Marlins profit at taxpayers' expense

[Chip R]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...nancials082410

[KronoRed]

Big deal, every local city except maybe San Francisco has been hosed in this round of stadium building, even the big bad New York teams extorted money from the city.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by Chip R

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...nancials082410

Two leaks in a week? Seems the MLBPA has friends in high (read: low) places. Trying to get out ahead of the labor table for the 2012 CBA, I see.

[IslandRed]

Originally Posted by Brutus the Pimp

Two leaks in a week? Seems the MLBPA has friends in high (read: low) places. Trying to get out ahead of the labor table for the 2012 CBA, I see.

That, or a big-market team making an opening argument against increasing revenue sharing: "See? They're not even spending the money they already get."

[IslandRed]

Actually, now that I've checked the Deadspin series, they have info on six teams -- at least, so far as they're saying.

[blumj]

Originally Posted by Brutus the Pimp

Two leaks in a week? Seems the MLBPA has friends in high (read: low) places. Trying to get out ahead of the labor table for the 2012 CBA, I see.

Looks like they have a bunch of them, Pirates, Marlins, Rays, Rangers, Mariners, and Angels?

http://deadspin.com/5620880/download...-own-enjoyment

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by blumj

Looks like they have a bunch of them, Pirates, Marlins, Rays, Rangers, Mariners, and Angels?

http://deadspin.com/5620880/download...-own-enjoyment

Well, if these are the real deal, it seems this is definitely the work of someone posturing for the next labor negotiation, which if memory serves me, is set to begin this November.

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by IslandRed

That, or a big-market team making an opening argument against increasing revenue sharing: "See? They're not even spending the money they already get."

That was my first train of thought, lowering or abolishing revenue sharing will help both the big money players, the only ones the union gives a crap about and the big money owners.

[kpresidente]

Wait, don't the cities generate new revenues from the new stadiums? Isn't that the whole point, from the city's perspective?

Why didn't the author state how much Miami/Dade expects to net from the deal? If they're in the black, who the hell cares what the Marlins did or didn't do? The taxpayers are profiting.

If they're in the red, then point blank they never should have built the stadium. Again, doesn't matter what the Marlins claimed about their revenues.

So what's the bottom line?

[oregonred]

Not to defend Loria or the Marlins, but they are contributing $154M (6th highest in baseball) to the stadium project.

They needed to be strongly cash flow positive in the 2007-2009 negotiating period to get any banks/creditors to finance the deal, especially given the unproven long term viability of MLB in South Florida. The terms Miami-Dade agreed to were bad, but what else would you expect from one of the most corrupt and poorly managed counties in the nation.

That was the jist I got from the Marlins flagship station on the way home tonight.

This stadium won't work in it location in Dtown Miami as it splits the market into Miami-Dade and the very southern part of Broward. In effect, the Marlins will soon become the only non-English speaking franchise at least from a gate revenue standpoint.

[IslandRed]

Originally Posted by oregonred

This stadium won't work in it location in Dtown Miami as it splits the market into Miami-Dade and the very southern part of Broward. In effect, the Marlins will soon become the only non-English speaking franchise at least from a gate revenue standpoint.

They already have the in-between stadium location and it doesn't work. While theoretically more accessible to both Dade and Broward, the county-line location just makes it a pain in the rear for practically everyone to get to a ballgame, South Florida traffic being what it is. For an everyday sport like baseball, giving themselves maximum accessibility to the largest market is a smarter play in my opinion than worrying about the largely-mythical ability to draw from all over South Florida on a weeknight.

[WebScorpion]

I was reading something the other day about revenue sharing and they proposed some convoluted set of rules involving the size of the market and the salary of the team, etc. It was just so overly complicated, it seemed ridiculous to me...like thet were trying to emulate our government. So here is Scorp's simple efficient revenue sharing plan:

All broadcast rights are the sole property of Major League Baseball. Revenues from the sale of any broadcast are to be divided up evenly between the 30 teams.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by WebScorpion

I was reading something the other day about revenue sharing and they proposed some convoluted set of rules involving the size of the market and the salary of the team, etc. It was just so overly complicated, it seemed ridiculous to me...like thet were trying to emulate our government. So here is Scorp's simple efficient revenue sharing plan:

All broadcast rights are the sole property of Major League Baseball. Revenues from the sale of any broadcast are to be divided up evenly between the 30 teams.

Great idea but the horse is out of the barn on that. Baseball teams now own networks. They can't put the genie back in the bottle on that one. Pete Rozelle was able to convince the owners to do this once upon a time and thank the good Lord he did.

That's why baseball's solutions are so complicated

[oneupper]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

Great idea but the horse is out of the barn on that. Baseball teams now own networks. They can't put the genie back in the bottle on that one. Pete Rozelle was able to convince the owners to do this once upon a time and thank the good Lord he did.

That's why baseball's solutions are so complicated

True. However, looking forward, is broadcast/cable TV going to the medium of transmission and reception for the future? How are the digital rights owned/distributed?

That could be the way it all evens out or on the contrary, become even more skewed to the large market teams.

I'm asking because I have no clue and still remember when the radio was all we had.

[RedsManRick]

Originally Posted by WebScorpion

All broadcast rights are the sole property of Major League Baseball. Revenues from the sale of any broadcast are to be divided up evenly between the 30 teams.

I'm sure there are reasons why people might not like this, but this is the plan I'd support.