Quote:
Originally Posted by Goody
The NFL also has a cap floor, a minimum salary cap. Both the floor and ceiling are determined by a complex formula which evaluate overall league revenue.
|
Sure. But I think the NFL has a lot more league revenue to share. The media pie is a lot bigger here. MLB revenue is more individual I think (hence the disparity).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goody
How do you explain the little league numbers going down? And the All-Star game ratings roughly on par with the WS games declining.
I can see it in real life at my job. I'm sure everyone can unless they live in Boston or New York or similar. Heck, I'm in the army, where the demographics (Aged 18 to 45 year old males) should contain a ton of baseball fans. But most could care less they days about baseball.
But I work with people from all over the states. The people from NY, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and Philly are usually pretty interested in baseball. These are all huge markets. But overall, when a baseball game is on the tube at work its likely to get a majority of people pleading to change the channel. Not so with other sports.
|
I don't disagree with your overall premise that MLB popularity is down. But I don't think it is because of the salary discrepancy. I think the '94 strike and steroids have really kick fans in the stomach. Basically, Barry Bonds showed us that by taking shots, we can turn baseball into an arcade game. It's not the same unfortunately. I hope the damage isn't irreversible.
What the Yankees do now is no different than what they did in the 50s and early 60s. Baseball was plenty popular then. I don't see how fixing salaries will make baseball more popular. I think we will just end up with more Milwaukee-Texas World Series matchups (no offense to Brewer or Rangers fans).
I would imagine a Dodger-Yankee World Series would be pretty popular.