MLB teams lost a combined $1.8 Billion last year

[OldRed]

We need Cranny to explain how the Cardinals are "cash strapped".

[Goldfan]

We need Cranny to explain how the Cardinals are "cash strapped".

Can you imagine if BDW lost 350mil because he signed big $$$$ FA…..because he wanted to win

[Banner29]

Lost is in operated in the red or lost as in they were 1.8 billion off their projected profit margin?

[BrummerStealsHome]

The broader issue here is that MLB can no longer count on "TV money" to continue to ramp up every time deals are due for renegotiation. The media landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade or so and will continue to do so, and the revenue streams have returned to the more localized forms they once were. And MLB still lives in the 90s (Blackout restrictions? Are you kidding me?). Baseball needs to get a salary cap. As much as I despise the league office and the collective owners I side with the owners on that one.

[CCard]

The broader issue here is that MLB can no longer count on "TV money" to continue to ramp up every time deals are due for renegotiation. The media landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade or so and will continue to do so, and the revenue streams have returned to the more localized forms they once were. And MLB still lives in the 90s (Blackout restrictions? Are you kidding me?). Baseball needs to get a salary cap. As much as I despise the league office and the collective owners I side with the owners on that one.

If you were a baseball player why would you ever agree to cap your own salary. In fact why would a person do that in any aspect of business? The fans don't come out to watch the owners play. The fans don't plunk down money for jersey's with the owners name on them. The product is the players. Without them there would be no game. Owners have steadfastly refused to open the books. Why? Because they have a cash cow and a lot of it is hidden. If an owner doesn't want to pay to make a team competitive, that's on them. They deserve the ridicule they get. If Cohen wants to throw money down a hole and still lose, that's on him. Something tells me he'll go back to the drawing board and make the playoffs in the near future. Money wins.

[BrummerStealsHome]

The broader issue here is that MLB can no longer count on "TV money" to continue to ramp up every time deals are due for renegotiation. The media landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade or so and will continue to do so, and the revenue streams have returned to the more localized forms they once were. And MLB still lives in the 90s (Blackout restrictions? Are you kidding me?). Baseball needs to get a salary cap. As much as I despise the league office and the collective owners I side with the owners on that one.

If you were a baseball player why would you ever agree to cap your own salary. In fact why would a person do that in any aspect of business? The fans don't come out to watch the owners play. The fans don't plunk down money for jersey's with the owners name on them. The product is the players. Without them there would be no game. Owners have steadfastly refused to open the books. Why? Because they have a cash cow and a lot of it is hidden. If an owner doesn't want to pay to make a team competitive, that's on them. They deserve the ridicule they get. If Cohen wants to throw money down a hole and still lose, that's on him. Something tells me he'll go back to the drawing board and make the playoffs in the near future. Money wins.

Why would they? For the same reasons the players in every other professional sports league did.

[WaltsSuccessor]

Just the owners trying to gain a positional advantage, in advance of the upcoming labor negotiations. If it was a true loss, who in their right mind would own a MLB team? Better to own a Bananas team and barnstorm.

How much of the Dewitts salary, homes, cars, expenses are accounted for in “operating expenses”

You know you just described tax fraud, right? Yes small business owners get away with that all day. Billionaires both are under more tax scrutiny and have expensive tax advisors that keep them from doing obvious, dumb things like that.

They might have him create some super complicated tax shelter to hid millions, but they aren't going to have him deducting personal expenses through St. Louis Cardinals, LLC. That's amateur hour.

[AZ_Cardsfan]

Just the owners trying to gain a positional advantage, in advance of the upcoming labor negotiations. If it was a true loss, who in their right mind would own a MLB team? Better to own a Bananas team and barnstorm.

I'm sure that is part of it. But it would be no shock of some teams did lose money. I would not be shocked if STL lost money. But yeah the owners are prepping for the coming contract discussions.

[WaltsSuccessor]

Just the owners trying to gain a positional advantage, in advance of the upcoming labor negotiations. If it was a true loss, who in their right mind would own a MLB team? Better to own a Bananas team and barnstorm.

