8 ms·
MLB will never make structural reforms without Congress forcing the issue. The labor issues always come down to mental gymnastics one must do to justify and wor
by arrosenberg 5y ago
MLB will never make structural reforms without Congress forcing the issue. The labor issues always come down to mental gymnastics one must do to justify and work around the government granted monopoly the major sports leagues have (de jure for MLB, de facto for the rest). The leagues should be structured much more similarly to European Football with relegation, promotion and league cups. That structure eliminates tanking, salary issues, service time and arbitration, deflates some of the power of TV and marketing budgets, and a whole host of other issues. It also gives smaller American cities a shot at seeing major league teams play locally, which for baseball at least, seems like a no brainer thing that should happen.
If you are going to restructure the leagues, it should be done geographically - West, Southeast/MidAtlantic, Great Lakes and East. With the elimination of the DH, it makes exactly no sense for LA teams to each play 50+ east coast games and only 6 against each other. That would also allow for some expansion as cities like Nashville, Portland and SLC could easily fill out some of the regions.
- fastball 5y agoHow are the sports leagues government granted monopolies?
- arrosenberg 5y agoMLB has a de jure antitrust exception granted in 1922. The other sports leagues have consolidated and the government has failed to break them up, ergo, a de facto monopoly.
- EpicEng 5y agoWow I had no idea about this. Apparently there's a challenge happening right now https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/08/mlb-antitrust-lawsuit/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/08/mlb-antitru...
- maxwell 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Baseball_Club_v._National_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Baseball_Club_v._Natio...
- ralph84 5y agoAgree that MLB should have its antitrust exemption revoked, but relegation would be a tough pill to swallow with how much has been invested in MLB stadiums. Globe Life Field opened in 2020 at a cost of $1.1 billion. The numbers don’t work if suddenly it’s hosting minor league games.
- dexterdog 5y agoThen maybe don't spend $1.1B for a stadium, and especially don't subsidize it with public funds unless the public either owns the team or then owns the stadium and leases it to the team.
- ralph84 5y agoI don't disagree, but the point is the $1.1B has already been spent which makes relegation a non-starter.
- specialist 5y agoEmphatic full throated agreement. Yes and: adopt European style club system for all intramural sports, thereby separating scholatics from sports in our public education system. As a taxpayer, I object to subsidizing professional sport's farm system. Aside: the book Mine! by Heller and Salzman touches on professional sports in the USA. Ownership, property rights, labor relations, etc. Has some nice complimentary insights.