[pc4th]

-Hard cap like the NFL (floor 87.6% of cap, incentive bonuses not counted)

http://www.askthecommish.com/salarycap/faq.asp

Salary cap: In 2008 it was $116.7 Million. In 2009 it will be approximately $127 Million

Beginning in 2006 each team had to pay a guaranteed Minimum Team Salary of 84% of the Salary Cap. Each year that percentage goes up by 1.2%, which means that it is 86.4% this season. However, the Minimum Team Salary cannot extend beyond 90% of the Salary Cap. Any shortfall in the Minimum Team Salary at the end of a league year has to be paid, on or before April 15 of the next league year, by the team(s) having such shortfall, directly to the players who were on that team's roster at any time during the season.

2008 NFL payroll

NFL Teams Total Payroll
NFL Oakland Raiders Teams $ 152,389,371
NFL Dallas Cowboys Teams $ 146,401,600
NFL Minnesota Vikings Teams $ 133,354,045
NFL Cleveland Browns Teams $ 131,916,300
NFL New Orleans Saints Teams $ 131,531,820
NFL Pittsburgh Steelers Teams $ 128,815,061
NFL Tennessee Titans Teams $ 126,017,443
NFL Arizona Cardinals Teams $ 122,110,110
NFL Jacksonville Jaguars Teams $ 122,109,207
NFL Chicago Bears Teams $ 120,065,819
NFL San Francisco 49ers Teams $ 118,766,239
NFL New York Jets Teams $ 116,910,097
NFL St. Louis Rams Teams $ 116,677,660
NFL New York Giants Teams $ 115,816,180
NFL Miami Dolphins Teams $ 114,649,660
NFL Buffalo Bills Teams $ 113,364,927
NFL Carolina Panthers Teams $ 112,114,711
NFL Washington Redskins Teams $ 111,963,684
NFL San Diego Chargers Teams $ 111,813,340
NFL Cincinnati Bengals Teams $ 109,727,880
NFL Philadelphia Eagles Teams $ 109,557,398
NFL Houston Texans Teams $ 108,445,418
NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers Teams $ 104,329,311
NFL Seattle Seahawks Teams $ 102,985,710
NFL Atlanta Falcons Teams $ 96,391,525
NFL Detroit Lions Teams $ 95,827,117
NFL Denver Broncos Teams $ 95,599,778
NFL Green Bay Packers Teams $ 94,018,300
NFL Indianapolis Colts Teams $ 93,373,915
NFL New England Patriots Teams $ 92,734,120
NFL Baltimore Ravens Teams $ 90,713,965
NFL Kansas City Chiefs Teams $ 83,623,776

Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for NFL 2008 = 1.822


----------------------------------------------------------
-Hard cap like the NHL (floor 72% of cap)

2007-08 salary cap: $50.3 million , lower limit = ?

2009-2010 Salary cap

-- The Upper Limit: $56,800,000
-- The Lower Limit: $40,800,000

http://content.usatoday.com/sports/h...s/default.aspx

2007-08 figures are for salaries only and not the players’ salary cap numbers for the year. If a player retired in midseason, was sent to the minors, spent significant time on the injured list or had signed a multiyear contract with a lower average salary, his cap number would be lower. Potential performance bonuses for entry-level players and over-35 veterans, not listed here, also count toward the cap. Also, traded players’ entire salaries are listed with their new team, even though some of their salary would have counted against their original team’s cap number. That is why some teams’ total payrolls are more than the upper limit of $50.3 million for 2007-08.

Team (2007-08) Total Payroll ($) (2007-08)
Anaheim Ducks 50,769,200
Atlanta Thrashers 36,580,000
Boston Bruins 49,501,600
Buffalo Sabres 45,954,400
Calgary Flames 50,934,900
Carolina Hurricanes 49,948,600
Chicago Blackhawks 34,800,540
Colorado Avalanche 61,290,750
Columbus Blue Jackets 28,010,000
Dallas Stars 49,420,000
Detroit Red Wings 44,633,000
Edmonton Oilers 46,915,659
Florida Panthers 39,749,200
Los Angeles Kings 40,502,000
Minnesota Wild 46,183,000
Montreal Canadiens 42,313,500
Nashville Predators 30,273,340
New Jersey Devils 47,622,511
New York Islanders 39,007,720
New York Rangers 56,705,000
Ottawa Senators 49,997,370
Philadelphia Flyers 56,973,200
Phoenix Coyotes 35,694,750
Pittsburgh Penguins 41,384,200
San Jose Sharks 41,454,800
St. Louis Blues 39,047,833
Tampa Bay Lightning 38,954,167
Toronto Maple Leafs 46,445,180
Vancouver Canucks 45,710,000
Washington Capitals 44,309,200

Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for NHL 2007-2008 = 2.03



---------------------------------------------------
-Soft cap like the NBA (min salary @ 75% of cap, luxury tax @ 121% of cap)

http://www.nba.com/news/salarycapset_080709.html

The National Basketball Association today announced that the Salary Cap for the 2008-09 season will be $58.680 million.

The tax level for the 2008-09 season has been set at $71.150 million. Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds $71.150 million.

The mid-level exception is $5.585 million for the 2008-09 season and the minimum team salary, which is set at 75% of the Salary Cap, is $44.010 million.

2008-2009 payroll
http://hoopshype.com/salaries.htm

1. New York Knicks $94,842,168
2. Dallas Maverick $92,758,122
3. Cleveland Cavaliers $91,650,943
4. Boston Celtics $80,659,701
5. Portland Trail Blazers $80,600,059
6. Phoenix Suns $75,626,030
7. Houston Rockets $75,469,051
8. Los Angeles Lakers $75,255,408
9. Sacramento Kings $73,129,886
10. Detroit Pistons $72,076,423
11. Toronto Raptors $71,965,453
12. Milwaukee Bucks $71,421,682

------------pay luxury tax----------

13. Washington Wizards $70,259,475
14. Indiana Pacers $70,036,797
15. Denver Nuggets $70,478,826
16. Miami Heat $69,865,650
17. San Antonio Spurs $69,299,039
18. Orlando Magic $68,713,618
19. Oklahoma City Thunder $68,533,648
20. Chicago Bulls $68,520,301
21. Golden State Warriors $68,461,515
22. Philadelphia 76ers $68,393,588
23. Atlanta Hawks $68,012,336
24. New Orleans Hornets $67,866,515
25. Minnesota Timberwolves $66,066,569
26. Utah Jazz $65,632,827
27. New Jersey Nets $62,609,434
28. Charlotte Bobcats $61,787,680
29. Los Angeles Clippers $60,775,937
30. Memphis Grizzlies $55,705,279

Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for NBA 2008-09=1.703

---------------------------------

Richard Snowden's two-tier cap system ($3 mil 'soft' and $10 mil 'hard')

http://soccer365.com/us_news/story_81208190400.php

This new system would feature not one salary cap, but two – a "soft" cap and a "hard" cap. The soft cap could be set at, say, $3 million, to be drawn from the league's coffers under MLS's single-entity structure. The hard cap, in which the balance would be funded solely by each team's owner, could be set at $10 million, allowing each team to beef up its roster by spending up to $7 million extra on players at each owner's discretion.

With a two-tier cap system like that described above, teams would have far more leeway to build their rosters than under the DP Rule. If Galaxy chief Tim Leiweke wants to keep Beckham and his $6.5 million salary, for example, he can still do so, but he could also choose to offload Becks and instead use the $7 million of extra cap space to sign seven players at $1 million each, a move that would surely make his club far stronger.

To be sure, having a handful of teams willing to splash more cash on much better talent (within reasonable limits, as noted above) would undermine the trend toward mediocrity. Modest players with potential would be better able to maximize that potential by facing superior opponents every week, and the prospect of beating the richer clubs would help fuel rivalries and make each game matter more, a perennial problem for MLS.

[pc4th]

UEFA Platini: cap links to certain percentage of each club's total revenue

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...y-1547556.html

Platini's proposals: Wages could be linked to percentage of club turnover

Proposals being considered by the Uefa president Michel Platini:

* Clubs should live within their means and spend the income they have.

* This may mean wages being linked to an audited percentage of turnovers.

