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Baseball's perfect financial setup vs. the dreaded NFL

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Simon_Cowbell, Nov 8, 2007.

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  1. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    Apparently, incredibly, worth repeating.
     
  2. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    Last season, the number 1 payroll was Indianapolis with $131 million, while the smallest was Oakland at $72M, a $59M difference.

    The No. 1 paid team in MLB is at $190M. Subtract $59M from that and you have a team with $131M.

    In the NFL, all teams are within $59M of the leader.

    How many such teams are there in MLB?

    Oh.... ONE.
     
  3. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    Simon, I think your thread title is backward.
    None of us is saying baseball has a perfect financial setup and the NFL's sucks. But you are saying the NFL has a perfect system and baseball's sucks.

    Of course, we can always debate the merits of the NBA's system where you can exceed the cap by a billion dollars and still suck as badly as the Knicks do.

    I am opposed to salary caps in any way, shape or form in any sport because all they do is allow owners to make a profit without caring if they are competitive.

    And the Pirates could be more competitive if they took some of their $30 million in revenue sharing and spent it on players instead of pocketing it.
     
  4. That is not an answer.
    Judging by the standards applied here -- the number of different teams who make the playoffs, which is a dumb standard, but it's the one under discussion -- there is as much parity in MLB than there is in the NFL.
     
  5. hockeybeat

    hockeybeat Guest

    Salary caps exist to protect idiot owners from themselves and the incompetents they employ.
     
  6. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    spnited, nobody is defending the Pirates or saying the finances of baseball are the lone reason they have been awful for so long. I think it is one factor, but far from the only one.

    I don't think Simon is saying the NFL's system is perfect. I'm definitely not saying that. I am saying that it is superior. Sports is supposed to be a meritocracy. You earn your way to the top through skill, not birthright.

    That is the way the NFL works. The success or failure of NFL teams on the field is decided by the skill with which the front office builds the team, with a little luck playing a role as well. Nobody gets to start the game with more pieces than everybody else. Nobody gets an advantage simply by being located in a larger market.

    The Mets, Yankees and Red Sox, among others, have an edge simply based on geography. A team in New York is going to bring in more revenue than one in Pittsburgh, Kansas City or Tampa Bay no matter what. We can debate all day how much of an impact that has, but I don't think you can honestly say there is no advantage at all.

    It's not just the cap. It is also more effective revenue sharing. It is also the nature of the television contracts. A much larger percentage of NFL revenues is tied up in the national television contracts. Baseball's finances are much more regional.

    Maybe buckweaver was right on the other thread and we are all just being influenced by what teams we root for, but I'd like to think we are all capable of looking beyond you being a Mets fan and me growing up following the Pirates. We all enter this with our biases, but I think we are all smart enough to look at the issue beyond that.

    Edit: hockeybeat, that is part fot he cap's function, but it is also there in an attempt to keep the playing field level. Not just for competitive balance, but for the perception of competive balance. Don't underestimate the importance of fans believing their team has a fair shot at winning.
     
  7. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    And don't ever underestimate journalists' ability to hold fans and what's best for them in the lowest possible esteem.
     
  8. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    I agree with a lot of what you saw, OOP but the major difference in the revenue sharing is the nature of the sports and their seasons.

    The NFL controls the telecast of every game -- there are no local TV deals -- because it is a once-a-week event for 16 weeks and the TV revenue is shared equally and goes a long way in determining the salary cap.

    That system is not possible in baseball becuase it is an everyday event for 6 months. It is not possible to have every game under a national TV contract as the NFL does.
    That's where local market forces come in to play and if franchises like the Yanks, Mets, Red Sox etc. take that revenue stream and reinvest it in their product rather than just pocketing the profits, more power to them.
     
  9. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    And Simon, no one -- and I mean no one -- holds fans in lower regard than the owners of professional sports teams.
     
  10. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    I agree with pretty much everything you say there. The problem from my point of view is that even if every single team in MLB re-invested its revenue into the product in the same percentages as the Yankees, Red Sox or Mets, they would still have a hell of a lot less to work with than those franchises do.
     
  11. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    That may be true, too, OOP but what good would a cap of say $120 million (that's about where the luxury tax kicks in) do if the Pirates et al still try to get by spending $30 mill on payroll?
     
  12. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    None. Which is why I have been insisting that a salary floor is even more important than a cap. I think baseball needs both. That is one area where my opinion has changed over the last couple of years. The more I watch what some of these teams do, particularly the Pirates, the more I have come to understand the need for a floor.

    But I can't see how that will happen without a cap.
     
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