MLB CBA

[rbirules]

Word is that the Owners are going to demand a salary cap and are willing to lose a season. On one hand losing a season would be disastrous for the sport. On the other hand, a cap is 100% necessary at the point. A floor is also 100% necessary. Personally I think the players back down before significant games are lost. Public perception will not side with the players and will be shine very negatively on them. Not to mention the nonstar players are for a cap too.

IMO, a salary cap, and salary floor, can't happen until there is drastic restructuring of revenue sharing, including local TV money. I'm not saying it all has to be shared like in the NFL, the sports are too different, but if this sport wants to survive, let alone thrive, in many markets this has to be done, and this is all on the owner's side.

How do you envision revenue sharing that is significantly different from the NFL?

I haven't given the details any thought, but the disparity in TV money is the big problem and that's where the NFL shares money. One big pool and everyone draws equal water from that pool.

The problem with baseball is that owners are well established with team values that are vastly different. The key IMO is finding a way to compensate big-market owners for the loss in revenue and long-term value.

You're dead on that this is entirely an ownership issue. It's their problem, and they have to solve it among themselves. Trying to shift this burden to the players is even worse than doing nothing. It won't work and it'll quicken the death of baseball as a major sport.

Like you said if they do nothing they will (eventually) kill the sport as small market teams won't be able to survive and be competitive which hurts the overall product.

It's really hard to get owners of large market teams, with massive local TV revenue and team valuations, to just give up a substantial portion of that value and revenue. They have to buy in like the NFL did 30 or so years ago and decide a prosperous league is better for everybody.

Now will they throw all their local TV money into the pot and share it? No. But they could put a portion of it in the pot. What portion I have no idea. The league needs to find a way to balance those scales long term though. Does it mean a league wide streaming platform with no blackouts that the league shares once local TV deals expire? Teams not being able to sell their TV rights individually after contracts are up? I don't know what the solution is, but this is the biggest driver of the haves and have nots, even more so than attendance if I had to guess (without looking it up).

I think we agree on the main points:

1. Something has to be done. If they don't level the playing field some, small-market teams will eventually fold. Then the league will die.

2. This is the owners problem to solve. The players will have to agree to whatever the owners decide, but this is an owner issue.

3. They have to find some way to share TV/Streaming/cable money. If not all of it, then at least a large portion of it.

I don't know if the small/medium market teams can find a solution and force the biggest teams to go along, but something has to give...and soon.

Yep, we're in agreement on all that.

[Red7]

I 100% support a revenue cap. I 100% oppose a salary cap. Do not put competitive balance on the back of the players.

[Carp4Cy]

But don't let the CBA negotiations mask the real problem in baseball. That's the vast disparity between the value and revenues of individual teams.

Not sure that can be fixed, can it? Unless we do a contraction or implement relegation of the bottom teams to the minors. That would sort out a few low spending outliers at least.

But is it really the real problem? Doesn't the NFL have just as vast a disparity in franchise values between the Dallas Cowboys, and say...whatever the least popular team is - Jacksonville? Charlotte? Cleveland? And yet they don't have nearly as wide a disparity in talent or payroll spend, do they?

[ForumPolice]

I remember the baseball strike of August 1994 which resulted in the cancellation of the playoffs and WS. There were many fans that had had enough and quit following. Another strike like that could be even more of a disaster.

I disagree. They need a lockout in the worst way. If they don't do something now to permanently fix the imbalance in Major League baseball I will consider it a dead sport. Don't get me wrong, it's not just a Big spenders it's the small spenders. So yes there needs to be a low and high window for salary cap and floor but what they're doing isn't working.

[45s]

I 100% support a revenue cap. I 100% oppose a salary cap. Do not put competitive balance on the back of the players.

Revenue cap ?

Can you walk me through how that would work please?

[Carp4Cy]

I 100% support a revenue cap. I 100% oppose a salary cap. Do not put competitive balance on the back of the players.

A revenue cap? How are you gonna do that? "No you fans can't buy any more beers or Ohtani Jerseys. We've hit our cap and aren't allowed to sell any more revenue items."

[Red Bird Classic]

But don't let the CBA negotiations mask the real problem in baseball. That's the vast disparity between the value and revenues of individual teams.

Not sure that can be fixed, can it? Unless we do a contraction or implement relegation of the bottom teams to the minors. That would sort out a few low spending outliers at least.

