February 16, 2004
A Looming Class War in Baseball?
The disparity between the haves and have-nots in baseball is getting ridiculous. When the Brewers are spending $30 million to field a team and the Yankees are spending $270 million ($200mm payroll + $70mm in luxury tax) to field theirs, they are no longer playing the same game.
Something needs to be done to reset the economics of baseball. What Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Oakland, etc. need to do is simply refuse to play for a season. Announce they are forfeiting every one of their 162 games. Until drastic steps are taken, the Yankees and Red Sox are going to be able to buy their way into the playoffs every year and other teams will never get a chance to compete. Sure, sometimes a particularly astute exec or some great young talent can keep a team in contention for a year or two despite a lower payroll. But those teams cannot sustain the level of play and feel compelled to trade off their higher paid and soon-to-be free agent players. This revolving door further deminishes any fan base, decreasing attendance, cutting revenue and continuing the vicious cycle.
Other sports have demonstrated how salary caps and better revenue sharing let all markets field competative teams. The Green Bay Packers hold their own against the NY Giants and Chicago Bears annually. The Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwoves are among the best teams in the NBA. And fan bases for sports only grow when everybody truely believe that their team can win it all, if not this year then maybe next. But when they see it'll never happen then they lose interest in the sports and all teams will suffer in the end.
Posted by blipsman at February 16, 2004 12:23 PM