Current WBA labor expenses.

[Coop]

Since it's Labor Day, this is a good time to look at WBA labor costs.  Actually I'm doing it mainly because it's a holiday and I've got free time, but whatever.

I've reviewed the current payrolls and budgets of all 20 WBA teams.  I'll now present my findings.  Spoiler alert - league owners are being very fiscally responsible.  (Cough tightwads cough.)  Quite a few owners are going to have cash to burn above the $50 million limit, I'd say.  Nobody is spending like a drunken sailor, or a sober Congressman.  So nobody in the league has a future in politics.

Of the 20 WBA teams, only 7 are over budget.  The other 13 are spending less on payroll than their budget allows.  I expect a player strike over the issue of collusion any day now.

The teams with the most excess cash are Melbourne ($32.7m) and Puerto Rico ($30.7m).  I'm rounding these numbers, of course.

The teams who are over budget by the largest amounts are Northwest ($12.1m) and Karachi ($10.9m).

Here's the complete list, from most excess cash to least:

Melbourne     32.7 under budget
Puerto Rico    30.7 under budget
London          28.2 under budget
Mumbai         27.9 under budget
Los Angeles   21.4 under budget
Barcelona      20.6 under budget
Carolina         20.5 under budget
Black Forest   18.2 under budget
Buenos Aires  16.4 under budget
Manila              9.3 under budget
Shanghai          4.8 under budget
Ottawa             4.0 under budget
Paris                 0.6 under budget
-
Mexico City        0.1 over budget
Rio de Janeiro    0.6 over budget
Santo Domingo  2.0 over budget
Rome                3.0 over budget
Sao Paulo          6.7 over budget
Karachi            10.9 over budget
Northwest        12.1 over budget

[Echo127]

26 players are earning more this year than the entire Melbourne roster combined.

Edit: And 18 of those 26 players are in the ABL. Is the IBL full of tanking teams right now?

[claphamsa]

I would say NW is spending money like a congressman!

[CaseyBlakeDeWitt]

This is great, Coop.

Seems like the league has realigned itself since the addition of arbitration now. Will be interesting to see how folks react to there being a ton of excess cash again

[Coop]

Yeah, things have come full cycle with regard to finances.  Years ago everybody had a ton of excess money; then the free-agent rules were changed, there was a lot of spending, and the excess money disappeared.  Now we've got a lot of excess money again.  Not sure what will happen next.  Maybe some free agents will cash in big this fall.

It's a matter of opinion as to whether anybody is overspending significantly, I guess, but I find it interesting that we've got 9 teams that are UNDER budget by $15 million or more, and zero teams that are OVER budget by $15 million or more.

Does anybody feel that this indicates a problem?  Or does it simply indicate that people are being careful about their spending?

[APMP]

It indicates free agency is broken because the players all keep declining the best offers to play in Mumbai

[Huckleberry]

[CaseyBlakeDeWitt]

I suppose it is a matter of opinion, but I do think it’s a negative if teams are spending way under their budget limit. Particularly if they’re at a point where they’re edging towards that excess cash position.

Spend that money and attempt to win baby