Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2010
Publication Title
Journal of Sports Economics
Abstract
This article takes a closer look at salary and revenue figures for the four major professional sports in the United States. It shows that the reporting typically offered in the popular media and often picked up in academic work can be rather misleading. The article first considers the conundrums in defining player compensation and then those connected to revenue. On the basis of adjusted data, the article proceeds to look at salary shares in revenue across the four leagues and considers the irony that the salary share in Major League Baseball (MLB) appears to be lower than the three leagues with a salary cap, the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and National Hockey League (NHL). It concludes with some analysis of the impact of salary caps and other mechanisms on controlling player costs.
Keywords
League revenue, Measurement issues, Player compensation, Salary caps
Volume
11
Issue
1
First Page
17
Last Page
28
DOI
10.1177/1527002509354890
ISSN
15270025
Rights
© The Author(s) 2010
Recommended Citation
Zimbalist, Andrew, "Reflections on Salary Shares and Salary Caps" (2010). Economics: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/eco_facpubs/45
Comments
Archived as published. Open access paper.