Hiya

I need to write an essay on the Salary Cap (Preferrably NFL & NBA).  I
have no idea where to start, plus I have no idea what sports was like
without a salary cap and free agency!!

So I guess im looking for something like
1) The problem with pro sports before the salary cap (Im thinking it
was a monopsony in labour market)
2) The introduction of free agency and the salary cap, and the
implications it had on pro sports

I don't know where to start?

Thanks!

You should start with the baseball sources, as sports free agency is
mostly based in baseball's struggle for it.  Start with "A Whole New
Ballgame" by Marvin Miller.  Also read "Baseball and Billions" by
Andrew Zimbalist.  Finally, you can see a critique of one of the flaws
of the NBA's system by surfing to my article at 
http://www.techcentralstation.com/072204E.html.

Armchair --

Steve Forbes hates it and refers to the NFL as "socialism" but the
magazine and website are good sites for data on salary caps and
revenue distribution schemes among the professional sports leagues:
http://www.forbes.com

I'd suggest using Google to do a site: search on the Forbes website. 
It'll return hundreds of references to the NFL -- and lots to "salary
cap" or "salary caps".

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Buddy80 --

I went looking for a specific article this morning and found the
following Google search string to be particularly helpful:
economics + "professional sports"

It does a good job of elevating some relevant links and fighting the
Steve Forbes' nonsense that the Yankees and Dodgers are competitors
striving to knock each other out of business -- and that anything else
is "socialism":
http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/columns/a01_0139.html

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA