With 9 Teams In Money Trouble, Baseball Needs To Start Pruning
In the past eight years Major League Baseball's revenues have nearly doubled to $7 billion, which is why Commissioner Bud Selig says the sport is going through a "golden age." But nine of its teams, including four premier franchises, are in so much debt trouble that baseball needs change for its gold.
While the financial woes of the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers are well known, those of seven others only came to light last week. The Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals are all in violation of the MLB debt-service rules. The rules are designed to ensure clubs can meet their financial obligations. They generally limit a team's debt to 10 times its annual earnings, although Selig has a lot of discretion when it comes to enforcing them.
No surprise that MLB has played down the reports since they broke in the LA Times: "To take a snapshot of the number of non-compliant clubs at a point in time can be very misleading." However, more impartial sources -- including sports investment bankers -- are not nearly as sanguine.
BizOfBaseball has a nice breakdown of each team's situation and, while the financial problems of some teams are due to unique circumstances, a few others show trouble on the way. The Marlins, Nationals and Orioles are in bad shape for the simple reason that the teams have been terrible for a very long time. Fans aren't coming to the games and no one can blame them.
If they were the only teams like this that would be one thing, but baseball does not lack for perennially horrible teams. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals are constantly "just five years" away from being a contender.
Ticket sales for these and other teams are going to continue to decline along with the economy. There is no question that MLB has over-expanded, so at some point in the not too distant future it is going to have to seriously examine getting rid of some teams.
While the metro-DC area is clearly one place to start, so is the entire state of Florida. It won't even support a great team. In the last four seasons the Tampa Bay Rays have been superb, including getting to the World Series in 2008. Despite this, it has consistently ranked near the bottom of the American League in attendance.
Combine them with The Cubs. We need all the help we can get.
Picture: WikiMedia Commons
Related: