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On Tuesday, we took a look<\/a> at the final MLB payrolls from 2010.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\nFrom the New York Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 free-spending ways to the San Diego Padres\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 frugal flirtation with a playoff spot, the figures showed the considerable financial gap that exists, but also that money doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t guarantee success.\u00c2\u00a0 Those without big spending power are at a disadvantage, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far from being an insurmountable barrier.<\/p>\n
How does this situation compare with English Premier League football teams?\u00c2\u00a0 Does the financial might of the Premier League make the MLB payrolls look less imposing, or do footballers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 wages pale in comparison to the big stars of baseball?<\/p>\n
Making meaningful comparisons between the two competitions is difficult. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s partly because we rarely get a clear picture of what football teams actually spend.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Baseball fans can look on the roster pages at websites like ESPN.com, or consult dedicated resources such as the indispensible Cot’s Baseball Contracts<\/a>, and find out exactly what every player earns. In football, you normally only find out how much the biggest stars are earning when they get a new contract and even then the figures are informed estimates by journalists that vary from publication to publication (one newspaper will say \u00c2\u00a370k per week, another \u00c2\u00a380k etc).\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n Despite these limitations, newspapers do publish details of expenditure by football clubs following the analysis of accounts and work by companies such as Deloittes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Back in June 2009, the Guardian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s David Conn put together a breakdown of Premier League clubs’ turnover, wages and debt in 2007-08<\/a>. Chelsea were the biggest spenders with a wage bill of \u00c2\u00a3149m. The pound\/dollar exchange rate has changed significantly since then, but on a current conversion that would amount to $232.4m: similar to the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 total in 2010.<\/p>\n More recently, David Conn has stated Manchester City\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wage bill for all staff as being \u00c2\u00a3133m, which amounts to close to $207.5m. Most of that wage bill will go to the players and when you add on City\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s large outlay in transfer fees, their 2010\/11 expenditure on playing staff is likely to be significantly more than the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n What about the gap between the largest spenders and the least wealthy?<\/p>\n Generally the gap would be similar to that in MLB, albeit with the Premier League gap covering just 20 teams rather than 30; however, the difference between the haves and the have nots is all the more stark in 2010\/11 due to the presence of Blackpool.\u00c2\u00a0 Estimates of their wage bill vary between \u00c2\u00a36m or \u00c2\u00a310m, but we do know that they currently operate a wage cap in which no player earns more than \u00c2\u00a310k per week.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the equivalent of an annual salary of $810,376.<\/p>\n What can you get for that sum in MLB.\u00c2\u00a0 When you look at the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 roster<\/a> and see Alex Rodriguez earning $33m in 2010, CC Sabathia earning $24.3m and A.J. Burnett \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcearning\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 $16.5m\u00c2\u00a0the natural reaction would be to think \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnot a lot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00c2\u00a0 But then you scroll down and realise that you could have had Phil Hughes, Brett Gardner or Joba Chamberlain with several hundred thousand to spare.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, you could put together a very impressive group within the $810k limit when looking at some of the top performing young players from 2010.<\/p>\n