The New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox have roughly the same payroll, about $125M, but the Patriots have twice as many players to pay salaries to! The Patriots have about 60 players and the Red Sox just under 30. As a result, the Patriots can afford to pay only five of their best players $5M or more per year, while the Red Sox can play twelve of their better players $5M or more. In football, you can really only retain (pay) about 10% of your best players, but in baseball you can hold unto at least 30% of your core team. That’s why success is harder to maintain in football than it is in baseball. Great teams like the Patriots, that win three Super Bowls, can’t keep a dynasty-and specifically a defense-together. Good players like Assante Samuel get greedy, and leave the team to get paid $9M per year. Then Richard Seymour gets traded for someone younger and cheaper. All of a sudden there’s no rush, no pass defense, Peyton Manning is on the other sideline, the noise is deafening, and it’s 4th & 2!

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