| Justin |
 | 5 Comments |  | 1430 Read | Nov 21, 2008 |
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Given the current state of the economy, I think it is disgusting what is going on with baseball right now. Even though this is my favorite time of the year, it is hard to see baseball throwing money in the faces of the American public. While people have lost trillions of dollars, MLB is throwing around 100 million dollar contracts to stars when their fans are going to the poor house. So far this year $140 million has come on the table from the Yankees as they presented an offer last Friday to free-agent left-hander CC Sabathia. Also the Cubs re-signed pitcher Ryan Dempster for four years at $52 million. Now to me that makes terrible business sense. Why sign them now, when most pitchers will be available in a month and a half for discounted prices.
Consider this: In just about every facet of life right now people are saving and conserving money. Penny pinching has become an everyday thing from bringing your lunch to work for the first time in years to driving less to conserve gas. These are the fans that are supposed to be going to the ballparks in 2009. I am going to go out on a limb and make a prediction, but I bet that a lot more fans will stay home to watch games on their own TV’s than go out and spend a couple of hundred bucks this season.
With my beloved Pirates still stuck in mediocrity and planning to stay there, the hard times in the PBC will inevitably get worse. With season tickets already at an all time low there is no end in site for this trend. The bottom line is the Pirates are going to lose money, the positive changes that had begun with drafting most likely will be reversed. Locking good young players up to long term contracts will not happen. The Pirates will yet again be forced to sell off their players to the highest bidder. So the Pirates will be left with a mediocre farm system and a pathetic major league team. I am sorry, but I am incredibly pessimistic that the current regime can turn it around, after sixteen years of losing.
The Yankees and Red Sox likely have the most to gain. They can cut back on players that they really don’t need and go after the best players on the market. They are the Exxon Mobil of MLB. You do not see the teams in the rust belt of the US making big runs at free agents because they can’t and shouldn’t if they are smart. What is going to be left in New York City next year are two expensive stadiums with luxury boxes that most likely are not going to sell as quickly as once thought, and huge payrolls. The average fan can’t go to Yankee stadium anyway so I do not see it affecting the Yankees as much as it will the Mets. The city has lost trillions of dollars so far this year and the repercussions of these publicly financed stadiums will be felt by the taxpayer.
Now what do I think about all of this? While I love the Red Sox, I think it’s irresponsible that these teams are paying athletes millions and millions of dollars while the average fan is getting laid off from their job or cutting back so they can have a good (or any) Christmas with their family. Bud Selig is very much to blame and I am not a big fan. I do not think he is proactive and I think he is ill-equipped to run the great American Past Time.
Today Selig failed to show up for a talk that was given to the owners of MLB by Paul Volcker, the chairman of the Federal Reserve under two presidents -- Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
Per MLB.com, Selig declined to elaborate on Volcker's remarks, but he said a message had obviously been sent to the owners.
"Paul was at the World Series and I told him, 'Maybe we'll have you come in if you're free. He gave a report on the economy that I thought the clubs would find interesting?"
My opinion is that Selig is sitting up in his pent house, happy as a clam that MLB is making hand over fist at the moment. What he doesn’t realize is that hard times are ahead if MLB does not budget accordingly. Here is my list of things that need to be done during the financial down turn to keep MLB afloat:
- MLB should create a fund in the cities that they play in that have been the hardest hit. This fund will be created by taxing each player that makes over $5,000,000 a year at two percent. This fund will then be distributed to each team so that they can buy tickets for less fortunate people that have been hit by the financial downturn and get people back in the seats in general. Revenue sharing has worked but it needs to be taken on by the players as well. The fans make this business possible and baseball should give something back to it's fans.
- Scott Boras, a tremendous negotiator, should have to personally apologize to every small market team in MLB that he has personally screwed over face to face. This is my vengeance after the Pedro Alvarez debacle this past summer in Pittsburgh. I am sure Philly fans would love a piece of him as well, stemming from JD Drew. Ok this was a personal one, but still sort of relevant.
- Bud Selig should resign and Steve Jobs should take over. What baseball has become is totally void of innovation. Why was the World Series watched by almost no one? The answer is the game has become boring to watch on TV. I do not have an answer for how to fix this problem, but it needs to be addressed. Also, the overall baseball experience has become very blah. Again, not sure how to address this but it needs change.
Personally I think everyone has to do their part. The players are as a much a part of baseball as the owners. I know they are not billionaires but they they do make a lot of money. I am just concerned the that the economic downturn will hurt MLB more than Selig is predicting. He wasn't exactly right about a big issued called players juicing.
Though MLB set an attendance record, I would not be surprised to see it drop considerably next year. Not in towns like NYC and Boston, but smaller mid to small market towns. Especially ones that have terrible teams.
If you want to tax someone, tax the owners. They are the ones with all the money. They are the ones *giving* the 9-digit salaries. Why should the players be responsible?
This article comes off more as being ticked at Pittsburgh's inept management over the past two decades. It's not about the money. Did you not watch this year's World Series at all? Tampa Bay, the AL representative that beat Boston in the ALCS (which ranked 4th in MLB in team payroll this year) to reach the World Series, ranked 29th in payroll out of 30 teams. Its about drafting, developing, and making shrewd trades...something Pittsburgh hasn't done enough in a long time. They're finally moving in the right direction, but don't blame competing on the Major League level on money. Last time I checked, the Yankees haven't won in awhile and they lead MLB in payroll every year.
