Baseball and Economics: when will MLB and the Players Union learn?

[PlatinumGold]

Baseball is dying, it's dying slowly because nothing as big and old as baseball will go away quickly, but it is definitely dying and the Yankees are a big part of the problem.

face it yankees fans, the NY Yankees without any other baseball teams is a worthless franchise and that's exactly what the Players Union and MLB doesn't seem to see.

the yankees are like the stars of a movie set. they are primadonna's, they are overpaid, BUT without a supporting cast, no star can carry an entire film by him/her self.

the yankees are part of the organization known as Major League Baseball. it is a composed of symbiotic parts, not parts in competition with each other (outside of the athletic arena) but parts that are dependent upon each other.

the yankees are likely to have a payroll exceeding $250 million dollars this year. that's probably as much as the entire AL Central division. it's obscene. plus they drive prices up of all the stars making it even harder for the smaller market teams to compete.

don't come back to me with that, smaller market teams have won the WS lately. so what.

don't come back with, george is only putting his own money back in, not true, face it, the yankees have the biggest and richest market in all of america. draw a 50 mile radius around yankee stadium and do that for all the other stadiums in the US and tell me which 3 teams put together can rival the yankees market?

 

[MrChad]

The Yankees are the least of baseball's problems. The MLBPA has effectively blocked multiple attempts by the owners to establish salary caps and mandatory drug testing. I can't fault the Yankees for taking advantage of system that both the players and the owners established. Is it fair to other teams? No. Does it give New York an advantage against smaller market teams? Sure. But remember that the Mets play in the same market as the Yankees. Steinbrenner invests a great deal of money into his team because he can. I don't think the league should allow it, but I can't blame him for trying to give his team every opportunity to win.

The biggest problem with baseball as I see it is the level of distrust between the owners and the players' union. Look at how successful the NFL has been, and look at the relationship between the owners and the players in that league. On the opposite side, look at the NHL and its current situation. Unless the players are willing to make some concessions, baseball will continue on its downward spiral.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
Baseball is dying, it's dying slowly because nothing as big and old as baseball will go away quickly, but it is definitely dying and the Yankees are a big part of the problem.

face it yankees fans, the NY Yankees without any other baseball teams is a worthless franchise and that's exactly what the Players Union and MLB doesn't seem to see.

the yankees are like the stars of a movie set. they are primadonna's, they are overpaid, BUT without a supporting cast, no star can carry an entire film by him/her self.

the yankees are part of the organization known as Major League Baseball. it is a composed of symbiotic parts, not parts in competition with each other (outside of the athletic arena) but parts that are dependent upon each other.

the yankees are likely to have a payroll exceeding $250 million dollars this year. that's probably as much as the entire AL Central division. it's obscene. plus they drive prices up of all the stars making it even harder for the smaller market teams to compete.

don't come back to me with that, smaller market teams have won the WS lately. so what.

don't come back with, george is only putting his own money back in, not true, face it, the yankees have the biggest and richest market in all of america. draw a 50 mile radius around yankee stadium and do that for all the other stadiums in the US and tell me which 3 teams put together can rival the yankees market?

Why cant we come back with the two most obvious arguments about your whining?

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: MrChad
The Yankees are the least of baseball's problems. The MLBPA has effectively blocked multiple attempts by the owners to establish salary caps and mandatory drug testing. I can't fault the Yankees for taking advantage of system that both the players and the owners established. Is it fair to other teams? No. Does it give New York an advantage against smaller market teams? Sure. But remember that the Mets play in the same market as the Yankees. Steinbrenner invests a great deal of money into his team because he can. I don't think the league should allow it, but I can't blame him for trying to give his team every opportunity to win.

The biggest problem with baseball as I see it is the level of distrust between the owners and the players' union. Look at how successful the NFL has been, and look at the relationship between the owners and the players in that league. On the opposite side, look at the NHL and its current situation. Unless the players are willing to make some concessions, baseball will continue on its downward spiral.

agreed, there are bigger problems than the yankees. matter of fact, i agree with you, then yankees salary is the symptom and not the problem, but seeing a payroll in excess of $250million should be a pretty definitive statement that a problem exists.

