Labor relations models in the four
sports have certain commonalities.
Since 1967, when the initial team
sports collective bargaining agreement
was reached in basketball, owners and
players have experimented with ways
of sharing power and dividing revenues.
Today, all sports have a form
of free agency, allowing players to sell
their services to other clubs after a certain
period of time has elapsed. Salary
caps have emerged as a quid pro
quo to free agency. That is, while players
are allowed to sell their services to
the highest bidder, the salary cap restricts
how much can be paid to players
on a team as a whole, thus preventing
labor costs from rising beyond
the stated limits.