity to be a star and be paid for it).
I would wager that NBA owners don't truly want a Hard Cap, since it doesn't increase their share of the financial pie, but they always propose one so that when they let the players "negotiate" them away from that demand, then they are able to get concessions in other areas that might matter to them.