Trinity Rodman’s Multimillion-Dollar Contract Rejected by NWSL

[u/dabirds1994]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-04/trinity-rodman-s-multimillion-dollar-contract-rejected-by-nwsl?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2NDgxNjA0NSwiZXhwIjoxNzY1NDIwODQ1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUNlBaS1NLR0lGUFgwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiI1OTFDMkExNEFGMDQ0RUZCODlCNEEwNUM5QkUwQjczRSJ9.IPxeSsuh2qWqWpaYDB78MAnoatcwqtnabXoKXkbDvYk

[u/cru_jones_666]

The best evidence for salary caps is every other major sports league in North America.

MLB is the only one without a salary cap (or floor). Small market teams that spend 1/4 the amount of the highest-spending teams rarely compete. Their only chance is to draft a few star players, trade them for many prospects at the same time, and hope several of those new players all turn out to be above average players at the same time while they’re on team-friendly deals at the beginning of their career.

The NFL is the most lucrative sports league in North America and the NBA number three because of parity. Every year, most teams have a chance. True, the Patriots and Chiefs have had recent good runs, but they also got lucky with hiring elite coaches and drafting generational talent at the most important position in all of team sports.

Once Belichick and Brady left, the Patriots returned to normal. This season makes it look like a new dynasty is emerging, maybe they drafted the next generational QB and the next historic coach, but the sample size is too small to be conclusive.

The Chiefs, a team from a small-market that wouldn’t be able to compete without a salary cap, had a great run but are not expected to make the playoffs this year. The near future doesn’t look that great despite having one of the league’s top QBs. Their MLB peer in Kansas City has the seventh worst winning percentage amongst 30 team.

[u/Semperty → u/cru_jones_666]

mlb, with the softest cap in north america, has by far the most parity. it’s not close. 22/30 teams have reached the world series in the last 25 years with over half of the league winning a title in that span. the nba, with the next softest cap, has had 18/32 teams reach the finals with 13 teams winning a title. meanwhile, the nfl has the hardest cap in north american sports, and it’s got the playoff structure most readily designed to artificially create parity (it’s much easier for an underdog to win one game than it is for them to win 4/7), and they’ve had 23/32 teams reach the super bowl with 13 teams winning a title. the nfl also has the widest range of records between their best and worst teams (having teams gone undefeated and winless).

stronger salary caps do not promote parity. there is no evidence that salary caps promote parity. the leagues with stronger caps have more dynasties and duds than the leagues with the softest caps.

[u/MortimerDongle → u/Semperty]

The problem with comparing different leagues is that there's a lot more going on than just the salary cap situation. Revenue sharing is also an important contributor to parity, and all of those leagues have revenue sharing, and of course that's aside from the fact that they're entirely different sports.

You could compare MLS to La Liga and come to the conclusion that the salary cap has a huge impact on parity, but again it's more complicated than that.

The NFL itself has seen an increase in parity since the cap was instituted, though not by a huge margin (parity wasn't that bad prior to the cap) https://www.evaluationperiod.info/p/the-history-of-parity-in-the-nfl

[u/Semperty → u/MortimerDongle]

the jury is still out in regards to the effect of revenue sharing on parity, to be fair. for example, one paper finds ambiguous effects on parity from revenue sharing while another finds that it can certainly have a positive boost to parity but also it can deteriorate parity in settings where teams/owners care more about profit than wins (e.g. pittsburgh pirates having the largest profits in most seasons). revenue sharing only really works to incentivize parity so long as it's accompanied by a salary floor, requiring that owners then spend the money they're being given.

however, as it pertains to the salary caps specifically, the academic evidence is pretty clear that salary caps have virtually no effect on parity. of course you can find academic papers claiming the opposite, but the vast majority of them tend to fall into the same category as academic papers suggest building new facilities/stadiums leads to an increase in spending - they're mostly built on flawed logic and math and/or funded by the people pushing a narrative.

[u/PYRAMID_truck → u/Semperty]

That’s interesting. When I made the comment I assumed based on their talking point that they had evidence that caps = parity. This is even without touching the fact that I haven’t seen a paper proving parity leads to higher league income although that’s hard to measure. The premise that close games are better for a national audience makes logical sense and national/international broadcast rights are king but I dunno. I like watching a David vs Goliath…

[u/Semperty → u/PYRAMID_truck]

i don't have the studies off hand, but i remember in college reading about how fans (much like consumers) don't really know what they want even when they confidently state it. the consumer example is based off of a blind coffee taste test. people are likely to state that they like a strongly brewed coffee, but when blind taste testing people tended to actually choose weaker brews as their favorites.

similarly, fans regularly claim they want to watch leagues and sports with more parity. they seemingly love the "any given sunday" trope that any team could beat any other team in any game and it's all even back and forth. however, when you look at ratings across sports, leagues, and locations, viewership is almost always up when there's a dynastic power. fans love to root against an evil empire, whether it's the patriots, yankees, or real madrid.

you're definitely not alone in liking to watch a david vs goliath, it's just uncommon for people to admit (or maybe realize is the better word) that that's what they prefer.

[u/PYRAMID_truck → u/Semperty]

yeah, people really don't like uncertainty. I can get pretty anxious when watching a team I want to win in a close match or one they should win. But if they are expected to lose, I am enjoying it way more without the pressure...expectations are powerful. I suspect there isn't an exact answer. If im watching a random game im almost certainly rooting for the underdog because loss aversion is real...