Posted on 08/16/2002 1:18:47 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
My opinion? The entire lot of you: owner and players are idiots. You're dumping on your own product, do you know that? Both groups have plenty of blame to go 'round.
You haven't had the guts to get a real commissioner since Bart G. died. My instinct is you wanted to run the show: a show in which you've been given anti-trust exemption. Instead, you gave the job to a fellow owner.
You guys rake in billions, yes, but have you noticed your market share? Among most Americans, if I recall my Gallup Poll readings correctly, you're running 2nd place to the NFL and among the urban youth, you are probably behind the NBA.
So you've added intra-league regular season games and added a team per league to the playoffs. Great. You've also expanded the league to preposterous proportions: how many non-competitive markets are there now? Too many. You're not the only idiots though.
Your league minimum is $200,000. Your average salary, if the cable news show I saw is correct, is $2.4 million. The stars among you CHARGE FOR AUTOGRAPHS. Your pension isn't an Enron-styled black hole. The celebrity you enjoy is rare.
How much more do you need to be happy? Believe me, I am all for the individual getting what he can for his work. I do not begrudge A-Rod his millions: he negotiated it, and you all should get what the market will bear. So why do you need this union garbage anyway? How about letting your talents determine the salary, and not some union suit? Forget about the lack of loyalty between a team and a player or a city and a player: I'm not even going to ask for that--how about just all of you negotiating your own deals without the union structure? Then you can get paid as much or as little as you're worth. Here's a crazy idea: negotiate a deal where your pay is equal to your performance. Insane, eh?
I just think you guys, like the owners, are spittin' on the fans for the sake of a few more million. Most of the people who pay your salary are baseball fans who just like watching a game. You're doing your image a real disservice by whining "it ain't enough!"
(Poke his tummy)
Strike or no strike something has to be done because the cost of salaries has increased by 45% over the last three years, and it is the customer who pays for it. If it were not for corporations buying blocks of seats the stands would be half-filled as it is.
Strike or no strike something has to be done because the cost of salaries has increased by 45% over the last three years, and it is the customer who pays for it. If it were not for corporations buying blocks of seats the stands would be half-filled as it is.
Strike or no strike something has to be done because the cost of salaries has increased by 45% over the last three years, and it is the customer who pays for it. If it were not for corporations buying blocks of seats the stands would be half-filled as it is.
The Commissioner should declare that if no agreement is reached by August 31st., the current agreement stays in effect for the next 4 years, at which time both owners and union can attempt to negotiate a new contract. This should provide some degree of incentive for both sides to work something out now.
But there will be no work stoppage by either the union or the owners. The game is bigger (and more important) than either the owners or the players, therefore, their inability to agree will not hinder, disrupt, or damage the continuation of the season.
While we agree there will be no strike, we differ on the reasoning.
The bankers will not allow a strike, it has nothing to do with the players or owners love of the game.
Follow the money.
It's not about money; directly. It is all about power. If you have the power, money is no problem.
This is the reason the Commissioner must act in this--to wrest the power over the game away from the players and the owners. The Commissioner must be a man of the game, thus the game has the power. Because it is now otherwise, we have the current, recurring, problems.
See, it’s all about the economy, stupid. And right now, financial times are bleak enough that neither side can afford a protracted work stoppage. You have to assume the investment portfolios of many a player have been whacked silly, unless they’ve been stashing money in offshore accounts. You also only need subscribe to The Wall Street Journal to understand the tough times some hardball barons find themselves in.
The Journal ran a terrific piece by Sam Walker recently looking at the business interests of several prominent owners -- and found that as bad as their franchises might be faring, most were hurting even more off the diamond. You remember Tom Hicks, right? The Texas sharpie who doled out a record $252 million for Alex Rodriguez. Well, not only are his Rangers in the tank, but Hicks’ investment firm has lost nearly $1 billion in a telecom/broadband investment and has another $1 billion tied up in a shaky media venture in Argentina.
And Hicks isn’t alone.
Cleveland Indians owner Larry Dolan’s fortune is tied to Cablevision, whose stock price has dropped almost 90 percent in the last year. The same thing has pretty much happened to AOL Time Warner, which owns the Atlanta Braves. Shares in the communications company owned by Toronto Blue Jays owner Ted Rogers have declined almost 70 percent since 2000.
Colorado Rockies owner Jerry McMorris’ trucking company has been liquidated and he may be liable for $12 million in unpaid wages to former employees. Shares in the software company that San Diego Padres owner John Moores helped build have plunged from $80 to less than a dollar.
Whew! Labor settlement, anyone?'
The above is from the link in post 9.
All of these "billionaire" owners were paper tigers, and their butt is directly controlled by the banks at this point in time.
To cancel the World Serious this year would cost them the windfall playoff profits which they desperately need, and lose baseball whatever goodwill it ever had.
With that being said, there is the possibilty the bankers decide the game cannot be fixed by the current participants and decide to cut their losses by blowing the whole thing up. Guess we'll find out soon.
I’ll admit that “The D-Back's Soul” is still a work in progress, but I wonder how much “soul” the Giants or the Yankess had in their fifth season of play?
As far as being debt-ridden is concerned, although Jerry Colangelo isn’t one of my favorite guys…I gotta admit he is one savy businessman. Yeah, they did loss a truck load of money last year, but Mr. C knows that a winning product will result in tons of merchandise sold, an increase in broadcast revenues, and a greater number of butts in the seats.
I can’t put my hands on the merchandising or broadcast numbers just now….but in regards to attendance, the D-Backs are fourth in all of baseball. (ONLY 33,402 less than the Giants).
Futhermore, contrast that with the “other” five year old team, The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, being third from the bottom at well under one million paid attendees.
1. The NY Yankees @ 2,502,343
2. Seattle @ 2,853,561
3. San Francisco @ 2,372,378
4. Arizona @ 2,338,976
28. Tampa Bay @ 852,071
One more point about the debt….yeah it’s true that Arizona was the 8th highest paid team ($85,500,000) in 2001, compared to San Francisco coming in 16th ($63,300,000)…..but a lot of good it did the highest paid team of both leagues, The New York Yankees ($112,600,000).
I'm probably jealous they never really struggled, before they bought their title.
To this, all I can say is "struggle" is a relative thing.
(Source for attendance and payroll numbers: espn.com)
---max
For years they've been screaming its more a business than a game. Well then, treat them like a business and take away the exemption and make thenm play by the rules.
I know this was not directed at me but it might as well have been.
I abject to any MLB, NFL, NBA .... player getting the huge salaries while the taxpayer is required to pay for their playground. If the owners built their own stadiums and paid for all the associated support services and then had enough money left over to pay these salaries then GREAT.
However, this is not the case. Cities are forced to build stadiums that will for the most part lose money yet the owners and players keep the profits. Great scam if you ask me.
In Buffalo, every 5 years of so we play the team is going to leave if you don't do x,y,z.
I know the topic here is MLB but one of the things that sucks is the NFL refusing to allow the Stuper Bowl to be played in any Northern City without a domed stadium. We support the team, built the facility but are denied the bump to the local economy that a Stuper Bowl can bring.
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