When considering any possible changes in the baseball structure, you must consider them from three different perspectives. Owners of Major League Baseball teams have argued that re

In major league baseball today, the current problem is the dominance, which teams that have the largest payrolls have over those who do not. In 1999, “the eight teams that made the playoffs: the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros all ranked in the top 10 in payroll” (Cohn 1.) In contrast to this, “the teams with the four worst records the Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Montreal Expos, and Florida Marlins, had the four lowest payrolls” (Demmert 36.) In most cases having a large payroll will ensure you of making the playoffs every year, the exceptions being the Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to the General Manager of the Florida Marlins Dave Dombrowski, “Payroll does not necessarily equate with winning, but you have to have the dollars so that you can win.” (Rascher 31.) The problem here is that there is a lack of turnover from year to year among the teams with the highest revenue and of those teams; they are capturing an increasingly larger share of the market. “But in baseball, no team can be successful unless its competitors also survive and prosper sufficiently so that the difference in the quality of play among teams are not too great” (Rottenberg 254.)

Rascher, Daniel. “A Model of A Professional Sports League.” Hendricks, Wallace. Advances In The Economics Of Sport. V 2. Greenwich Ct.: Jai Press, 1997.

Newhan, Ross. “Baseball: Pay Dir.” Los Angeles Times. 10 Nov 1999: D.

Currently all teams pay a 20 percent revenue tax into a central fund, with all teams drawing money out on a scale that pays the eight lowest revenue clubs, the most money. Under this current revenue sharing system, the New York Yankees paid $23 million in revenue sharing last year, and the Minnesota Twins received $22 million (Stark 3) what is so messed up with the current system is the fact that a team like the Texas Rangers, who just signed Alex Rodriguez for $252 Million is receiving funds under the current system. What I think should be done about this is to adjust the tax rate to 35% of your revenues, and have it so that only the lowest revenue clubs get anything from this fund.

Some topics in this essay:
Luxury Tax, League Baseball, National League, League Baseball’s, Rupert Murdoch, Alex Rodriguez, Cleveland Browns, Dave Dombrowski, Restructuring Baseball, Expos Royals, luxury tax, revenue sharing, market teams, major league, major league baseball, league baseball, competitive balance, visiting team, home team, salary cap, minimum maximum, minimum maximum salary, percent visiting team, lowest revenue clubs, competitive balance game,