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Originally Posted by Carl Childress
Once upon a time there were career minor league umpires. You could look it up.
That all changed with the first contract with the major league umpires. Now, MiLB has a three-year clause: If you don't move up after three years, bye-bye.
Reason: They can continue to pay a pittance for their AAA umpires. If the majors have evinced an interest in an umpire, he can remain longer; but he can NEVER make a career of professional baseball unless he's in the majors.
Think about it.
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...seems like that if this system is so horrid, pro-school graduates should have declined all invitations to the PBUC in droves. That would send a clear message that they weren't going to buy into the years (3, anyway)-of-poverty-for-a-01%-chance-at-the-brass-ring philosophy.
Yet the pro schools are booming business, and
AFAIK PBUC has had no trouble attracting grads to the Rookie League (or whatever). This is the metric that MiLB/MLB sees: despite the rhetoric, there are plenty of replacements/scabs/whatever clamoring to fill these jobs at an acceptable (to THEIR customer, Joe Fan) level of performance. Just like there's always another AMLU member to step in when ole reliable Joe Basepath was summarily fired after 3 years because no one died at the next level and he wasn't promoted. Ambitious umpires eat their young...its what got them into the system in the first place.
No one is yet angry ENOUGH to demolish the system and start over, because a lot of umpires with years invested in the current system would be washed out, despite their miniscule chances of making the 'show'
RE: revenue, I understand your POV, Carl, but your solution has about as much chance as Steinbrenner sending all his cable-TV revenue to 'small market' teams because 'its fair.' It will never happen.