Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner would be for a salary cap, under right circumstances

TAMPA, Fla. — Hal Steinbrenner has said it before and said it again Friday: Under the right circumstances, he would be in favor of a salary cap, which has long been a non-starter for the Major League Baseball Players Association and is all but certain to remain a non-starter.

“I have been on the record already saying that I would consider supporting a cap depending on what the cap is and contingent on the fact that there’s also a floor so the clubs that I feel aren’t spending enough money on payroll to improve their team would have to spend more,” Steinbrenner said toward the end of a news conference discussing the elimination of the facial hair policy instituted by his father, George, in 1976.

The Yankees for years have been one of the sport’s biggest spenders, having the league’s highest payroll from 1998-2013, according to The Associated Press. They haven’t had the highest payroll since then but still have consistently had a top 5 payroll in the game (the Yankees ranked third in payroll last season, for example, at just over $314 million and will have a payroll in excess of $300 million again this season).

Major League Baseball is the only one of the four major sports without a salary cap. The best the league has been able to do to curb spending has been the luxury tax, which has been in place since 2003.

The current collective bargaining agreement doesn’t expire until December 2026. The topic of a salary cap has been raised now only because commissioner Rob Manfred spoke about it earlier this month.

“We need to pay attention to it and need to determine whether there are things that can be done to allay those kinds of [competitive balance] concerns and make sure we have a competitive and healthy game going forward,” Manfred said.

Not surprisingly, in a statement to the AP responding to Manfred’s comments, MLBPA head Tony Clark dismissed the notion of a salary cap.

“The reality is salary caps don’t guarantee ‘competitive balance,’ ” Clark said. “Salary caps are about ‘competitive perception.’ They are about the increase in franchise values and growth of separate revenue streams that will never be to the benefit of those off the field or the fans who come to watch them play. Salary caps are always a one-sided relationship.”