If MLS selects that 'certain' percentage as 25%. Then:

$10 mil revenue club = at most $2.5 mil salary
$15 mil revenue club = at most $3.75 mil salary
$20 mil revenue club = at most $5 mil salary
$25 mil revenue club = at most $6.25 mil salary
$30 mil revenue club = at most $7.5 mil salary

I would suggest that some sort of revenue sharing/luxury tax would be desirable so the 'small' revenue clubs would get some needed revenue. The teams that receive luxury tax can add the luxury tax revenue to determine their total revenue. A $10 mil team gets $2 mil luxury tax would mean a $12 mil total revenue team. This team could have at most $3 mil salary ($12 x .25)




-----------------------------------------------------


No salary cap with luxury tax like MLB

MLB's current collective bargaining agreement sets a 'payroll threshold' each season that is somewhat similar to a salary cap. For the 2007 season, this threshold has been set at $148 million ($155 million in 2008). Should the average annual value of a team's total salary contracts surpass this threshold in any year, they pay a 'tax' on the amount over the threshold. The tax is graduated such that a team pays a progressively higher percentage every year it exceeds the threshold, to a maximum of 40%. As an example, when Roger Clemens signed with the Yankees this season, his salary was reported at $18.5 million. But since the Yankees have already exceeded the payroll threshold several times, they were forced to pay the maximum luxury tax on his salary of 40%. Applied to Clemens' salary, the tax comes to $7.4 million. So in actuality, Clemens is costing the Yankees $25.9 million this season.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/salaries

	Team	Payroll	Average
1.	New York Yankees	$201,449,289	$7,748,050
2.	New York Mets 	      $135,773,988	$4,849,071
3.	Chicago Cubs	      $135,050,000	$5,402,000
4.	Boston Red Sox	      $122,696,000	$4,089,867
5.	Detroit Tigers	      $115,085,145	$4,110,184
6.	Los Angeles Angels	$113,709,000	$4,061,036
7.	Philadelphia Phillies	$113,004,048	$4,185,335
8.	Houston Astros 	      $102,996,415	$3,814,682
9.	Los Angeles Dodgers	$100,458,101	$4,018,324
10.	Seattle Mariners	    $98,904,167	$3,532,292
11.	Atlanta Braves	        $96,726,167	$3,335,385
12.	Chicago White Sox	$96,068,500	$3,694,942
13.	St. Louis Cardinals	$88,528,411	$3,278,830
14.	San Francisco Giants	$82,161,450	$3,043,017
15.	Cleveland Indians	      $81,625,567	$3,023,169
16.	Toronto Blue Jays	      $80,993,657	$2,892,631
17.	Milwaukee Brewers	$79,857,502	$3,194,300
18.	Colorado Rockies    	$75,201,000	$2,785,222
19.	Arizona Diamondbacks	$73,571,667	$2,724,877
20.	Cincinnati Reds	        $70,968,500	$2,957,021
21.	Kansas City Royals	$70,908,333	$2,727,244
22.	Texas Rangers	        $68,646,023	$2,367,104
23.	Baltimore Orioles	        $67,101,667	$2,580,833
24.	Minnesota Twins    	$65,299,267	$2,251,699
25.	Tampa Bay Rays    	$63,313,035	$2,183,208
26.	Oakland Athletics	       $62,310,000	$2,225,357
27.	Nationals	               $59,328,000	$2,045,793
28.	Pirates	               $48,743,000	$1,874,731
29.	San Diego Padres	        $42,796,700	$1,528,454
30.	Florida Marlins	        $36,814,000	$1,314,786

Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for MLB 09 = 5.47




--------------------------------------

No salary cap like EPL, La Liga, Serie A, FMF, J-league, USL

TOP PREMIER LEAGUE WAGE BILLS 2007/08

Current exchange rate = $1.64 = £1

Chelsea - £172.1m
Manchester Utd - £121.1m
Arsenal - £101.3m
Liverpool - £90.4m
Newcastle Utd - £74.6m
Portsmouth £54.7m
Manchester City £54.2 m
Tottenham Hotspur £52.9 m
Aston Villa 50.4 m
Everton 44.5 m
West Ham United 44.2 m
Blackburn Rovers 39.7 m
Fulham 39.3 m
Bolton Wanderers 39 m
Wigan Athletic 38.4 m
Sunderland 37.1 m
Middlesbrough 34.8 m
West Bromwich Albion 21.8m
Stoke City 11.9 m
Hull City (2007 figures) 6.9 m

Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for EPL 07/08 = 24.94

2009 J-league payroll

(1) Urawa Reds - 1,250,000,000 Yen = $12.5 mil
(2) Gamba Osaka - $10.5 mil
(3) Kashima Antlers - $8.3 mil
(4) Vissel Kobe - $7.3 mil
(5) Kyoto Sanga FC - $7.0 mil
(6) Oita Trinita - $6.5 mil
(7) Jubilo Iwata - $6.4 mil
(8) Kawasaki Frontale - $6.2 mil
(9) Kashiwa Reysol - $6.1 mil
(10) Shimizu S-Pulse - $5.9 mil
(11) Nagoya Grampus - $5.8 mil
(12) FC Tokyo - $5.6 mil
(13) Yokohama F Marinos - $5.2 mil
(14) Omiya Ardija
(14)Sanfrecce Hiroshima - $5.1 mil
(16) JEF Utd Chiba - $4.8 mil
(17) Albirex Niigata - $3.6 mil
(18) Yamagata Montedio - 250,000,000 Yen = $2.5 mil

Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for J-league 2009 = 5









Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for NBA 2008-09=1.703
Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for NFL 2008 = 1.822
Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for NHL 2007-2008 = 2.03
Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for J-league 2009 = 5
Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for MLB 09 = 5.47
Ratio of top payroll / bottom payroll for EPL 07/08 = 24.94



http://www.kansascity.com/multimedia...nal_Report.pdf

                       Pre-Contraction               Post-Contraction
Revenues          Investor/Operator       MLS      Investor/Operator     MLS

Gate Receipts            50%               50%               70%         30%
Concessions             100%                0%              100%          0%
Parking                 100%                0%              100%          0%
Local Sponsorships      (1)                (1)              100%          0%
National Sponsorships    0%                100%               0%        100%
Other Stadium Revenue  100%                 0%              100%          0%
National Media           0%                100%               0%        100%
Local TV & Radio       100%                 0%              100%          0%


Expenses

Player Salaries          0%               100%                0%        100%
Front Office Expenses  100%                 0%              100%          0%
Team Travel              0%               100%              100%          0%
Broadcast Expenses       0%               100%              100%          0%
Rent                    50%                50%              100%          0%

**** MLS also get a large cut of the shirt sponsorship.



MLS can use these revenues (30% of gate receipts, 100% of national tv, 100% of national sponsorship, large portion of shirt sponsorship) to pays for league operation and the minimum/floor amount of the salary cap. The club owners will foot the rest of the salary.

For example, if MLS decides to have a NBA style salary cap

Salary cap at $2.5 mil----Minimum salary cap (75%) at $1.88 mil---Luxury tax ($1 for $1 over) starting at $3 mil----Teams who are at or below the salary cap ($2.5 mil) will receive luxury tax revenue.

then the league is responsible for the $1.88 mil and the individual owners will be responsible for the rest. If it's NHL style salary cap, then the league is responsible for the floor amount (72% of the cap) and the individual owners will pay the rest if they choose to go to the full hard cap (100%).

[pc4th]

What about the DP? Keep it like it is? Keep it and exempt it from the salary cap? Get rid of it? Has the DP experiment been successful? Richard Snowden take on it.


http://soccer365.com/us_news/story_81208190400.php
Splitting the Cap By Richard Snowden

While Beckham and Blanco in particular have been worth their weight in gold off the pitch, raking in added revenues and raising awareness of MLS, the impact of DPs on the field has been dubious. These players generally appear to add little to the league's caliber of play, although it should be noted in fairness that one standout player should not be expected to make a team with 10 average teammates great by himself.

{snip}

To see one clear advantage of such a cap system over the DP Rule, one need look no further than the Los Angeles Galaxy. Despite boasting Beckham and Landon Donovan, the Galaxy has missed the playoffs three years running, often playing poor soccer due to being forced to surround their two outstanding players with a cast composed largely of poorly paid players whose performances too often matched their paychecks.

Galaxy: 11th out of 13 teams in the table (2007 season)---$9,179,949 payroll
Galaxy: 13th out of 14 teams in the table (2008 season)----~$9,200,000 payroll
Galaxy: 9th out of 15 teams in the table (2009 season so far)---$9,313,290.53 payroll

[Cujo1126]

I like Richard Snowden's two-tier system.

I would set the soft cap at 4 mil (the league pays all salaries up to 4 million dollars). I'd set the hard cap at 10-12 million.

That would allow the Seattles, LAs, and New Yorks to go field an internationally competitive team (at least in the Americas). It would also ligHT a fire under the a$$ of owners in big markets who are content with their tinny teams (like the Revs, and Dallas). I would finally be able to write to Robert Kraft and say "The salary cap is now at $10 million. Your team's payout is still $2 million. Will you at least admit to the fans that you are ridiculously cheap?"

