The small market teams simply cannot match the spending of the big market teams. And you can't realistically expect them to. A salary cap and floor could change that , but that's not going to happen. Luxury taxes and revenue sharing are just ploys to get around the absence of a cap. Can you force a small market owner to spend more when he does not generate nearly the revenue of the big markets? As it stands , it will always be difficult for some teams to compete with the big spenders. And , with a couple of exceptions , the less you spend , the weaker your team will be. And the weaker your team is , the less revenue you will generate. No way out of it without major changes. And the players are just as much an obstacle to change as are the owners. They all want more and more money. And they all talk about competitive balance. But those things do not go together. You can't have it both ways.