Baseball needs a new system, no matter what Bud Selig says. The disparity between the success achieved by big-payroll teams compared to small will not improve without a change in approach. As SI's Jon Heyman writes: "The Haves are just kicking the Have-Nots all over the diamonds."
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*PHEW*
I didn't know what to do last year, what, with only 2 of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels in the playoffs – glad we made it through that little nightmare.
The players association won't like it, but who controls the game, anyway? What pro sport can *hope* to operate with any credibility without a salary cap and an even playing field? Baseball has got away with it far too long, and perhaps the only way to impose the MUCH NEEDED CHANGE is for Congress to step in and threaten to pull the Antitrust exemption.
For the franchises to remain solvent, first off, there MUST be a cap. And for parity (i.e. fairness), there must be a cap AND profit sharing….just like the NFL and NBA.
I mean, what's so HARD about this? EVERYONE but the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers see the problem. F-I-X I-T N-O-W, or lose your fanbase and income. It's that simple.
Considering I used to be a season ticket holder and now haven't been a game in five years, and haven't even watched a single game on television in two years (not a single inning this season), I'd say they need to do something. When you can turn me off so badly that I give up the sport entirely, there is a real problem here.
Of course, ten-twenty years from now, maybe the Yankees can just play the Sox 50-80 times a year and that will work somehow. What do I know?
I agree with everyone's comments. You might as well merge all of the other teams into one and call them the Washington Generals at this rate.
There are still the suckers (IE: me) who pull for my hometown team. Finances didn't allow me to attend as much as I used to – and to be honest, I was pretty p!$$ed after we dumped the roster for the second season in a row – but I'm with Miguel. I'm teetering on totally giving up on baseball – and not because my team isn't all that and a bag of chips.
The salary cap and profit sharing have worked out pretty well for the Browns, right????
I agree that it would be easier for small and middle market teams to compete in baseball with those controls in place, but in Cleveland we certainly know that it's no guarantee. You still need to put the right pieces in place regardless of whether or not there's a salary disparity between you and your competition. Personally I'm much closer to giving up on the Browns than the Indians – at least the Indians and their management are making some sort of effort to be competitive within their financial constraints.