John Perricone takes up my call for suggestions to change the game during a CBA year, and suggests evenly sharing home revenues.
I think it’s a mistake to just go after the Yankees, however. Ever since the institution of bonus baby rules, the leagues have been trying to even things out with New York. It can’t be done. The Yankees and Mets are going to be richer than other teams. Basically, the players pay for this. I like the idea of a 50/50 gate split, and I like the idea of splitting local TV and radio revenues based on the ratings generated by the visiting team. That has to mean the Yankees get their share as well. What is fair for everyone?
The Yankees and Red Sox own YES (~30%) and NESN (80%), and the revenues received by the Yankees and Red Sox from these 2 companies are well below market value to avoid revenue sharing, and the bulk of the profit show on YES and NESN books, which are revenues that do not need to be shared. I would think one option would be to prohibit any owner of a MLB team to own any part of a station which broadcasts games. In this way, all revenues are disclosed, as teams like the Red Sox and Yankees would demand top dollar for broadcast rights
In a free market, some other company or team moves into Boston and New York to compete for available revenues. So let Tampa Bay move to the Boston area, and allow 2 other struggling teams to move to the NY area, say Kansas City and Toronto, and this revenue imbalance will be reduced over time. MLB could demand that the Red Sox and Yankees/Mets rent their fields to these new teams until they can build their own stadiums (if they refuse MLB could threaten to triple revenue sharing dollars).
In order to create excitement in entertainment you can have comedy. Sports has the Harlem Globetrotters and. . . well that’s about it.
Or you can have drama. And drama means a protagonist and antagonist (even waiting for Godot had the antagonist in the non-arrival of Godot.) The Yankees play the part of the antagonist/villain very well. Baseball needs a villain. Yankees consistently draw well on the road. Having a strong Yankee team does well for baseball
Pft: I agree to a point on allowing another team in the area. Id like to see a team that could compete be awarded a third NY team. The Rays or Marlins, for instance, would probably be well received.
I think its a shame that the teams can refuse another franchise in a certain radius (100 miles??). Imagine that existing in retail! I’m a Yankees fan but if they put a baseball team in Central Jersey id go to more of their games than Yankees games– even if I didn’t like the team!