But is it really the real problem? Doesn't the NFL have just as vast a disparity in franchise values between the Dallas Cowboys, and say...whatever the least popular team is - Jacksonville? Charlotte? Cleveland? And yet they don't have nearly as wide a disparity in talent or payroll spend, do they?

MLB has a greater disparity in team valuations and payrolls compared to the NFL. This difference can be attributed to the contrasting league structures, particularly in terms of revenue sharing and salary cap implementation.

The Yankees (the top value Major-league Baseball team) valuation is over 7.8 times higher than the Marlins' valuation. While in the NFL, the Cowboys valuation is only 2.2 times higher than the Bengals' valuation. These figures highlight a much wider disparity in team valuations within MLB compared to the NFL.

In baseball, with their heavy reliance on local market revenues and lack of a salary cap, large market teams like the Yankees can generate significantly higher local income, leading to higher valuations and bigger payrolls.

The NFL, on the other hand, employs a strong revenue-sharing model and a salary cap, promoting greater financial parity among its teams. National media deals and sponsorships are shared equally, mitigating the impact of market size on team revenues and valuations.

This disparity affects competitiveness: A study by Marquette Law Scholarly Commons found that the correlation between high payroll and reaching the league championship (AL,NL & NFC, AFC) was three times greater in MLB than in the NFL, suggesting that factors other than money play a larger role in NFL success.

[Red7]

I 100% support a revenue cap. I 100% oppose a salary cap. Do not put competitive balance on the back of the players.

Revenue cap ?

Can you walk me through how that would work please?

Let’s set maximum revenues at $400 million. Anything over that goes into a pool that is divided equally among the teams.

[Red7]

But don't let the CBA negotiations mask the real problem in baseball. That's the vast disparity between the value and revenues of individual teams.

Not sure that can be fixed, can it? Unless we do a contraction or implement relegation of the bottom teams to the minors. That would sort out a few low spending outliers at least.

But is it really the real problem? Doesn't the NFL have just as vast a disparity in franchise values between the Dallas Cowboys, and say...whatever the least popular team is - Jacksonville? Charlotte? Cleveland? And yet they don't have nearly as wide a disparity in talent or payroll spend, do they?

MLB has a greater disparity in team valuations and payrolls compared to the NFL. This difference can be attributed to the contrasting league structures, particularly in terms of revenue sharing and salary cap implementation.

The Yankees (the top value Major-league Baseball team) valuation is over 7.8 times higher than the Marlins' valuation. While in the NFL, the Cowboys valuation is only 2.2 times higher than the Bengals' valuation. These figures highlight a much wider disparity in team valuations within MLB compared to the NFL.

In baseball, with their heavy reliance on local market revenues and lack of a salary cap, large market teams like the Yankees can generate significantly higher local income, leading to higher valuations and bigger payrolls.

The NFL, on the other hand, employs a strong revenue-sharing model and a salary cap, promoting greater financial parity among its teams. National media deals and sponsorships are shared equally, mitigating the impact of market size on team revenues and valuations.

This disparity affects competitiveness: A study by Marquette Law Scholarly Commons found that the correlation between high payroll and reaching the league championship (AL,NL & NFC, AFC) was three times greater in MLB than in the NFL, suggesting that factors other than money play a larger role in NFL success.

You left out the biggest disparity: local broadcast revenues. Whereas the Dodgers broadcast are worth a billion dollars or more a year, the Cardinals was a billion dollars spread over 13.

[Red7]

I 100% support a revenue cap. I 100% oppose a salary cap. Do not put competitive balance on the back of the players.

A revenue cap? How are you gonna do that? "No you fans can't buy any more beers or Ohtani Jerseys. We've hit our cap and aren't allowed to sell any more revenue items."

Oh, they can buy all they want. Anything over the cap goes into a pool to be divided among the other teams.

[45s]

I 100% support a revenue cap. I 100% oppose a salary cap. Do not put competitive balance on the back of the players.

Revenue cap ?

Can you walk me through how that would work please?

Let’s set maximum revenues at $400 million. Anything over that goes into a pool that is divided equally among the teams.

Will the revenue that a team receives from the pool count toward their max revenue?

What about a club that is already at max revenue….are they not going to get a cut…..? What happens to that percentage of the pool funds?

What is the definition of revenue? Ticket sales? Media ? Parking? Concessions? Associated income…….for example…..would ballpark village count toward their max revenue cap for the cards?

What would the audit requirements be?

If the lesser clubs receive a cut from the pool…..is there a process to ensure those funds are used properly?

