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<blockquote data-quote="Gauntlet" data-source="post: 383202" data-attributes="member: 545529"><p>Steinbrenner doesn&#039;t have to worry about putting out a competitive team in order to make money; the Yankees already have the most lucrative TV contract, not to mention their merchandise sales are through the roof. The influx of money from that alone is enough to cover the luxury tax they have to pay (60 million last year, higher than nearly half of the other teams salaries). My problem isn&#039;t really with Steinbrenner himself, it&#039;s with the MLB and the Player&#039;s Union. Small market teams HAVE to be competitive in order to sell products, get TV time, and increase attendance. Even then, it&#039;s not guaranteed to work. Look at the Marlins last year, they were in the heat of a pennant race and still couldn&#039;t draw more than 10,000 fans per game. But large market teams don&#039;t have to worry about this, all they have to do is play and their hats and jerseys will sell and their stadium will be sold out. That&#039;s easy money in their pockets, which results in it being so much easier to sign free agents. And since the Player&#039;s Union just about demands that people take as much money as they can get, it&#039;s very unlikely that a player will be allowed to go to a market where he is being underpaid. But small market teams need a few of these players in order to be competitive, but they need lots of money in order to sign these players, but they have to be competitive before they can get the money. It&#039;s nothing but a huge cycle of greed. And then factor in the utter ridiculousness of some of the players contracts and there being no salary cap (after all, the only markets who are truly affected by the luxury tax have the $$ to cover it), and you&#039;ve got an even bigger mess. Baseball needs serious changes.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="Gauntlet, post: 383202, member: 545529"] Steinbrenner doesn't have to worry about putting out a competitive team in order to make money; the Yankees already have the most lucrative TV contract, not to mention their merchandise sales are through the roof. The influx of money from that alone is enough to cover the luxury tax they have to pay (60 million last year, higher than nearly half of the other teams salaries). My problem isn't really with Steinbrenner himself, it's with the MLB and the Player's Union. Small market teams HAVE to be competitive in order to sell products, get TV time, and increase attendance. Even then, it's not guaranteed to work. Look at the Marlins last year, they were in the heat of a pennant race and still couldn't draw more than 10,000 fans per game. But large market teams don't have to worry about this, all they have to do is play and their hats and jerseys will sell and their stadium will be sold out. That's easy money in their pockets, which results in it being so much easier to sign free agents. And since the Player's Union just about demands that people take as much money as they can get, it's very unlikely that a player will be allowed to go to a market where he is being underpaid. But small market teams need a few of these players in order to be competitive, but they need lots of money in order to sign these players, but they have to be competitive before they can get the money. It's nothing but a huge cycle of greed. And then factor in the utter ridiculousness of some of the players contracts and there being no salary cap (after all, the only markets who are truly affected by the luxury tax have the $$ to cover it), and you've got an even bigger mess. Baseball needs serious changes. [/QUOTE]

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