The Upcoming CBA and the Battles Within It (Part 1)

The Hardball Times

Maury Brown does  a good job of explaining how increased revenue sharing came to be, and hits the nail on the head with his conclusion. The real question he doesn’t take to the end of the road is why we’re better off with 30 major league teams, rather than real big-league teams in the top 16 markets and a system of Quad-A affiliates in contracted cities like Minneapolis and Kansas City and Miami and, uhm, Oakland.

Do I have the cities wrong? Competition is good, no?

6 thoughts on “The Upcoming CBA and the Battles Within It (Part 1)”

  1. Amazing how the owners have to tax themselves to try and keep baseball afloat while the Player’s Association does nothing to help.

    How about a Player’s Revenue sharing tax where Alex Rodriguez, Jeter etc. must pay a floating tax to all the player’s making league minimum, thereby alleviating some Payroll for all teams?

    You think Fehr might support that?

  2. It seems to me the players do their part by playing the game as best they can, which is what we fans pay for. And based on their past compromises and the windfall the owners have reaped because of them, the biggest danger is the players once again holding out for their fair cut. Maybe this time they’ll advocate for a minimum payroll per team, as it seemed they should have when they agreed to the payroll taxes last time.

  3. When do the fans get their fair cut or is 7.00 a beer and 25.00 a ticket a “fair cut”. Have you tried to take your family to a weekend series lately? Let’s see, 4 people for 2 games at 25.00 a ticket + food, shirt, program, gas, hotel maybe…hmm…fair cut – HA!. Believe me it ain’t easy and I have NO COMPASSION for the people in baseball who do not see the big picture. Attendance may be up, but it is up *despite* the financial actions of the players and owners ALIKE.

  4. I agree that it’s ridiculous, but the fan’s recourse is to stop paying. I’m not against complaining, but it isn’t going to do any good as long as there are enough people willing to pay the prices. That’s what determines what things cost. The financial actions of the players and owners are pretty much rational actions by entrepeneurs trying to make as much money as they can for their work. The circle is closed by fans (and businesses) willing to pay the price they’re asked to pay.

    To answer your question, I’ve never taken my family to a game. I have brought my daughter when I’ve gotten free tickets. We bring our own sandwiches. I buy her ice cream in a helmet and cotton candy. I don’t have a beer because it makes me too mad to pay more than .50 cents an ounce for Coors. She refuses to pay attention when I try to describe what an RBI is. It’s great, but even then it’s more than I’d prefer to spend. So be it.

  5. Asking a fan of baseball to NEVER go to a game is like asking the government to try and find another fuel source – ain’t gonna happen until the absolute breaking point.

    But wouldn’t you go to more games and buy more beer and ice cream (in the helmet of course – the only way) if the prices were anywhere near reasonable? Maybe you might even spring for a ticket now and then. Do the owners and players not get this? I would love to be able to afford seeing 10, 15 even 20 games a year, but I’m not lucky enough to get free tickets.

    Unless of course, we can make a deal…:)

    Couple this with the fact that many cities are asking their fans to pony up the big bucks to see what they KNOW is an inferior product (year in and year out)…yikes…you have a disaster in the making.

    Thanks a pantload, mlb.

  6. I am often amused by the willingness of others to spend offensive amounts of dough to amuse themselves, and on occasion I have benefited from that sort of largesse.

    My point is that you determine the value of the experience. The Best players are the best available for you to see. And during the various strikes and work actions over the years, I’ve been amazed to find how satisfying it can be to watch teams of 11 year olds face off.

    It’s still baseball. And if all we cared about was production, we wouldn’t bat an eye about steroids.

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