As long as valuations keep going up, there will be plenty of billionaires lining up to buy franchises even if they are technically unprofitable year to year.

Higher valuations mean the owners have the ability to borrow against the team. Distribute cash tax free while deducting the interest expense. The game billionaires get to play that us common folk don't.

They always have the option to sell in their back pocket at the inflated valuation to pay off the debt. Otherwise, just keep borrowing. Only way that changes is if the valuation bubble pops.

[MIDMOBIRDTWO]

The broader issue here is that MLB can no longer count on "TV money" to continue to ramp up every time deals are due for renegotiation. The media landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade or so and will continue to do so, and the revenue streams have returned to the more localized forms they once were. And MLB still lives in the 90s (Blackout restrictions? Are you kidding me?). Baseball needs to get a salary cap. As much as I despise the league office and the collective owners I side with the owners on that one.

If you were a baseball player why would you ever agree to cap your own salary. In fact why would a person do that in any aspect of business? The fans don't come out to watch the owners play. The fans don't plunk down money for jersey's with the owners name on them. The product is the players. Without them there would be no game. Owners have steadfastly refused to open the books. Why? Because they have a cash cow and a lot of it is hidden. If an owner doesn't want to pay to make a team competitive, that's on them. They deserve the ridicule they get. If Cohen wants to throw money down a hole and still lose, that's on him. Something tells me he'll go back to the drawing board and make the playoffs in the near future. Money wins.

Why would they? For the same reasons the players in every other professional sports league did.

bingo

[Goldfan]

Just the owners trying to gain a positional advantage, in advance of the upcoming labor negotiations. If it was a true loss, who in their right mind would own a MLB team? Better to own a Bananas team and barnstorm.

How much of the Dewitts salary, homes, cars, expenses are accounted for in “operating expenses”

You know you just described tax fraud, right? Yes small business owners get away with that all day. Billionaires both are under more tax scrutiny and have expensive tax advisors that keep them from doing obvious, dumb things like that.

They might have him create some super complicated tax shelter to hid millions, but they aren't going to have him deducting personal expenses through St. Louis Cardinals, LLC. That's amateur hour.

You don’t think that Chairman and CEO BDW JR and President BDWIII of the St. Louis Cardinals draw a salary from St. Louis Cardinals LLC?

[ICCFIM2]

The broader issue here is that MLB can no longer count on "TV money" to continue to ramp up every time deals are due for renegotiation. The media landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade or so and will continue to do so, and the revenue streams have returned to the more localized forms they once were. And MLB still lives in the 90s (Blackout restrictions? Are you kidding me?). Baseball needs to get a salary cap. As much as I despise the league office and the collective owners I side with the owners on that one.

If you were a baseball player why would you ever agree to cap your own salary. In fact why would a person do that in any aspect of business? The fans don't come out to watch the owners play. The fans don't plunk down money for jersey's with the owners name on them. The product is the players. Without them there would be no game. Owners have steadfastly refused to open the books. Why? Because they have a cash cow and a lot of it is hidden. If an owner doesn't want to pay to make a team competitive, that's on them. They deserve the ridicule they get. If Cohen wants to throw money down a hole and still lose, that's on him. Something tells me he'll go back to the drawing board and make the playoffs in the near future. Money wins.

Why would they? For the same reasons the players in every other professional sports league did.

Off the cuff, your answer makes perfect sense. But in the NFL, the revenue shareing to begin with is almost equal. In hockey, the cap has also become a defacto floor. Baseball has two huge issues to overcome, revenue disparity and agreeing to a floor if there is a cap. As long as owners are handing out $700M contracts, can't imagine the players agree to a cap. If they put a cap at $300M and a floor at $150M, do you think even 50% of the baseball owners would agree to that? I don't. Having said that, the mega rich owners willing to eat losses are ruining the competitiveness of the game. It is hard to see how that is sustainable. It should alarm every owner in baseball how fast the attendance fell off in St. Louis, which has traditionally been in the top 5 in attendance.

