Welcome to Rye Country Day's Economic Blog. Here you will find perspectives by students taking Economics at Rye Country Day School. It is meant to be a forum where students can openly express their ideas and take positions on relevant economic issues. I urge everyone to participate in presenting their own ideas in an open manner so that we can all learn from each other. Regardless of whether you are currently taking Economics, everyone is invited and encouraged to comment on articles and get involved. Feel free to e-mail me, Alex Osborne at alexander_osborne@rcds.rye.ny.us , with comments or suggestions.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Featured Entry - Economic Systems in Professional Sports


The professional sports leagues in America, although often associated with each other with similarities, are pretty diverse in some key economic parts. Notably, the National Football League and Major League Baseball use very different systems when it comes to acquiring players. Personally, from the stance of making the league more interesting (resulting in more interest in, and thus, more profit), I think the NFL has an advantage in its method. The NFL has something called a “cap,” which is set the same for each team, so when trying to keep a good team and bringing in draft picks & free agents, no team has any fiscal advantage over the other. That is why standings change so drastically each year and dynasties are far and few. In the MLB, however, the monetary gains of a team (products, advertising, tickets, food sales, etc.) connect with its player spending money, so teams with higher fan bases and/or that are located in big cities are at a large fiscal advantage (ex. NY Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals). That way, the same teams can stay good for more years than it should be allowed to, in a sense. That is one reason why I personally like the NFL much more than MLB.

- Andrew Citrin

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I believe the MLB is the better league between the NFL and the MLB. In the MLB there are no salary caps, which create true competition between teams. This competition forces teams to properly scout, and create innovative ways to make money. I'm just saying in terms of economics, the MLB is a much more creative system, and more competitive.
-Matt P