Well, I can't say it's the only possible solution, but of the many that have been tried, it's the one that works best, and it's the sole reason the NFL has achi

Well, I can't say it's the only possible solution, but of the many that have been tried, it's the one that works best, and it's the sole reason the NFL has achieved such dominance. Socialism works great for small groups, such as 32 team owners. FWIW, NFL teams don't share all revenue. They still compete on ticket and merchandise sales. They also get bonuses for winning. Some teams profit much more than others, so it's still very capitalist. In the end what the NFL realized that the MLB didn't (and the NBA did but couldn't enforce for political reasons) is that what fans love is parity. A league with parity will eventually eclipse one without, every time. Parity only comes from a salary cap. Otherwise the teams that make the most (without true socialism, some teams will always have far more revenue than others) will simply buy the best players, as the Yankees do, leading to a self-perpetuating dynasty. You might be able to get there with incentive structures instead, allocating large enough amounts of money to winning teams and fining perpetually losing teams, but I'm always leery of that as incentives can be gamed. A salary cap is quick, easy, effective, and unless a team flagrantly violates it by funneling money to a player under the table (which is rare since not many NFL owners want to risk their ownership) totally enforced.