[Youboughtit]

Just the owners trying to gain a positional advantage, in advance of the upcoming labor negotiations. If it was a true loss, who in their right mind would own a MLB team? Better to own a Bananas team and barnstorm.

3 of the last 5 teams put for sale were unable to find a buyer because of profitability. Parsers likely to make it 4/6. Apparently lost $250m last year

I’m not sure where you got that info. Last 3 sold teams. Not sure about Zalupski but the other 2 are Wall St. multi billionaires…..

Tampa Bay Rays: Sold to an ownership group led by Patrick Zalupski in September 2025.
Baltimore Orioles: Sold to David Rubenstein in March 2024.
New York Mets: Sold to Steve Cohen in 2020.

The five most recent MLB teams put up for sale or sold are the Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels, and Baltimore Orioles. The Rays were sold in September 2025, while the Twins were reportedly put up for sale in October 2024, the Angels and Nationals explored sales in 2022, and the Orioles were sold in 2024.
Tampa Bay Rays: Sold to a new ownership group led by Patrick Zalupski, with the sale finalized in September 2025.
Minnesota Twins: Reportedly put up for sale in October 2024.
Baltimore Orioles: Sold to David Rubenstein's group in 2024.
Washington Nationals: Explored a sale in 2022, though a deal was not finalized.
Los Angeles Angels: Explored a sale in 2022, but the owner later took the team off the market, although he remains open to offers.

And you’re convinced that the teams who explored sales were unable to find buyers because of profitability?

That’s what was discussed on 101.1 yesterday for over a hour. The conclusion was those teams showed consistent losses and rising cost with no new revenue streams. The only thing positive was unrealized “franchise value”. I excpwct the same thing to happen with the Padres. Teams have killed the golden goose by overcharging fans for everything . Parking, concessions, tickets, merchandise, etc. the team revenue has plateaued but the player salaries keep rising.

[Goldfan]

Just the owners trying to gain a positional advantage, in advance of the upcoming labor negotiations. If it was a true loss, who in their right mind would own a MLB team? Better to own a Bananas team and barnstorm.

3 of the last 5 teams put for sale were unable to find a buyer because of profitability. Parsers likely to make it 4/6. Apparently lost $250m last year

I’m not sure where you got that info. Last 3 sold teams. Not sure about Zalupski but the other 2 are Wall St. multi billionaires…..

Tampa Bay Rays: Sold to an ownership group led by Patrick Zalupski in September 2025.
Baltimore Orioles: Sold to David Rubenstein in March 2024.
New York Mets: Sold to Steve Cohen in 2020.

The five most recent MLB teams put up for sale or sold are the Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels, and Baltimore Orioles. The Rays were sold in September 2025, while the Twins were reportedly put up for sale in October 2024, the Angels and Nationals explored sales in 2022, and the Orioles were sold in 2024.
Tampa Bay Rays: Sold to a new ownership group led by Patrick Zalupski, with the sale finalized in September 2025.
Minnesota Twins: Reportedly put up for sale in October 2024.
Baltimore Orioles: Sold to David Rubenstein's group in 2024.
Washington Nationals: Explored a sale in 2022, though a deal was not finalized.
Los Angeles Angels: Explored a sale in 2022, but the owner later took the team off the market, although he remains open to offers.

And you’re convinced that the teams who explored sales were unable to find buyers because of profitability?

That’s what was discussed on 101.1 yesterday for over a hour. The conclusion was those teams showed consistent losses and rising cost with no new revenue streams. The only thing positive was unrealized “franchise value”. I excpwct the same thing to happen with the Padres. Teams have killed the golden goose by overcharging fans for everything . Parking, concessions, tickets, merchandise, etc. the team revenue has plateaued but the player salaries keep rising.

Pohlads bought the Twins in ‘84 for 44mil, with family attachment the reason for keeping the team as they brought in minority investors
Moreno bought the Angels in ‘03 for 183mil, says he wants to complete the mission but would listen to a “blow away’ offer
The Rays who were one of the recent transfers shouldn’t be a ML club or should move but did find an buyer
The other most recent sale was the Orioles.
So the 2 most recent “for sale” teams did find buyers….with the Twins and Angels owners possibly looking for that crazy offer that never came.
Not sure about DC
So the last 2 recent transactions were within the last year and were finalized.

