There is one graphic that shows the Dodgers payroll is bigger than 5 other teams combined. Other than that, I have no comment. Interesting read.
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MLB is a joke of a league. It’s a shame they’ve let it get to this point.
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Instead of just giving us the yearly data on their graph though, they seem to be cherry picking years to prove their narrative. I’m not saying the disparity between the haves and have nots in baseball isn’t glaring, quite the contrary, but the yearly intervals they use for their data comparison are all over the place.
The cheap owners love their welfare checks
The Dodgers 2026 payroll is more than the Reds owner’s net worth.
Also, I don’t blame the Dodgers.
It has nothing to do with cheap owners at this point. Dodgers are spending more than the majority of teams bring in in revenue
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The Dodgers tax payment is larger then 12 MLB teams payroll. 8 of those teams are NL/AL Central.
That’s about 50% of the problem. The other part is MLB leadership’s lack of interest in the welfare of the entire league
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It’s not MLB’s lack of interest. It’s the owners’, since they control MLB as an entity. The owners who aren’t spending anything are perfectly happy to cash their revenue sharing checks and not even try.
Still falls on the leadership for letting the product to degrade to the point MLS is a better competitive product in the US than MLB
The one team that has open financials is the braves. It shows them having a profit of about 30mil. They are likely one of the highest revenue teams. Do you think an extra 30 mil in spending is going to be the difference between them and the dodgers?
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feel like the game itself is on the upswing in popularity. Could be better if teams didnt shoot themselves in the foot.
Maybe in the favored markets but not holistically
The existence of the central divisions creates results similar to a revenue sharing program. And those teams tend to hold their own in the postseason for the first round, at least.
(No, I have no explanations or excuses for Jerry Reinsdorf either. You’ll have to ask the Pope about that.)
I’m no expert but my understanding is that major pro teams are not a great investment. They gain a lot of equity over time but they’re bad at generating cash, and to have a good chance of winning consistently you need to outspend your revenue. That’s not a big deal if you’re an ultra billionaire in a large market that can afford spending to feed your ego, but not for most of the league.
FWIW there are reports that the Dodgers get to keep more of their TV revenue protected from revenue sharing into the 2030s as part of a deal relating to their bankruptcy. The MLB is already cutthroat but that makes it untenable even if you’re as wealthy as Steve Cohen, better enjoy this season before we get a lockout in 2027.
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Correct, some high ups in the guardians came to speak to farmer my senior year (2024) and they mentioned the only year they ever turned a profit was when they went to the World Series.
The Braves have an extra benefit of controlling an entertainment district which gives extra revenue from parking and rent. The parking is included in their operating revenue, not sure about the rent payments. Also, the Braves were at the forefront of signing young players to long term contracts at below market rates, and they pay their young stars a fraction of their worth. And, in spite of all of that, they still couldn’t afford to keep Fried or Freeman.
From my very unlearned perspective, you need a cap to prevent what the Dodgers are doing, and a 125-150ish million floor to either make the cheap owners try win or force them to sell to someone who will. If you can’t afford a nine figure payroll nowadays, you should not own a baseball team.
Edit: I understand that my proposal would likely result in no baseball in 2027.
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Only three times in the last 25 years has a team with a payroll in the bottom half of MLB won the world series. And one of those clubs utilized an elaborate cheating system en route to doing so. Interesting statistics though.
San Diego is a good example. They outspent their revenue to be competitive but the revenue side never really closed the gap and after the Diamond TV fallout got worse. Ended up with $300 million in debt that they can’t cover but the franchised gained $1 billion in value. So you sell it and after settling the debt you pocket a nice haul. Great for the owner and their family but how is that cycle of rinse and repeat good?