Many articles have been written in the past few days about why NBA players are gettting bigger contracts than NFL players in free agency. There are a variety of reasons but one of the primary reasons is the NBA has a soft salary cap.

NBA owners can willingly spend over the salary cap and if they do, they pay a luxury tax. The luxury tax is nothing new in professional sports. Baseball has had it for years despite not having a salary cap. 

The NFL on the other hand has a hard cap. Teams cannot spend above the $143 million dollar cap number otherwise they are subject to hefty fines, cancelled contracts and/or lost draft picks. The NBA cap rules aren’t as strict so when an owner like the Grizzlies Robert Pera wants to give out two ridiculous contracts like he did last week to Chandler Parsons and Mike Conley, he can. 

Obviously there are other factors that impact how much money teams in professional sports can spend on salaries. T.V revenue for example greatly impacts the players because they negotiate for that money in collective bargaining. The NBAPA has done a better job of getting more of that money than the NFLPA has. 

In reality, football players should make the most money in pro sports because they have the most injury risk. It doesn’t work that way however. Major League Baseball and the NBA pay better because they have less roster spots, player friendly T.V deals and longevity on their side. The NFLPA can’t compete with that.

The moral of the story for kids out there is this. Instead of picking up a football when you are younger, pick up a baseball or a basketball. You’ll make more money and play longet.