As labor troubles gather on the horizon for MLB, WNBA and others, it’s helpful to compare where they stand on their respective Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) terms.
As warnings sound on a potential MLB lockout and WNBA walkout, it’s interesting to see how various leagues stand on the player payouts secured in their respective CBA agreements.
League | Players' Share of Revenue | Salary Cap | Rookie Minimum Salary | League Rev ($million)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NFL | 48% | Hard cap | $840,000 | $20,240 |
NBA | 49-51% | Soft cap with luxury tax | $1,272,870 | $13,000 |
MLB | 47% (not mandated) | No cap with luxury tax | $760,000 | $11,600 |
NHL | 50% | Hard cap | $775.000 | $6,600 |
MLS | 25% (media revenues only) | Soft cap with exemptions | $80,622 | $2,233 |
WNBA | 9.3% | Hard cap | $66,079 | $226 |
NWSL | 10% (media revenues only and subject to league profitability) | Hard cap | $48,500 | $215 |
*For the most recent year available
A few things stand out in these comparisons:
The battle between individual incentives and shared interests has evolved to a similar place. Large market team owners accepted salary caps that limited their advantage in order to grow the overall pie. Players have generally gone along in exchange for a guaranteed piece of that pie. In fact, the effectiveness of this model in creating competitive balance and financial stability has made it an overseas export. Several leagues, including the English Premier League, are finalizing proposals to introduce caps in the upcoming season.
Baseball is the standout exception to explicit salary caps or explicit player revenue sharing. It seems the likely future state, whether in the next negotiation or later.
These comparisons make the women’s league player payouts look unfairly low. On the other hand, their respective revenues put them in the same company as Japan’s B1 Basketball and the UK’s Premiership Rugby. The argument really comes down to when and how the growth already anticipated in the rising team valuations gets shared with the players.
Note that there are a lot of caveats to the above comparison, including:
Many terms are scheduled to change over the term of each CBA
What is included in shareable revenue changes by league
Total league revenue numbers are estimates
That said, the league models have converged over time and will likely continue to do so in the future.