Looking At Parity in the NFL and MLB

With the Pittsburgh Steelers winning their 6th Super Bowl in a thrilling 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals it got me thinking about parity in football and baseball. One of the many reasons why people love the NFL is the belief that any team can win the Super Bowl in any year. This belief is based on the word parity. Parity by definition is “The quality or state of being equal or equivalent.” The late, great Pete Rozelle’s dream was to have an NFL where all teams are equal.

Every team would have a chance headed into the season. If you had a poor record in the previous year, you get a top draft pick, got the “best player” in college and you played a weaker schedule based on the records from the previous season. If you had a good record in the previous year, you got a pick at the end of the draft, thus not getting “the best” college player and you played a hard schedule based on the records from the previous year. This strengthens the weaker teams and weakens the stronger teams. Great theory

While this is great for teams in theory, is it really better than major league baseball’s free market system? Baseball is based on a free market system. Like a business. Run your business/team as you see fit and may the best team win. While there is a draft where the weakest teams pick first, unlike the NFL, there is no guarantee that those picks will ever see a major league field.

So which system is better? The free market driven MLB or the parity driven NFL? Let’s first take a look at the Super Bowl and World Series winners and participants  since 1967 (the year of the 1st Super Bowl and when the NFL as we know it was really created).

Since 1967 17 out of 32 teams have won a Super Bowl – 57%

Since 1967 19 out of 30 teams have won a World Series – 63%

Since 1967 27 out of 32 teams have participated in Super Bowl – 84%

Since 1967 27 out of 30 teams have participated in a World Series – 90%

The Steelers and Yankees have both won 6 titles

The Cowboys and 49ers have won 5 titles

The A’s have won 4 titles. No baseball team has won 5 in that span

Now people reading this might say another reason the NFL is so great is because they offer a salary cap. Every team has to work in a set salary parameter set by the NFL. Essentially you can’t spend as much money as you want and try to “buy a World Series.” The NFL salary cap era begin in 1994. So let’s take a look at the Super Bowl and World Series winners since the beginning of the 1994 seasons:

Since 1994 11 out of 32 teams have won a Super Bowl – 34%

Since 1995 9 out of 32 teams have won a World Series – 30%

There was no World Series in 1994 due to the players strike. 1995 was the 1st year used

The Yankees won 4 World Series

The Patriots won 3 Super Bowls

The Red Sox, Marlins, Steelers and Broncos have won 2 titles respectively

As you can see the salary cap has evened the field but by not that much

So while people complain that in baseball a team “can buy a World Series,” the free market system of baseball offers just as much parity if not more than the sport that is based on the word. What this proves is that salary cap or no salary cap, high draft pick or no low draft pick, weak schedule or same schedule a team in any sport needs to make smart and sound decisions in order to win on a consistant.

Smart decisions do not include giving Carlos Silva a 4 yr $48MM contract or drafting Kyle Brady with the 9th pick in the draft

Tags: Arizona Cardinals, Major League Baseball, National Football League, nfl, Parity in Sports, Pittsburgh Steelers, Salary Cap, Super Bowl, World Series