It happens every spring: Baseball's invisible hand is stuck in red tape. (Rant).Baseball season is upon us. That means the moaning about the sport's economic disparity has likewise gotten underway. Don't you know that big-market teams such as the Yankees (winners of the last three World Series) have a far greater revenue base than teams such as the Reds? Don't you know that small-market teams can't afford elite players, so the Alex Rodriguezes of the world take high-end contracts elsewhere? Don't you know it's a classic case of market failure that can only be cured by stronger regulation and revenue sharing revenue sharing Funding arrangement in which one government unit grants a portion of its tax income to another government unit. For example, provinces or states may share revenue with local governments, or national governments may share revenue with provinces or states. ? Not exactly. Revenue sharing would indeed help equalize e·qual·ize v. e·qual·ized, e·qual·iz·ing, e·qual·iz·es v.tr. 1. To make equal: equalized the responsibilities of the staff members. 2. To make uniform. disparities, but baseball's woes are caused by too much regulation, not by too little. There are two basic paths to revenue sharing: Slowly but surely move team ownership rights into one solitary commissioner's office, or empower teams by removing all restrictions on forfeiting and relocation. The first path, the "Baseball Dictator" idea, is the one Major League Baseball "MLB" and "Major Leagues" redirect here. For other uses, see MLB (disambiguation) and Major Leagues (disambiguation). Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. is currently pursuing, in the oxymoronic name of "competitive balance." But the latter path would yield real, self-regulating change. Imagine, for a moment, a sunny June day in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . The relatively poor Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Twins have played in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. are scheduled to visit Yankee Stadium • • [ , where they will undergo a ritual shellacking. But the Twins have other plans. They tell the Bronx Bombers that they will forfeit the game unless they get compensation for schlepping to the House That Ruth Built. Why should the Twins put out, especially since they will see no money from the sale of tickets, parking, concessions, and broadcast rights? It's only fair they get something--the Twins, after all, are essential to the enterprise. Without them, there is no game and no payday for the Yankees. Facing such a prospect, the Yankees would have no choice but to offer the visitors a cut of the profits. Stop imagining, and allow reality to set in. The Twins--and, for that matter, the other 29 major-league teams--are required to field a team for every scheduled game. If they don't, the league levies a hefty fine. This rule grants large-market teams a clear advantage, since they get more out of each home game. But visiting teams should be entitled to a cut of per-game profits, since they contribute to the wealthy home teams' profits just by showing up. As President George W. Bush--a former owner of the Texas Rangers--once told the Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. , "You're no good in the big market unless the small market teams come to play." If small market teams could simply forfeit away games sans penalty, the George Steinbrenners of the sport would be quick to offer them a cut of local revenues. Add to this the fact that teams cannot freely relocate to new cities. The small-market Cincinnati Reds cannot simply move to the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro area This article is about the music production team. For the article about population centers, see metropolitan area. Metro Area are a Brooklyn-based dance music production team composed of Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani. . Baseball's ownership would never approve such a move, thus forcing the Reds to remain eternally tied to Cincinnati, while the Texas Rangers Texas Rangers, mounted fighting force organized (1835) during the Texas Revolution. During the republic they became established as the guardians of the Texas frontier, particularly against Native Americans. maintain a monopoly in the Dallas area. So let the Reds change locales. The Rangers would object, but to no avail. Only two things would prevent such a move: the fact that "Ft. Worth Reds" is a pretty pathetic team name, or a big, fat check from Ranger owner Tom Hicks
This phrase is used to characterize an officer, a government, a past action, or a state of affairs that must be accepted for all practical purposes, but is illegal or illegitimate. revenue sharing would occur. But it hasn't. Instead, MLB's official blue ribbon blue ribbon denotes highest honor. [Western Folklore: Brewer Dictionary, 127] See : Prize panel on the matter is pushing for what's being called a "straight pool plan." That is, a complicated and tough-to-police revenue sharing scheme that includes a "Commissioner's Pool" that would distribute money to small market clubs and a 50 percent luxury tax on payrolls in excess of $84 million. Hoping to tame the monster that is the economics of baseball--and professional basketball and football, for that matter--the task force has instead managed to add a few more heads to the hydra. The root of baseball's economic problems lies in the restraints on what might otherwise be a free market. The league, as a whole, fails to realize that absent controls on team movement and rules against forfeiture of games, a revenue-sharing system would naturally evolve in one form or another. The key to transforming New York's pastime back into America's is to drastically reduce the powers vested in the central office. Maybe next year. Dan Lewis is a sports writer living in Philadelphia. |
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