Remember that scene from Moneyball in which Billy Bean explains to David Justice exactly how the Yankees value him? Prior to the recently enacted amendment of Internal Revenue Code 1031, a professional sports trade was considered a "like-kind exchange." As part of its tax reform efforts, however, Congress limited like-kind exchange treatment strictly to real estate - essentially imposing a tax on personal property exchanges. In one fell swoop – simply by inserting the word “real” in front of the word “property” -- Congress played moneyball – and so far, it is winning. How might this affect player compensation, i.e., if the teams pay more tax, will they pay players less?

Source: Forbes April 27, 2018 19:12 UTC