The Time For Expansion is Now
by John Lease
Additional teams in New York and Boston will bring about more ‘competitive balance’ than any shady non-compete agreement that we already have.
Despite the obvious fact that the NFL is the king of the hill in American sports, baseball continues to mouth platitudes of the Republican party of the early 1900s, the robber barons in particular. Hockey and the NBA and the NFL all realized, some earlier than others, that in the entertainment business, it’s a good idea to have sound economic models and the ability to project out costs over time. Hockey almost killed itself in its slavish devotion to the baseball model, and might not be out of the woods yet. But it seems to at least have a decent chance to get back on the road to fiscal prosperity for all. Hockey still runs a minor league system for their teams, as does baseball. Football and Basketball though have had only the barest of cupboards in terms of minor leaguers. Football cut their NFL Europe quasi minor league, and the NBA development league holds only the most tenuous grasp on the teams of the NBA.
The question as I see it is, if baseball is going to persist in mouthing market platitudes, then let’s actually use the market. Here is a link to the
Baseball in its past did what you would expect of a market chasing industry, teams were located where the people were. In the golden age of 16 teams for the AL and NL (1901-1952), teams were distributed as follows
New York-3
Boston-2
Chicago-2
St. Louis-2
Philadelphia-2
This certainly followed the population pattern of the
Expansion happened once again in 1977, and then again in 1993 and the last time in 1998. Shuffling of franchises occurred in the interim and we now have the following lineup of multiple teams in one city, or CSA (Combined Statistical Area):
New York-2
Chicago-2
Los Angeles-2
Washington/Baltimore-2
Bay Area-2
Everywhere else-1
That leaves 20 teams alone in their own CSA, and 10 sharing an area. Well, must be that the population in the US has shifted outward, more people living in different cities? Certainly, population has shifted to California and the south and southwest in general. Let’s take a look at the CSA numbers again.
New York is on top, with an estimated population of nearly 22 million. L.A. is the only thing close to this behemoth, with an estimated population of nearly 18 million. Chicago, Baltimore/Washington and greater Boston round out the top five, toss in the Bay Area at six and you have every place that has more than one team. Currently, two teams are over the ‘salary cap’ in baseball on a fairly regular basis. That would be the Yankees and Red Sox. Despite what some might believe, people own businesses to make money, and both teams, I can guarantee you, make dough. The current collective bargaining agreement has them paying off teams who refuse to compete (like Pittsburgh) by tossing them money. Well, if you are going to be spouting robber baron nonsense about how the market is king, how can you justify this? The Pirates, Royals, and several other teams have become content to make money by not competing. This may be the most efficient way to make money ever, especially if you have hijacked a new stadium from your state.
But let’s make the market king again. Another team in New York (ideally in Manhattan), and another in Boston will bring about more ‘competitive balance’ than any shady non-compete agreement that we already have. Three teams in New York really probably aren’t enough, four would be better. Cut the average fan base from 11 million per team down to 5.5. Boston would be cut down to about 3.8 million, and that’s probably a little understated, since the distance isn’t that far from Vermont, Maine, and other areas of New England that currently have only one team that services their baseball needs.
Everyone likes a level playing field, right? So two more teams in New York, say one in Manhattan and one in New Jersey, another Boston team, and to keep things on an even keel one more in the largest area that isn’t served by a big league team, Orlando, because it’s a small world, after all.
18 March 2008 19:51
John,
While your thoughts have some merit, you seem to just want to decrease the power of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets while turning MLB into a significantly larger league. You also make an assumption that just may not hold by assuming that fans will flock to a new franchise set up in an established baseball market. Something tells me that it’d take generations for the fan bases to even come close to balancing out in a place like Boston that adores its team.
19 March 2008 03:19
I’m just trying to point out the lack of integrity the owners of baseball have. They love to talk about markets, etc. But refuse to actually let them occur! I didn’t point out that owners have a right to REFUSE teams to come into their area, the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets could all block any new team or relocating team into their ‘area’.
Now that doesn’t sound like a free market at all to me. The NFL is wildly popular for at least two reasons, it seems to me. One, their product is absolutely tailor built to TV. And second, they made a decision long ago that the league would take precedence over any single team. Would a Green Bay team in baseball be a powerhouse? Baseball has decided to let the Uber-rich create their own rules and salary structure. That just means that the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets can all outspend any other team any time they want.
I’d like to see them practise what they preach. I’d also like this country to quit building ballparks for them. It’s not like the roads, rails and infrastructure is perfect.
And I bet the fans that loved the Boston Braves are still pissed, if they are still around….