Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said Major League Baseball may need to impose a salary cap to preserve competition after the New York Yankees spent $424 million to sign three players.

The Yankees agreed on an eight-year, $180 million deal with Mark Teixeira, according to a baseball official familiar with the contract, continuing to acquire the most expensive free agents on the market before moving into a new $1.3 billion ballpark next season. New York signed former Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia for seven years and $161 million, and got pitcher A.J. Burnett for five years and $82.5 million.

"At the rate the Yankees are going, I'm not sure anyone can compete with them," Attanasio said in an e-mail. "Frankly, the sport might need a salary cap."

Baseball is the only one of the major U.S. professional sports that operates without a salary cap, which sets a ceiling on payroll. The sport imposes a tax when teams surpass a payroll threshold and redistributes revenue from the highest-grossing teams like the Yankees to the clubs that produce the least revenue like Milwaukee.

The Yankees have exceeded the payroll limits every year since baseball began imposing a penalty in 2003 and has accounted for 90 percent of the money collected, the Associated Press reported. The methods baseball implements to curb spending aren't working for the Yankees, Attanasio said.

"Obviously, the 34 percent they kick into the revenue-sharing pool and the luxury taxes don't affect them one whit," said Attanasio, who is also a managing director at Los Angeles-based TCW/Crescent Mezzanine, which has invested about $4.7 billion via leveraged buyouts, acquisitions and project finance.

Major League Baseball spokesman Rich Levin and Yankees spokesman Michael Margolis declined to comment on Attanasio's salary cap suggestion.

According to Forbes magazine, 16 of the MLB 30 teams are worth less than what the Yankees paid for Teixeira, Sabathia and Burnett.