march 19, 2015;
Interviews with Mr. Sedgwick and France Bélanger. I asked them many questions related to the salary cap mostly about the NHL. I broke the topic down to five different categories and asked him three questions per category.
Team revenues and incomes
- Does the team revenue and income affect the salary cap? If so, how? Yes, the team revenue goes to the league revenue. It dictates the cap for the following year. The luxury tax is another way of revenue sharing. The teams who makes more money subsidy the team that makes less money. League revenues are also affected by TV deals like in football TV contracts. In this case, every team makes money no matter what.
- What are the expectations for the team revenue and income? Who benefits from it? The question was personal, therefore, Mr. Sedgwick did not give any answer.
- When a great player gets traded, does it affect the team revenue or income? Depend on the sport or the player. Ex; If they traded Subban and Price(NHL players from Montreal Canadian), it would affect the team.
Free agency and trades
- How does the salary cap affect free agency? It affects it in a great deal. If a club want to sign a player, they will set an amount, but they must check if there is space for the team cap. The higher the cap, the better for free agency.
- Can players go to any team they want once free? Unrestricted free agent, yes. However, their opportunities will be limited by the cap availability. Most players become unrestricted by the age of 27.
- How important are trade deadlines and what happens if a team is not able to get a player they desire? It can be important, if a team do not get a player they desire, they need to move on. It also depend on their need. The trades can be made at any time of the season, the deadline only puts pressure for the general manager.
Players’ contracts
- How long can a player be “owned” by a team? A max contract is 8 years, players who comes out of the draft signs an entry level contract. A club can only keep a player who came from another team for 7 years. The newly draft players are the only one who can stay in a team for 8 years.
- Are there different expectations for certain players? (Ex: An all-star player compared to a decent player) If so, what are they and to whom? Yes there are, players who are very skilled like Sydney Crosby and P.K. Subban have higher standards than regular players.
- Can a player withdraw from a contract? If yes, are there any consequences? A player can not withdraw without retiring. They can not renegotiate a contract unless if a player decides to play in other league(European league). A contract can only be terminated if a player is going to leave the organization.
Merchandises and Ticket prices
- Do merchandises and ticket prices influence the salary cap? Yes, they are part of the hockey related revenue which affects all the revenue and also the cap.
- What happens when there are not enough fans attending and buying goods from a club? It affects the salary cap. The league and the teams are also affected because all the revenues goes into a hole. It hurts everyone, the franchise the most.
- If a great player gets traded, what happens to all the goods that were made for him? Does the team lose money? The merchandises for the player that gets traded goes on sale and the team do not lose lots of money.
Spectators
- Does the salary cap affect the spectator? If so, in what ways? Yes, it limits what they can spend on their players. It also creates a more level of playing field for all the team.
- What are two or three most important key to keep the audience satisfied? In their market, winning is the only important key to satisfy their audience.
- What are the strategies that team who perform poorly uses to attract fans? They will use anything such as promoting players that are future starts, giving fans hope that they are building into the right direction, contests, and giveaways. There are more in the minor leagues, not much in the NHL.
april 1st, 2015;
Teams
- Are there any rules that can make the impact of the salary cap better for the team or the league? For the league(collective teams): anything that limits the amount of money they pay for the players is good for the league. The players gets 50% of the revenues. Under the previous CBA, the players get a bigger % of the money than they do now.
- Are there any rules in a team to have specific players with the specific age like the European football league? No, there are not. Only restriction for players is they are not allowed to play until they are 18( Ex: Conner McDavid in team Canada U18). However, the younger the player, the affordable they will be because they are far away from becoming unrestricted and having access to the full market. It is difficult to build a team with only older players because there are more expensive. The younger players are easier to control and their contract are smaller. Every team is a mix of both veterans and young players, the salary cap creates a system that does not allow a team to spend all on veterans because it would cost too much.
- For the NHL, do the bigger market teams have a better chance of winning the title than the smaller market teams? There are still gaps between the minimum and the maximum for the salary cap. There are teams that do not spend to the maximum. However, they have an advantage with the salary cap because it is narrower. In the MLB, there is a luxury tax. The big markets teams can spend way more on players than the small market teams.
- Do you believe the salary cap equalize both bigger and smaller market teams? Yes, it does. It levels the playing field. The big teams still have an advantage with better gym equipment, better meals etc.