 

[Storm]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: MrChad
The Yankees are the least of baseball's problems. The MLBPA has effectively blocked multiple attempts by the owners to establish salary caps and mandatory drug testing. I can't fault the Yankees for taking advantage of system that both the players and the owners established. Is it fair to other teams? No. Does it give New York an advantage against smaller market teams? Sure. But remember that the Mets play in the same market as the Yankees. Steinbrenner invests a great deal of money into his team because he can. I don't think the league should allow it, but I can't blame him for trying to give his team every opportunity to win.

The biggest problem with baseball as I see it is the level of distrust between the owners and the players' union. Look at how successful the NFL has been, and look at the relationship between the owners and the players in that league. On the opposite side, look at the NHL and its current situation. Unless the players are willing to make some concessions, baseball will continue on its downward spiral.

agreed, there are bigger problems than the yankees. matter of fact, i agree with you, then yankees salary is the symptom and not the problem, but seeing a payroll in excess of $250million should be a pretty definitive statement that a problem exists.

Fat chance of a solution until something drastic happens.

I actually hope the Players Union and owners don't find a solution to the steriod testing and the government comes in to regulate their lame asses.

They deserve it otherwise they wont do anything.

 

[PlatinumGold]

fact is, sports isn't anywhere near the draw it was in the 80's. the 80's was the golden age for viewing sports. basketball, baseball and football all dominated the entertainment industry. even hockey got some coverage.

now, hockey is very unlikely to get off cable, the major networks are basically no more influential than the major cable stations anymore.

mlb is on a major decline. if they don't do something to turn things around, MLB will become a marginal form of entertainment.

 

[Ranger X]

Personally, I think NY Yankees is a team that benefits baseball. Rivalries are one thing but when every team is gunning for one team, that adds extra flavor to the game of baseball.

 

[rh71]

<-- wonders if any Yankee fan can straight up deny the Yankees are "a problem" at all...

 

[RagingBITCH]

Well, baseball could try to impose a salary cap. The players association goes on strike, no season. You know what it did to the game years back. It killed it. I don't think killing something that is dying is a good thing. You seem to critique sports a lot - lets hear what you would realistically do that would change all this. Oh wait, realistically speaking, nothing would ever get accomplished, because no side is willing to give into the demands of the other. Look at hockey. Their season is just about shot down the drain. Alienated what little fan base they have anyway.

It's pretty easy to say "hey use some common sense and hire an economist, dumbass"

 

[Storm]

Originally posted by: rh71
<-- wonders if any Yankee fan can straight up deny the Yankees are "a problem" at all...

Like someone earlier posted they are an effect of the current problem. Do they exacerbate the problem?
Hells yes since they are in the biggests media market.

But are they the root of all evil in baseball ? No

If baseball wanted to deny George from spending money on his team they would.

Right now they still currently don't give a shit. Players Union doesnt want a salary cap, owners dont want a minimum salary and they both don't deny George from spending as much as he wants.

Sure George will get penalized and have to fork over a bigger chunk for profit sharing but he can still spend money on the Yankees.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Well, baseball could try to impose a salary cap. The players association goes on strike, no season. You know what it did to the game years back. It killed it. I don't think killing something that is dying is a good thing. You seem to critique sports a lot - lets hear what you would realistically do that would change all this. Oh wait, realistically speaking, nothing would ever get accomplished, because no side is willing to give into the demands of the other. Look at hockey. Their season is just about shot down the drain. Alienated what little fan base they have anyway.

It's pretty easy to say "hey use some common sense and hire an economist, dumbass"

a couple things would help.
1. consolidate markets.
2. add another team to the tristate area. mb in NJ, mb in CT. another team would reduce the yankees market.
3. salary cap alone isn't the answer. baseball has very regional appeal. NFL is national appeal, even the NBA gets more national appeal than baseball does.

baseball has to become a national type appeal game. in other words when the yankees and red sox play, a large audience from the west coast has to watch the game.

right now, in football a sunday game of patriots vs jets could get pretty good viewership nationwide, monday night also helps create national appeal for football games.

in order for this type of thing to work, baseball has to reduce the number of games per season. mb 3 games a week, a double header on sunday and one on saturday, reduced from 6 games a week now.

decrease volume and increase quality.

just a few ideas and i know they are difficult, but why not look at how football operates and how popular the NFL is and take some of their ideas?