[pc4th]

Originally Posted by Cujo1126

I like Richard Snowden's two-tier system.

I would set the soft cap at 4 mil (the league pays all salaries up to 4 million dollars). I'd set the hard cap at 10-12 million.

That would allow the Seattles, LAs, and New Yorks to go field an internationally competitive team (at least in the Americas). It would also ligHT a fire under the a$$ of owners in big markets who are content with their tinny teams (like the Revs, and Dallas). I would finally be able to write to Robert Kraft and say "The salary cap is now at $10 million. Your team's payout is still $2 million. Will you at least admit to the fans that you are ridiculously cheap?"

Not sure a $4 mil league-pay cap and $10-12 mil hard cap is a good idea from a financial point of view. For instance, how will the league pay the $4 mil for each team? Right now, the league is paying $2.3 mil for each team which would require an additional $1.7 mil. Where would the other 16 x $1.7 mil = $27.2 mil come from?

I would be in favor of a much more reasonable two tier system where the league pays $2.5 mil ('soft cap') with the hard cap at around $4.5 mil.

Keep in mind that when MLS voted for a DP rule, they didn't exempt the DP from the salary cap unlike Australia's A-league. A reason why the majority of MLS owners voted against giving teams with DP an extra $400,000 in cap space is because they want a level playing field (each teams will have exactly $2.3 mil to work with). They fear that giving LA, NY an extra $400,000 in cap space would make these 2 teams more competitive. Of course that backfired from the whole Beckham debacle and the Galaxy have not made the playoff in 3 years. They failed to realize that a competitive Galaxy is good for the league especially with Beckham in the team. Since the league takes in 30% of each team gate receipt, the decrease in attendance from the Galaxy (from 26,007 to about 19,200) means that the league lost money.

[Sanguine]

There should be a ********ing poll-posting cap on bigsoccer.

[Cujo1126]

Originally Posted by pc4th

Not sure a $4 mil league-pay cap and $10-12 mil hard cap is a good idea from a financial point of view. For instance, how will the league pay the $4 mil for each team? Right now, the league is paying $2.3 mil for each team which would require an additional $1.7 mil. Where would the other 16 x $1.7 mil = $27.2 mil come from?

I would be in favor of a much more reasonable two tier system where the league pays $2.5 mil ('soft cap') with the hard cap at around $4.5 mil.

Keep in mind that when MLS voted for a DP rule, they didn't exempt the DP from the salary cap unlike Australia's A-league. A reason why the majority of MLS owners voted against giving teams with DP an extra $400,000 in cap space is because they want a level playing field (each teams will have exactly $2.3 mil to work with). They fear that giving LA, NY an extra $400,000 in cap space would make these 2 teams more competitive. Of course that backfired from the whole Beckham debacle and the Galaxy have not made the playoff in 3 years. They failed to realize that a competitive Galaxy is good for the league especially with Beckham in the team. Since the league takes in 30% of each team gate receipt, the decrease in attendance from the Galaxy (from 26,007 to about 19,200) means that the league lost money.

We need to be competitive on the world market when it comes to salaries. Why would someone play in MLS and earn 100,000 (average) a year when they could go to the English League 1 (third tier) and earn 300,000. The fact that there is a third tier league in the world that has a higher average salary than MLS is just sad.

Someone is going to need to sink some cash into this league if its going to take off. We need to be able to compete with third tier leagues for players. Right now, we can't.

[pc4th]

Originally Posted by Cujo1126

We need to be competitive on the world market when it comes to salaries. Why would someone play in MLS and earn 100,000 (average) a year when they could go to the English League 1 (third tier) and earn 300,000. The fact that there is a third tier league in the world that has a higher average salary than MLS is just sad.

Someone is going to need to sink some cash into this league if its going to take off. We need to be able to compete with third tier leagues for players. Right now, we can't.

That's all well and good and I hate to see MLS losing good players to Denmark, Sweden, Belgium but how will the league pay for the $4 mil 'soft' and $10 mil 'hard' cap? Sure, a few teams can pay $4-8 mil in salary and still be profitable but what about the rest of the league?

[BSGuy321]

Snowden's model is by far the best. As far as the actual numbers go, that's open for debate. A ratio of no more than 4:1 though imo, to maintain competitive balance.

Something like $3M soft cap and $8M-$10M hard cap.

[BSGuy321]

The payroll differential in the EPL is absurd. 25:1. Crazy.