The hated Yankees are good for something

Team values increased an average of 15 percent for the second consecutive year, to $376 million, in our 2006 survey of Major League Baseball's 30 franchises.

Most of the money comes courtesy of the New York Yankees, which paid a record $77 million toward baseball's revenue sharing system. The Boston Red Sox, baseball's No. 2 revenue sharer, paid only $51 million. Such generosity by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, required by the league's rule that teams pay 34 percent of their net local revenue to help make poorer teams more competitive, is the reason why the Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals increased in value by more than 20 percent.

[From Forbes.com/ESPN]

I think I hear those at CATO cringe. I've often heard people complain about MLB being "too socialist" or a "failed business model." Contrary to these opinions, however, is the fact that baseball is doing pretty well for itself. Could it do better? Of course, but it would have to zap the soul out of the game, and baseball without a soul would not survive, for the soul of the game is what makes it so great. We're already inundated with advertising, even on the bases! Can you imagine putting ads on the uniforms like they do in the English Premier League?

Yesterday, I referenced an article about baseball's "war on the cheap seats." Taking away the cheap seats because you aren't selling out is not the way to win fans. You think season ticket holders are the backbone of baseball civilization? You are wrong. Us bleacher bums, peanut heaven dwellers, and obstructed view fans are the heart of the game. We're the ones who decide to go to a game an hour before it starts. We're the ones who buy the merchandise, who guzzle more beer and eat more junk food than our hearts can handle, who scream the loudest and give life to the game. I've never seen David Brooks or Tim Russert wearing a Nats jersey in their behind homeplate seats at the ballpark, but everyone in the cheap seats has on some sort of article of baseball clothing. (To be fair, Russert sometimes wears a cap.) This kind of soul sucking business strategy will backfire. Remember, baseball fans take a long time to heal when they are hurt (1994 ring a bell?) Baseball is a celebration of life, of sunshine and summer and hanging out with friends and family over beers, rooting for your team and forgetting about the problems of the real world for awhile.

Revenue sharing is a great part of the business of baseball. The free-market naysayers must be kept away from the game, for revenue sharing has injected life into MLB, leveling the playing field and giving rise to great teams like the Twins and the A's and maybe, just maybe, if the commie baseball gods are smiling, a certain small market team with a monstrous offense can compete, too.