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Red Sox Front Office Discusses the Economy

The Globe's Amalie Benjamin has a good piece on a press conference given by Red Sox management. The Front Office had many interesting things to say. For example, John Henry spoke on the economic downturn, which has already cost several team sponsorships:

"I'm not overly optimistic," Henry said about the economy in general. "You just can't ignore the realities of what is going on worldwide. This isn't just a US problem, this is a worldwide problem. The effect that it's going to have on major league sports in the United States has not yet been seen; 2010 is probably going to look a lot different than 2008."

And then there's Larry Lucchino, discussing the prospect of a salary cap, which he and other owners apparently favor:

"I think there are 29 teams that exist within a certain band, then there has been in the last several years one outlier that has been much higher," Lucchino said. "So the outliers both at the top and the bottom will be most severely affected by a payroll zone, which I think is a better term than a salary cap, a payroll zone where all teams would have to be somewhere within a payroll zone."

Lucchino said it is "as inevitable as tomorrow that there will be some kind of system like that in baseball. Just not as imminent as tomorrow."

I think the idea is interesting. The current payroll system in MLB does little to discourage excess on either end of the spectrum. On the one hand, you have the Yankees, whose massive luxury taxes hardly kept them from committing over $400 million to three people this offseason. On the other, you have the Marlins, whose payroll is barely larger than the amount they receive from the league in luxury tax windfall. Basically, the Marlins' owner, Loria, pockets most of the revenues he gets from the team / MLB, while leaving his team the poorest in baseball.

What do you guys think?

Poll
Would you support a payroll zone (in other words, salary cap) in MLB?
Yes. More equitable spending will lead to more evenly matched teams, and thus better baseball.
66 votes
No. Leave the free market alone, before I get all Milton Friedman on you!
28 votes
No. This could conceivably hurt the Sox, by depriving them of their spending advantage over teams like Tampa / Toronto.
6 votes
Not sure.
12 votes
I say we nationalize MLB, make all the players underpaid civil servants, and squeeze the owners out. Then we can lower ticket prices!
19 votes

131 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  Comment 8 comments |

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Comments

Display:

Da, Comrade!

Nationalize baseball. Fenway’s rightfield grandstand has more than enough room for a bread line.

Seriously, though. I do have so many problems with the economics of sports that I try to ignore it as much as possible. I’m not sure whether the Yankees or the Marlins are worse. From a baseball perspective Loria is a complete deadbeat. I could never be a fan of the Marlins team.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Feb 20, 2009 1:09 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Grammar fail. ::sigh::

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Feb 20, 2009 1:10 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I think

that Loria is worse. Sure the Marlins don’t have the fanbase that the Sox have, but they generate enough revenue to at least triple the payroll.

by Schulz on Feb 21, 2009 3:32 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I think...

…that after Loria gutted a very talented Montreal Expos team and forced their move to Puerto Rico, he should have been banned from baseball rather than allowed to purchase and destroy another team.

by RSNexile on Feb 20, 2009 6:17 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

He must be a very likable guy, but he’s one ass of an owner.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Feb 24, 2009 12:01 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Only if the Yankees win a lot of games

will baseball, and its other MLB owners – PERHAPS – finally wake up and do something that levels the playing field in baseball. Owners on the opposite end, who refuse to spend money, have to be dealt with, too. Like the steroids debacle, the “commissioner” and lame owners of this sport have to lift their heads out of the sand (or their you-know-whats) and deal with major problems. MLB has become a joke.

by ccthemovieman on Feb 21, 2009 1:30 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

I'm happy that my Red Sox are a team I can root for.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Feb 24, 2009 12:02 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

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