Why do people keep saying it works well? Based on what? It's incredibly complex, rookie players are underpaid for years, and the top players (i.e. NFL quarterbacks) are paid considerably more than premiership footballers. What is it that works well?
Don`t know much at all about the NFL but I do follow, very closely, the NHL. You`re right to allude to the complexity involved in that, when it comes to running an NHL team, the acquisition, trading and retention of players is dependent on applying various aspects of balancing salary cap issues, pretty much the main core of a transaction.
To try and explain the finer details would take a while, you could look them up on the web if you like. You`d possibly find the whole concept very alien, but the bottom line is this : The NHL is a league with 31 teams (soon to be 32) and the Cap has been instrumental in ensuring Parity. With Parity you get a more exciting framework as the TV companies can be sure that whichever teams are playing it`s never going to be a walk-over and either team is capable of winning the game. As with soccer here, the biggest influence on the game in America are the TV companies - they`re happy because they have a League which has engineered parity.
Every team is subject to the salary cap ( which is regularly reviewed) and the process is transparent. You could select any NHL player right now and view that player`s contracted salary, including bonuses and also other aspects, such as clauses which restrict the number of clubs a player is willing to be traded to. So there`s a lot of juggling to be done but as there is a transparent process, it works.
With regard to rookie players, now that too is a completely different kettle of fish and totally alien to our sports methodology. In North American ice hockey, at all levels, (and ages) the hockey framework exists as an infra-structure that fits one basic model. There are drafting procedures that run through and dovetail the entire network.
The easy way to think about it is to imagine that the NHL owns the entire world stock of ice hockey players. Each year the NHL has an Entry Draft which basically allows each of the 31 clubs seven picks over seven rounds (total of 7 picks). An NHL club could pick Johnny Smith of the Medway Knights from England as their first round pick. Whether or not Johhny ever gets to play in the NHL is another thing but the NHL team that picked him owns his rights to play in the NHL - no other team can sign him (after time there are exceptions, I wont go into that). So team building is a long long affair in the NHL and because of the order of the Draft selection, a team which finishes the regular season in a low spot, quite fairly, gets high picks in each of the seven rounds. (You can trade draft picks, but I wont go into that either).
In essence, due to the salary cap, which is transparent and enforced by the powerful controlling body of the NHL, you don`t end up with a league where three or four of the "richest teams/richest owners" get to sign the best players - it can`t happen. If a team wants a star player from another team, they`d have to trade away a lot in return. And the governing body, with an eye on fairness and parity, can prevent a deal if it so decides.
So what works is that, each and every year, you have a league (which is the best in the world) with a level of parity present that ensures a competitive product, not just in relation to the most famous teams, but for every team and every team`s television market.
It`s not an overnight switch - for football here it will be a lengthy process because to engineer a parity comfortable framework the governing body has steer the way. And for UK that would ultimately be EUFA and/or FIFA.
I`ve been around the NHL for long enough to say that it works - honestly. Whilst the subject of money might be a distraction to the fan simply wanting to watch a sporting match up, when you become more familiar with the Cap it actually adds a very interesting dimension - it`s why millions in America tune in to watch the Entry Drafts take place in all four of the major sports.
Sorry this has been a long entry, it is, as you suggest, complex but it`s worthwhile. There will be far better, more concise summaries (with better brevity) if you look on the inter-net.