Why an EPL Salary Cap is a Terrible Idea

By: Martin | July 2nd, 2009

Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis came out today and said that the Premiership should consider a salary cap to stabilize itself financially. He didn’t come out and say it, but I think it’s pretty clear this has been brought on by Manchester City’s profligate transfer fees and wages since the new ownership group has been in place.

It is undeniable that the idea has some superficial appeal. Like pretty much everyone else, I suppose, I have an inner 80-year old who thinks “Why, these players today, they make too much money! And these transfer fees are out of control! Why, back in my day….,” etc., etc. A salary cap, the theory goes, would keep player wages in check, and force teams to be more thrifty and thoughtful in their spending instead of simply throwing money at players.

There’s also the notion, which I believe is probably true, that a salary cap would provide more parity in the Premiership. If, for example, Blackburn and Manchester United were to spend the same amount of money in wages, their teams would theoretically be much closer in quality than they are at present (although due to prestige, fan support, etc., you’d have to think United would still be a substantially better team). Specifically, many of the big sides stockpile expensive talent only to have it sit on the bench–I believe at one point last season Spurs fielded a reserve side of quite a few players who had been bought for over £10 million. For example, if there had been a salary cap, it’s doubtful Chelsea would have been able to pay someone like Wayne Bridge such a high wage when he wasn’t even a member of the first team. So those types of players would now be starting at the Aston Villas, Boltons, and Evertons of the league, which would improve those squads and make the league more competitive, and pose a greater threat to the Big 4 monopoly.

So far, so good, right? More reasonable player salaries, which probably result in lower ticket prices; and a more competitive league in which the best players in the league actually play instead of sitting on the big clubs’ benches. So what’s the problem?

There are several, unfortunately. First off, unlike the examples cited by Gazidis, like the National Football League and the National Basketball Association here in the states, the EPL isn’t head and shoulders above any other league in the world. While most believe it is the preeminent league in the world, Spain and Italy both have premier soccer leagues which belong in the conversation, and France, Portugal, and Germany are not too far behind. The NFL and NBA can afford to have a salary cap because there’s really nowhere else for their players to go (although this has started to change a bit recently in basketball)–if they lower salaries 15%, that’s by and large still much more money than the players can make anywhere else, and there’s nowhere else that offers a comparable level of play. So the players just have to accept it.

But that’s not the case with the EPL. If Manchester United and Chelsea had to cut their wage budget by 25%, the fact is that they would have to lose players, and pay players less. But why would someone take less at Chelsea when they could go play for more at AC Milan or Real Madrid? Those leagues offer a comparable quality of play and atmosphere, and you could make more money. The bottom line is that unless every major soccer league in Europe agrees to a salary cap, which will never, ever, ever, ever happen, any league that does institute a salary cap will only be handicapping itself in terms of its quality of play relative to Europe’s other leagues. While English soccer would no doubt survive and still enjoy widespread support, placing artificial limits on salaries would send some of its best players elsewhere, and reduce it to a strong, yet not elite, domestic league, along the lines of Ligue 1 or the Bundesliga.

That also means, of course, that English clubs would become also rans in the Champions League. Since some of the better players would be leaving for greener foreign pastures, and the big clubs would have to get rid of reserve players, who often allow Big 4 managers to rotate their squads to keep people fresh to participate in multiple competitions, EPL teams would be at a major disadvantage to clubs from other nations which didn’t have salary limitations. Spanish and Italian clubs, for example, would be able to field stronger, deeper squads, and would most certainly have the upper hand against English clubs.

For all its benefits, then, I think it’s fairly certain that a salary cap would likely have the effect of stripping the Premiership of its “best league in the world” status. And I, for one, am not anxious to see Premiership players bolting their clubs for Serie A or La Liga clubs, and I’m certainly not anxious to watch Inter, Barca, AC, Real, and Juve take turns lifting the Champions League trophy year after year.

The bottom line is that each club must be responsible for its own financial well-being. As an Arsenal supporter, I am very proud to support a club which has shown that a club can be competitive without a rich moneybags owner pouring his own cash into the club and without taking on massive amounts of debt which it can’t pay off. There’s really no reason a club can’t be self-sustaining and competitive, and it would certainly be nice if other clubs followed our lead. But the bottom line is that if a Mansour or Abramovich wants to operate their club at a loss by pouring hundreds of millions of pounds to satisfy their myriad personal inadequacies by buying a bunch of players who win a trophy and then being able to claim that they themselves won something, hey–it’s their club, and their money. You may think salaries are out of control, but the guys drawing those salaries are world-class athletes with unthinkable talent and skill, whom we’re willing to watch week in and week out, and pay money for tickets, replica shirts, etc. If the market pays it, it necessarily means that that’s what they’re worth. End of story. Obnoxious as they are, Manchester City are assembling an impressive collection of talent and seem primed to make a legitimate challenge to the Big 4, and I for one think it’s going to make this upcoming season very interesting. And I urge you not to pay much mind to all the chicken littles out there who claim otherwise.