What is the primary purpose of a salary cap in professional leagues?

The primary purpose of a salary cap in professional leagues is to create parity among teams. By establishing a limit on the total amount of money that a team can spend on player salaries, the salary cap helps to level the playing field. This ensures that wealthier teams cannot simply outspend their competitors to secure all the top talent, which would lead to a significant imbalance and diminish competitive balance within the league.

With a salary cap in place, teams with different financial resources can compete more equally, allowing for more unpredictable outcomes in games and seasons. This can enhance fan engagement, as teams that may not have the highest budgets still have a chance to compete effectively against more affluent teams, creating a more dynamic and exciting league overall.

The other options, while related to financial aspects of professional sports, do not capture the essence of the salary cap's primary goal as succinctly as promoting competitive balance among teams does. Limiting player contracts, maximizing league revenues, and allowing overspending without penalties are factors that may be influenced by the salary cap, but they do not reflect its main purpose.