I think your plan needs some work…

[DwaininAztec]

IMO, a salary cap, and salary floor, can't happen until there is drastic restructuring of revenue sharing, including local TV money. I'm not saying it all has to be shared like in the NFL, the sports are too different, but if this sport wants to survive, let alone thrive, in many markets this has to be done, and this is all on the owner's side.

How do you envision revenue sharing that is significantly different from the NFL?

I haven't given the details any thought, but the disparity in TV money is the big problem and that's where the NFL shares money. One big pool and everyone draws equal water from that pool.

The problem with baseball is that owners are well established with team values that are vastly different. The key IMO is finding a way to compensate big-market owners for the loss in revenue and long-term value.

You're dead on that this is entirely an ownership issue. It's their problem, and they have to solve it among themselves. Trying to shift this burden to the players is even worse than doing nothing. It won't work and it'll quicken the death of baseball as a major sport.

Like you said if they do nothing they will (eventually) kill the sport as small market teams won't be able to survive and be competitive which hurts the overall product.

It's really hard to get owners of large market teams, with massive local TV revenue and team valuations, to just give up a substantial portion of that value and revenue. They have to buy in like the NFL did 30 or so years ago and decide a prosperous league is better for everybody.

Now will they throw all their local TV money into the pot and share it? No. But they could put a portion of it in the pot. What portion I have no idea. The league needs to find a way to balance those scales long term though. Does it mean a league wide streaming platform with no blackouts that the league shares once local TV deals expire? Teams not being able to sell their TV rights individually after contracts are up? I don't know what the solution is, but this is the biggest driver of the haves and have nots, even more so than attendance if I had to guess (without looking it up).

The simplest approach would to simply split each games' TV/streaming/cable revenue between home and visiting team. For instance the home team retains 60% of a day's revenue and the visiting team gets 40% of the revenue, while the visiting team retains 50% of their home revenue and the home team gets 50% of the visiting teams revenue. Here is where the crunch could set in. What is that revenue? Is it an average used or the viewership on any given day???? However it is worked out, with a cap and floor, the sharing would provide the smaller market teams with a huge boost in income.

[Red Bird Classic]

But don't let the CBA negotiations mask the real problem in baseball. That's the vast disparity between the value and revenues of individual teams.

Not sure that can be fixed, can it? Unless we do a contraction or implement relegation of the bottom teams to the minors. That would sort out a few low spending outliers at least.

But is it really the real problem? Doesn't the NFL have just as vast a disparity in franchise values between the Dallas Cowboys, and say...whatever the least popular team is - Jacksonville? Charlotte? Cleveland? And yet they don't have nearly as wide a disparity in talent or payroll spend, do they?

MLB has a greater disparity in team valuations and payrolls compared to the NFL. This difference can be attributed to the contrasting league structures, particularly in terms of revenue sharing and salary cap implementation.

The Yankees (the top value Major-league Baseball team) valuation is over 7.8 times higher than the Marlins' valuation. While in the NFL, the Cowboys valuation is only 2.2 times higher than the Bengals' valuation. These figures highlight a much wider disparity in team valuations within MLB compared to the NFL.

In baseball, with their heavy reliance on local market revenues and lack of a salary cap, large market teams like the Yankees can generate significantly higher local income, leading to higher valuations and bigger payrolls.

The NFL, on the other hand, employs a strong revenue-sharing model and a salary cap, promoting greater financial parity among its teams. National media deals and sponsorships are shared equally, mitigating the impact of market size on team revenues and valuations.

This disparity affects competitiveness: A study by Marquette Law Scholarly Commons found that the correlation between high payroll and reaching the league championship (AL,NL & NFC, AFC) was three times greater in MLB than in the NFL, suggesting that factors other than money play a larger role in NFL success.

You left out the biggest disparity: local broadcast revenues. Whereas the Dodgers broadcast are worth a billion dollars or more a year, the Cardinals was a billion dollars spread over 13.

I was including local "broadcast" revenue in "local market revenues," but sorry if I wasn't clear.

[blackinkbiz]

Word is that the Owners are going to demand a salary cap and are willing to lose a season. On one hand losing a season would be disastrous for the sport. On the other hand, a cap is 100% necessary at the point. A floor is also 100% necessary. Personally I think the players back down before significant games are lost. Public perception will not side with the players and will be shine very negatively on them. Not to mention the nonstar players are for a cap too.

You can't have a cap or a floor without real revenue sharing like in the NFL. The big market teams aren't willing to go there, so a cap ain't happening.

THEN A LOCKOUT THERE SHALL BE.