Warning!! Danger!! Annual Off-topic Baseball Thread '07!! Beware!!

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

You know, when I say something stupidly obvious, like Wrigley wasn't built until 1914, your rapier wit retorts with "No sh1t". So what do I get to say when you say something that stupidly obvious? I'm not talking about this season; it was a general comment about how the Yankees do business. Obviously, the season isn't half over. The Yankees haven't even played a quarter of their schedule. But when they do have a miserable season, that's the attitude the fans have. No big deal, just go throw $80 mil at the problem.

errr....wha?

Come on. Completely different business models. Microsoft would be perfectly happy to put all of its competitors out of business.

Well, no they wouldn't. As an example, Bill Gates actually used his own money to pull Apple off their deathbed prior to the iPod success. Microsoft spends a lot of money partnering with or buying other companies, in part or in whole. This is identical to the sports model, which is a union of separate but entirely dependant entities.

They'd still make a ton of money. If the Yankees put all of their competitors out of business, they'd be out of business, too.

The Red Sox is not a business competitor of the Yankees. They are a partner.

The overall health of MLB depends in part on healthy franchises. If franchises in 20 cities never have a shot at the playoffs, fans stay away and the franchise suffers. Competitive balance improves the overall health of a sports league, generally. The NFL gives some evidence for that. Apples and volleyballs. If the Sox and Yankees are allowed to harm the competitive balance of the league simply by spending $100 million more per year than anybody else monopolize the best talent, it's not a good thing, IMHO.

You might have a point if there weren't a thing called revenue sharing whereby the smaller market teams participate in the revenue generating power of the larger market teams. See, they are business partners, not competitors.