Please someone tell me this is a practical joke.
Please someone tell me this is a practical joke.
It is not.
Bud is making some coin.
I guess it depends on how set the parameters. If you set it at 20 years, I agree with you. In 1990 as our Reds were winning the World Series over another small market team, the A's had the game's highest payroll. I don't think we'll see that again no matter who's commissioner. But in the late 90s the large market teams had huges advantages over the small markets. Unlike then, we now see teams more small market teams competing. I grant you, it is still an unfair playing field. Teams like the Twins and A's still can't get past the first rd but the revenue sharing has helped.
He did oversee expansion to three divisions per league and the addition of a wildcard team in the playoffs. I think that was good for the sport. If you go by attendance, interleague play is good for the sport. Fans come out in droves for these interleague games. He is currently working on expanding the sport internationally by playing games overseas and establishing a "world cup" of baseball.
I agree there is more work to be done where the competitiveness of all teams is concerned.
It's ********************** ridiculous, is what it is.
I'm no fan of Bud's, but I don't think this is worth flogging him over.
MLB is earning over $6 billion a year in revenue now under Bud's watch. 15 million is 0.25 percent of 6 billion. What percentage of annual revenue do most CEOs of private companies earn? I'll bet the percentage is not out of line.
It also strikes me that $15M/year may be less revenue than Bud was pulling out of the Brewers on an annual basis when he owned the club.
/r/reds
Bud Selig exemplifies the Blind Squirrel/Acorn theory.
Stick to your guns.
I'll give you that, but I don't necessarily credit Selig with all of those. Expansion and the wild card were likely to happen anyway, what with increased pressure from cities seeking major league franchises. With expansion, adding the wild card made sense and was merely falling in line with what other sports had already done. I think his big feat in that regard was getting consensus on divisional realignment, something that Fay Vincent failed to do, which made the transition smooth.
Interleague play is a nice boost to attendance for a few series a year, but I really still feel like it's a gimmick that kind of messes things up more than improves the game. With the three divisions and the wild card, I'd much rather see no interleague games and a more balanced schedule so that wild card teams are competing on an more even basis. It would also mean more games for the Reds against long-time rival Dodgers, Giants and Braves. I think attendance would show a more healthy increase in a number of markets by working harder to improve the quality of the teams and the promotion of baseball in those markets rather than a few series of gimmicky interleague matchups.
I think the "World Cup" idea was something that was kind of pushed on baseball from the outside. I think it was a real black eye for the sport when it was dropped from the roster of medal sports in the Olympics and one of the reasons was the lack of international competition outside the Olympics. IIRC, MLB had been sandbagging on a World Cup-style competition because they didn't want it to interfere with the MLB season, just as they don't like the idea of players taking off for a few weeks to play in the Olympics. Thus the World Baseball Classic seems more like a concession to international pressures as much as it does an attempt to grow the sport internationally. Even with that, I think a number of owners are wary about letting their star players go to play in international competitions.
Wear gaudy colors, or avoid display. Lay a million eggs or give birth to one. The fittest shall survive, yet the unfit may live. Be like your ancestors or be different. We must repeat!
He doesn't rock the boat, that's worth it for the guys who pay him
Go Gators!
He might make 15 million per season, if he earns it or not is another question.
Everything you mentioned was pretty easy to do. Selig did implement those things but in reality did he have to think outside of the box to do any of that? IMO that the revenue growth was more a product of advances in technology that baseball took advantage of rather than MLB drastically improving their product.
but that's not the commissioner's mandate. He's an employee for the owners who...well, duh....love the status quo.
The owners are FAR more concerned about maximizing revenue than they are with a balanced playing field and Bud is all about maximizing revenue.
Contraction was a smoke screen to get stadiums built and to allow the Montreal-Washington transfer and it worked brilliantly.
I seriously don't get the Selig-hate. The man has done exactly what the owners want. Frankly, I think Selig is to be COMMENDED for minimizing the player/owner friction and moving the labor troubles from the front pages to the back burner.
"Even a bad day at the ballpark beats the snot out of most other good days. I'll take my scorecard and pencil and beer and hot dog and rage at the dips and cheer at the highs, but I'm not ever going to stop loving this game and this team and nobody will ever take that away from me." Roy Tucker October 2010
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