In modern professional sports, athletes are paid a salary determined by their potential economic impact on a team. For example, a team will only sign a player to a $10 million contract if it believes the player will have an economic impact of at least $10 million (Landsburg). Most professional sports leagues use a free agency system where players are essentially auctioned off to the highest bidder. Usually, the team willing to pay the highest salary will be the one to acquire the player. There are a few other variables involved in the signing process, which include the length of the contract, clauses, incentives and signing bonuses. The fact that athletes will play where they are offered the most money remains the basic principle. Most sports operate under some form of so-called salary cap, which sets a limit on the total amount of money a team can spend. all the combined salaries of its players. In essence, it's not so much a salary cap as a payroll cap. Payroll is the total amount of money spent on salary (Keri). Of the four major American sports leagues, three use a salary cap: the NFL, NBA and NHL. MLB currently uses a luxury tax system that taxes any team that spends over a certain amount. However, most teams have not even come close to paying this tax, and since its inception in 2003, the New York Yankees have accounted for 92% of such tax payments (Brown). Without a real salary cap, baseball will cease to be America's favorite pastime. Competitive imbalance leads to imbalance in interests. Since 1995, 22 of MLB's 30 teams have reached the postseason five or fewer times. Eight of these 22 teams have made the playoffs once or…middle of the paper…everything is economics as an approach to spring training." SDNN.com. Feb. 11, 2010. Web. Oct. 15, 2010. Hoynes, Paul. “Hafner to sign four-year, $57 million extension with Indians on Thursday.” Cleveland.com July 11, 2007. Web. October 15, 2010. Keri, Jonah Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game is Wrong. Print.Lewis, Michael M. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Bringing Who Now?” Blogs.dailyherald.com. Daily Herald, October 13, 2010. Web. October 15, 2010."Salary databases." Usatoday.com. 2007. Web. October 15, 2010. Sheehan, Joe. "Don "Don't blame the Pirates, blame the MLB revenue sharing system." Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. CNN, August 25, 2010. Web. October 15, 2010. "Sports Industry Overview." Plunkettresearch.com. 2010. Web. 15 October. 2010.