Why Salary Cap is Not Effective in the PBA

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is not only one of the highest-grossing sports in the Philippines, it’s also one of the highest-grossing industries in the country.

With so much revenue being generated by the league, players are compensated quite well. Still, there are rules in place that keep this money in check, such as the salary cap. However, the salary cap rules are also one of the hardest things to keep track of in basketball. Contracts aren’t always clear on how much of a hit certain teams are taking in regards to cap space, and it can be difficult for fans to keep track of.

Here are some of the reasons voiced by this blog’s readers on why it is not effective in the PBA:

"They aren't effective because if one team is better than another and therefore makes more money than they should be able to get whatever players they want for whatever amount it takes. If a player is better than another then they should also get paid more than the others."

"We should set an arbitrary cap to how much someone should be able to get paid? That's ridiculous. We do not set salary caps for private employees in a capitalistic society; by setting caps, we would be restricting free capital exchange--and worse, we would be doing this in an arbitrary manner that leads to injustice."

”Salary caps are made to retain players in teams so that everyone has a fair chance, but just because you limit how much money a person can make doesn't mean that an athlete cannot switch to another team. For example, if some teammates are slacking off while a certain player is actually trying their hardest and playing well that player does have the right to switch to a different team."

"Salary caps in professional sports, like basketball, are not effective because there are ways around them. A lot of contract extras and bonuses are not covered by salary caps but are easily triggered by the players. Teams also dangle incentives such as first-rate training facilities and extra-curricular activities. This happens a lot when they play road games around the country."

"The capitalist marketplace should rule in this instance, and players should take what they can get. Players have to live with lifelong injuries and retire at a young age. They should receive the benefit of the large salaries to make the life threatening jobs worthwhile. They also deserve these salaries because the job is very competitive and, if they are in such a select group of talent and luck, they deserve to be paid for it. No caps are necessary. Let the market rule."

"The salary caps are not effective, the players are making more from ads, promotions etc. The salary caps should take into consideration the additional monies the players make from promotions, ads. Some ads like Nike pay millions for players to represent their products. Also we should take into consideration the character of the player. We have a tendency to promote people who do not represent good morals."

"If you see that team is an investment, then the idea of a salary cap is ridiculous. If a man decides to use 100 million dollars to buy stocks at the stock market, then nobody would care. Putting 100 million dollars into an athlete is the same thing. They pay a lot of money for players to play, so people and companies buy tickets and advertisement spots to make the owner money."