Don't worry about the ratings. The great game is in fine shape. Do you realize how many people are paying for services such as Extra Innings? How do you think MLB is making $6 billion in revenues during 2007? And do you realize MLB just set an attendance record in 2007? More people are coming now more than ever. It may fall a bit due to the economy next year, but overall, the game is in fine shape.
And I don't understand the hatred for Boras. Sure, the guy can be brash and all, but he's just doing his job. And he does it better than everyone else. It's not like if Teixeira were being represented by someone else, he'd come in at a cheap $90 million deal. Last time I checked, CC appears to be on his way to breaking the record for the largest contract given to a pitcher (and guess what, he isn't represented by Boras).
Ok ok I know the Pirates ownership has been pathetic over the years, but I blame that on Kevin McClatchey not knowing anything about baseball when he took over the team. Also I believe there was an imbalance for the beginning of the time period when the Pirates began losing.
There are two team that have not used revenue sharing to their advantage and that has been the Royals and the Pirates. They just cannot get a competitive team together.
Time will tell if things will change. I agree drafting will make or break the Pirates.
One thing I will always hate Scott Boras. Even though he is the best players agent in baseball.
This economic downturn will affect some teams more than others. I doubt that the larger market teams will be affected. I went to Pentagon CIty Mall today (in Arlington, VA) and it was so packed I wondered if they knew we were on the verge of a depression. We actually had to wait to try on clothes.
The Red Sox did announce they weren't raising ticket prices to help out their fans. I don't think there is a fix for this problem though. Agents are already trying to sign before Christmas so that players signing bonuses are not taxed under the upcoming Obama tax plan. Players do not want to give up anything since their money making power only really exists for about 10-15 years.
Smaller market teams will lose a lot of revenue this year. I don't see a fix though on the horizon unless Obama is a miracle worker.
1. By taxing an extra 2% on players making, well, it doesn't really matter what they're making, you're ensuring that said player is going to be on the first plane out of town, and won't come back until his new team is playing there.
2. The Red Sox have yet to "offer" anyone any sort of contract, so as it stands right now, you're speculating on this issue. In fact, I'm pretty sure that "putting the cart before the horse" is a bad thing to get into when writing about sports. Fact is, the Red Sox could offer someone a huge contract, or they could sit idle. You don't know either way.
3. The World Series was hardly watched because of TV contracts signed well before this year, and had two bigger market teams made the series, the ratings would have not taken a hit at all. As a whole, the nation won't watch two scrappy young teams that aren't wearing a hat from their home town. Boston = ratings. NY = ratings. Always been that way, and always will. Yes, starting the games late at night was a bad decision on Selig's behalf, but it would not have mattered if two decent teams (more nationally recognized teams) made it to the fall classic. You and I both know it.
4. Scott Boras is not responsible for saying "yes" to his contracts. His responsibility is to ensure his said client gets the most scratch possible. Once that's over, it's up to the team, and of course, the player to figure out. It's not Boras' fault that his players don't perform after the contract is signed. That's the option the team was willing to inherit when they looked at the risk of signing them. Barry Zito's suitors (most common alabatross) were well aware of the worst case scenario when they inked him to that much dough, and they still yet did it. Shame on them, but I don't think they are losing sleep at night over it. It happens, but it's not Boras' fault in any way. Think what you want, but he's DAMN good at his job. If I had any talent whatsoever, at anything, I'd love to have a guy like that representing me. So would you.
5. If Pittsburgh would show up, buy tickets, and actually support their team as a whole, and on the regular, they wouldn't have to "cry poor" every year. Pittsburgh is a big city. It's not the fault of MLB that the Pirates are a piss-poor run organization. Cleveland manages to make the playoffs and have winning records - and they're actually in a decent division. It's not baseball's fault Pittsburgh can't get out of it's own way. Tampa? Florida? I mean, they're in arguably the worst division in baseball, where most teams are barely above a AA talent level on the whole, and they can't win 85 games? How is that baseball's fault?
Jeez, stop putting the blame where it doesn't belong, and start looking at the players Pittsburgh is actually drafting. It's terrible, and it's not baseball's fault - It's Pittsburgh's.
6. Neither the Mets or the Yankees are going to "lose money". They have HUGE fanbases, with a long, rich history of actually making it to the ballpark. Maybe they'll buy a few less beers or T-Shirts, but they're going to go, nonetheless. That's the thing about big-city franchises like NY and Boston (and LAA to some extent). They spend the money, and give people a reason to believe that something good can happen.
The owner of Pittsburgh is a bajillionaire, if he doesn't want to spend the money on decent players, I wouldn't want to see his excuse for a team. The circle of death continues. Maybe spend some of that money that you get from Boston and New York (among others) on players. Can't win if you don't spend, and if you don't spend, you had damn well better learn how to draft talent that you can actually sign, which Pittsburgh doesn't seem able to do.
7. If you were a player, would you want to play in Pittsburgh? They're terrible, and every year they're in contention for about a month. Good players want to win championships, thus, playing in Pittsburgh (or the "rust-belt" as you refer to it) only inhibits the chances of that actually happening.
8.. Last, but not least - GO WVU!!