[Youboughtit]

Just the owners trying to gain a positional advantage, in advance of the upcoming labor negotiations. If it was a true loss, who in their right mind would own a MLB team? Better to own a Bananas team and barnstorm.

3 of the last 5 teams put for sale were unable to find a buyer because of profitability. Parsers likely to make it 4/6. Apparently lost $250m last year

I’m not sure where you got that info. Last 3 sold teams. Not sure about Zalupski but the other 2 are Wall St. multi billionaires…..

Tampa Bay Rays: Sold to an ownership group led by Patrick Zalupski in September 2025.
Baltimore Orioles: Sold to David Rubenstein in March 2024.
New York Mets: Sold to Steve Cohen in 2020.

The five most recent MLB teams put up for sale or sold are the Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels, and Baltimore Orioles. The Rays were sold in September 2025, while the Twins were reportedly put up for sale in October 2024, the Angels and Nationals explored sales in 2022, and the Orioles were sold in 2024.
Tampa Bay Rays: Sold to a new ownership group led by Patrick Zalupski, with the sale finalized in September 2025.
Minnesota Twins: Reportedly put up for sale in October 2024.
Baltimore Orioles: Sold to David Rubenstein's group in 2024.
Washington Nationals: Explored a sale in 2022, though a deal was not finalized.
Los Angeles Angels: Explored a sale in 2022, but the owner later took the team off the market, although he remains open to offers.

And you’re convinced that the teams who explored sales were unable to find buyers because of profitability?

That’s what was discussed on 101.1 yesterday for over a hour. The conclusion was those teams showed consistent losses and rising cost with no new revenue streams. The only thing positive was unrealized “franchise value”. I excpwct the same thing to happen with the Padres. Teams have killed the golden goose by overcharging fans for everything . Parking, concessions, tickets, merchandise, etc. the team revenue has plateaued but the player salaries keep rising.

Pohlads bought the Twins in ‘84 for 44mil, with family attachment the reason for keeping the team as they brought in minority investors
Moreno bought the Angels in ‘03 for 183mil, says he wants to complete the mission but would listen to a “blow away’ offer
The Rays who were one of the recent transfers shouldn’t be a ML club or should move but did find an buyer
The other most recent sale was the Orioles.
So the 2 most recent “for sale” teams did find buyers….with the Twins and Angels owners possibly looking for that crazy offer that never came.
Not sure about DC
So the last 2 recent transactions were within the last year and were finalized.

Some will view the continued growth of franchise value as a stable investment. Others like the Cardinals will want a yearly
Profit. However the growth in franchise value has slowed and stabilized because of continued losses and unsettled labor. The minority investors were guaranteed a in stone return on investment. That was a way to stabilize temporarily but not a long term plan. The sports market is saturated baseball fans getting old and disposable income down. No more room to grow. Will Players realize this? I sure hope so. I am not for a cap, I am for owners having full revenue sharing and a salary floor. Historically baseball was a good investment. Currently it’s a high risk one

[Melville]

The broader issue here is that MLB can no longer count on "TV money" to continue to ramp up every time deals are due for renegotiation. The media landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade or so and will continue to do so, and the revenue streams have returned to the more localized forms they once were. And MLB still lives in the 90s (Blackout restrictions? Are you kidding me?). Baseball needs to get a salary cap. As much as I despise the league office and the collective owners I side with the owners on that one.

It is not about MLB being stuck in a 1990's media model.
The real issue is the anti-trust exemption the courts have given MLB - even while acknowledging that exemption is illegal.
Without that exemption, MLB could not continue blackout restrictions in the same fashion as it currently does.
Coordinated restrictions in a marketplace in a way which prevents competition and restricts consumer choice is illegal under current federal statutes - and yet SCOTUS and the federal legislative branch continue to allow it.
The irony is that the very thing to which the owners and union cling - the anti-trust exemption - is the thing which is most damaging to its own product and profitability.