Baseball: A solution to Market Disparity

“Baseball currently has a monopoly called the NY Yankees. I offer this solution to make the game more competitive and fair.

1. Salary cap @ 75 million per team, adjusted yearly with increases for inflation and cost of living (just like the rest of us).

2. Profit sharing amongst clubs: 80-20 split. If the yankess profit 100 million form TV revenue, they get to keep 20 million, and the 80 million goes into a pool to be evenly distributed among the other teams. This would also apply to gate reciets, merchandise sales, etc.

3. American contraction, global expansion. Reduce the number of North American major league teams to 28. Establish MLB Divisions in South America, The Pacific Rim and Europe.

4. The 75% rule: All teams must field a squad with at least 75% of the team coming from the farm system.

5. Computerize the strike zone. Keep umpires, but take the strike zone out of their hands. We have the technology to implement this, and I think it will make the game much fiarer than it is today.

Feel free to add more solutions, and I welcome debate on the ones I've offered.”

“I accept this debate, Mr. Beer. If you put this 80-20 thing on the teams, crapy baseball teams wont work as hard in there manigment to boost revinue. Your system is very comunistic, and this angers me. If it was up to me I would have you deported from this great captilistic nation to some crapy country where you will wish that you never spoke those commi words.”

“Your system is very oligarchic, Mr. Tea. Capitalism grows strong when a strong middle class rises.

BTW, Tea, if only people in New York and Atlanta care about baseball, how much will a World Series victory mean? Your championships will just be shrugged off by the rest of us. It is in NY's best interest to have a competitive league.

BTW, according to a little known baseball rule, Section 8 of Chapter 2, line 5 of the "Official Rules of Baseball" that games played in November don't count. Go look it up Tea.”

“RL, so you are saying that the yankees should get the 4pete title because of terrorist attacks that delayde the post season?”

“Ice Tea!

No. It's just hard to watch baseball when it's snowing outside. So, I don't.

Oh, and I see no reason at all to connect the NY Yankees to the bombings. It's just baseball.

People across the country are perfectly capable of being empathetic to the people of New York, but still hope the Yankees lose badly.

You could also make a case that if a team like, say, the Seattle Mariners had won, the improbable victory would have created more uplift in American spirits overall than the Yankees would in New York City.

I'd add another proposal to the list above:

Move Montreal and Florida to the New York Metro area. After a while, they would begin drawing resources from the Yankees and Mets - weakening them sufficiently to allow competitive balance.”

“6) Spend more money and win.”

“Good idea RL - Have a team in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan. Then we'll see if the Yanks can pull in the revenues.”

“it's just baseball! I say use all the money to buy better football stadiums.”

“BB,

MLB baseball is a private business and provided solely for entertainment purposes of the audience. If a franchise puts out a crappy product year after year, then the consumer will no longer particpate and the franchise can either fold or move to a new market. If the disparity between the teams continues for too long, then teams will fold and the revenues of the large market teams will be impacted. In my opinion salary caps are wrong because if I was a MLB player, why should my earnings potential be limited?”

“Good point BaSo4. However, Baseball is also a public entity in many ways as well. Many of the stadiums that baseball is played in are backed by public funds. If the teams folded, taxpayers would loose money based on the tax revenue created by jobs and merchandise sales taxes. In addition, MLB is exempt from certain Anti-trust laws, essentailly allowing a monopoly on Baseball within the country. Currently, the Yankees have a monopoly on baseball, driving smaller markets, who could probably support a rteam if they were on a level playing field, out of the market. In conclusion, I submit that MLB is one company with 32 owners, instead of 32 companies with 32 owners. If the league is viewed this way, revenue sharing and salary caps make perfect sense. If players don't like this, they can go on strike, or attempt to start another league. I'd rather watch a guy who just loves to play, and is happy with his $250K per year, than some whiner who makes 12 million a year and doesn't produce.

End of rant, for now.”

“NEW YORK (SI.com) -- The Boston Red Sox couldn't pull off a deal for Alex Rodriguez, and now the American League's Most Valuable Player is headed to the archrival New York Yankees.

The Texas Rangers have agreed to send Rodriguez to the Yankees for second baseman Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later, Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci confirmed Saturday. Some contract details remain to be worked out, but a baseball source told Verducci no problems are expected.


And the rich get richer.”

“I expect A-Rod will do the Yankers as much good as he did the Rankers.”

“This is like crying because someone buys a Porch in order to go faster. If ya have a garage full of Ford Pintos you can expect to not win any races. Spend the money and buy a garage full of Porchs and you'll get results.”

“You won't go anywhere buying a porch. A Porsche, on the other hand ...”

“So, Nigal, you're saying that it's about the money? I think some parity worked into the equation would be just fine. It sure works for the NFL.”