plus in your sports example, thats just what the team can pay the player. the player has several side gigs without a cap - so if driven they can make 100x more

plus in your sports example, thats just what the team can pay the player. the player has several side gigs without a cap - so if driven they can make 100x more in say sponsorship deals than the team actually pays them. so no "Real" cap in play, just a cap from one income stream. (and thats only there to prevent one super rich guy like Bezos from buying up all the best players for each position and stacking the deck. No one would watch if the same team always won... so realistically its a marketing thing)