Salary Cap in 2041

[Fat Nige]

Living in Strange Austere Times

The UMEBA is increasing it’s profile, expanding it’s affiliate and appears to be a league on the up, but scratch beneath the surface and the picture changes. The $35 million Salary Cap instigated a few years back is already causing concern to the team owners. Only one team projects to be under the cap in 2042 and by 2043 only three of the league’s eight teams are currently projected to have a payroll below $50 million.

The league has a strange profile though, because of the fact that it’s stars are mainly veteran BBA players, there are mainly short-term contracts, a smattering of possible arbitration contracts and a lot of players going through arbitration each year. In fact, in 2043 there is currently only one player in the league with a guaranteed contract, all the others will be fighting arbitration panels or just getting their contract auto-renewed.

Does that really matter you say? Over the cap? Dump one or two of the old guys, problem solved. But is that a healthy way for the league, for the fans, for the players? Everyone is living hand to mouth, the players don’t know from year to year if they’ll get a paycheque or just become another ‘salary cap dump’, the fans don’t know if their favourites, the teams stars or whoever will be around next year and the owners have to be shrewd to keep a steady line of arbitration-eligible players they can send packing to ease the latest Cap infraction. One out the door to make room for the next one the manager thinks will deliver The Ring. Maybe that is modern-day sports finance? Coming from a country where salary caps don’t exist it’s an alien concept to me but so are many things.

I hanker for a time where everyone had a guaranteed deal and the fans knew where they were. Another load of UMEBA star players will end up on the crap heap during & after 2041, not because they can no-longer play but because of the finances of the salary cap. The BBA players were promised that the UMEBA was their safety net – if they couldn’t cut it in the BBA they could eek out a second career in the UMEBA. Now the Cap makes the UMEBA teams unable to pay for that second career, where do they go?

Table of Projected Salary Owed by the UMEBA 2041-45
(In $ millions)

[drummerJ99]

I'll be the first to admit, and I'm assuming I wasn't the first, that I didn't plan or prepare to be still in the UMEBA come say, 2045. I was doing whatever I could to try and win now, future be damned. LOL

IMHO that could be the one downfall to the UMEBA, no planning for the future.

[DugoutDesperado]

Interesting read. Until this year, I tried to lay low on the financial front. If Beirut stays in the midst of the hunt through the halfway mark it may be a different story. I know that I have $5.6M of projected arbitration salary that I will not go after so that does drop my 37.7 in 2042 back down to 32.1 (barring free agents).

My future strategy feels like it is about 70% free agent based vs 30% farm system based at this point. Not sure if that is how it feels with the rest of the UMEBA teams (or even BBA teams for that matter) or not.

[FuzzyRawley]

I'll be the first to admit, and I'm assuming I wasn't the first, that I didn't plan or prepare to be still in the UMEBA come say, 2045. I was doing whatever I could to try and win now, future be damned. LOL

IMHO that could be the one downfall to the UMEBA, no planning for the future.

I hear that. I inherited a team that was already peaking and that tends to shorten my focus to the short-term. It's also challenging finding good, young players that want to join the org and develop in our farm system so that leads to more reliance on veteran FAs. (Not complaining, challenges are fun)