Every Luxury Must Be Paid For

As Spring Training for the upcoming MLB season continues, some marquee free agents were recently signed to teams looking for future success. Manny Machado signed a 10 year contract for $300 million with the San Diego Padres. At the time of the signing, it was the largest contract ever signed by a free agent in any U.S. sport. However, he did not hold this record for long. Eight days later, another free agent player made history with the new largest free agent contract in U.S. history. Bryce Harper, now with the Philadelphia Phillies, signed for 13 years for $330 million. Major Continue reading Every Luxury Must Be Paid For

The Salary Cap in Sports: Part 2 (Basketball)

In our first post about the salary cap in sports, we learned about how unlimited the baseball cap was while higher revenue teams reap the benefits. In the second part of the three part series, we will be looking at the growing NBA salary cap as it looks to make a big leap in the next couple of years, increasing the player’s benefits. The salary cap has slowly been moving up over the past three years, from nearly $59 million in the 2013-2014 season up to $70 million flat for the 2015-2016 season. For the five seasons before that, it Continue reading The Salary Cap in Sports: Part 2 (Basketball)

The Salary Cap in Sports: Part 1 (Baseball)

I think it would be efficient (haha) to introduce myself as a new writer for Sound Economics at the beginning of my blog post. My name is Lukie Crowley, a sophomore economics major and I am thrilled to start writing for Sound Economics. My first post will be part one of a three part series about the salary cap in baseball, football and basketball. I will be discussing about how it differs in each sport and the incentive to change it or stay stagnant in said sports. In the rare major sport that does not have a salary cap (while Continue reading The Salary Cap in Sports: Part 1 (Baseball)