The death of professional sports

[beaver cleaner]

Something has to give. You can't call it a level playing field in professional sports if each one has their own market, and a monopoly over that market, and then you try to pit them against each other, based on their individual revenues and expenses is ridiculous.

It is all nice and fine that we in Toronto have used this in our favour recently with the building of this Leafs team, and with the Jays in the early 90's, but now we are exposed to what level this charade can be carried to.

Now that the baseball season is over for at least 20 teams in the league, it is time for hockey owners to stand up for their fans before all control is lost. There must be a hard cap for contracts. You just can't use a luxury tax, or some other type of convaluted means of which crafty accountants can get around. Call it what you want, but if you do not have parity within the league you will end up disenfranchising the fans and ultimately it will die.

 

[Keebler Elf]

How is the baseball season over for 20 teams? The last several years have proven that high payroll does not equal a World Series. Didn't the Marlins win last year? I can't remember. And what about the Orioles and their payroll? Or the NY Rangers for that matter.

Yes, something needs to be done to level the playing field, but it isn't the end of the world...

 

[Speedo]

Re: The death of porfessional sports

Call it what you want, but if you do not have parity within the league you will end up disenfranchising the fans and ultimately it will die.

But there's the rub. People still watch/go to the games, and as long as that remains in place, the disparity will continue. Look at Detroit. They signed Pudge Rodriguez, and started selling tickets like hotcakes, even though the Tigers are still doomed on the field.

 

[gramage]

this is hardly the death of pro sports. baseball is screwing itself over for the long term of course, and hockey is comitting suicide, but I hardly think the NFL is on life support with all 32 franchises making a profit, the CFL is as strong as it has ever been, and the NBA is doing ok I believe.

 

[beaver cleaner]

Go ask a guy in Kansas City, Minnesota, Toronto, who was thinking if he should buy season tickets this year, cuz maybe they had an outside chance of making something out of this year. Then they realize that we have 6 teams that just keep on going and going with their spending, taking it to such an extreme, that it just isn't worth peoples time.

Of course some other team could win it, and biggest payroll isn't the determining factor, but the point is that when the Yankees, Red Sox, etc want to play baseball for 182 games they need to play against teams such as Kansas and Minnesota.

 

[cleatus]

NFL is on Life support??? I think the NFL is the healthiest sports league out there. Tons of TV revenue (Its been said that a franchise could make money with less than 50% attendance- just from the TV revenue).
plus the NFL has a Hard salary cap which does wonders for league-wide parity.
I agree that MLB and NHL are heading towards sporting armegeddon

 

[Speedo]

Smartest thing the NFL ever did was pool TV money and split it evenly. It means the Green Bay Packers get just as much as the New York Giants.

 

[n_v]

this is hardly the death of pro sports. baseball is screwing itself over for the long term of course, and hockey is comitting suicide, but I hardly think the NFL is on life support with all 32 franchises making a profit, the CFL is as strong as it has ever been, and the NBA is doing ok I believe.

Interesting to note that the three sports you mention as doing well are the ones with some form of hard cap in place, while the 2 others that do not are screwing themselves for the long run with no fiscal controls on players salaries put in place. Can anyone see a trend here??

 

[Snook.fr]

Re: just further proof...

I still consider hockey to be the best game out of the major four,

Ross, If you don't have Soccer in your "Major 4".....Think Again!!

 

[n_v]

world wide, yes, Soccer is one of the major four....

one of the major ONE is more accurate!

 

[The Shake]

Perhaps a more accurate title would be "The Death of Professional Team Sports", as NASCAR and the PGA tour (to name but two) are making boatloads of money.

 

[Goober Mcfly]

Perhaps a more accurate title would be "The Death of Professional Team Sports", as NASCAR and the PGA tour (to name but two) are making boatloads of money.

...or at the very least, "The death of professional sports".

</Spelling Nazi>

 

[The Shake]

...or at the very least, "The death of professional sports".

</Spelling Nazi>

And here I thought that I was being a gentleman by not pointing that out.

 

[bobistheowl]

Do teams include income from merchandising, (official team sweaters, etc.), in their profit and loss statements? The NHL didn't include income from expansion franchises when they opened their books.

Any owner who sells a team in any sport realizes a handsome profit, regardless of whether the team is or was profitable.

 

[Cobster]

who watches baseball?

watching paint dry, now that's more fun

 

[knight66]

The owners (no matter what sport you are talking about) brought this all on themselves.
They complain that players are making too much. But who is it that agreed t pay them that...hmm? was it ...THE OWNERS???
Everyone seems to think that these teams whith the high payroll and big stars are locks to win the league and playoffs. Look at the rangers. They have the one of the hightest payroll in the NHL ( for a while now) and haven't made the playoffs for how mayn years now?
on the other end you have Ottawa which is a fraction of that and bolsters one the the top teams in the league ( unfortunately).
The owners seem to look at getting the big name player to boost ticket sales rather than getting the best player to help their team win (which would accomplish the same thing with a cheaper price tag)
And players are money hungry sucks. How can you justify a rookie making multi million $'s and not even playing a game or a player who misses 3/4 of a season and wants double his salary the next season.
There is a simple way to resolve the situation.
Players should make a base salary depending on thier length of time in a league. For those player who think they deserve much more then they should earn it. Mr. big time goal scorer should get a bonus if he hits a cetain level of goals scored. Mr. I'm the best goalie alive can get his little bonus if he wins the Vesna.
Same goes for all sports. It should be easy enough to incorporate.

 

[kwong_1978]

I agree that the NFL should act as a model for the other professional sport leagues (North America). I just wish we could clone Paul T. & have him commish them all.

NY & Boston of baseball will always be big spenders and favorites. But when lesser teams like Florida & Anaheim win it all, the victory seems sweeter somehow.

If I was a fan of one of the big spending teams, I wouldn't complain. Would you? The Leafs have a pretty high payroll & I am not complaining. In fact, I wish they would spend more.

 

[shack]

The difference between hockey and the other 3 sports is that hockey has no mega TV revenues. That is why there is no way hockey players should be making anywhere near what the players in the other sports make.

I also feel that the NHL's proposal of revenue sharing is an excellent concept. They are asking the players what they feel is a fair percentage of the revenues that should be spent on salaries. If the league makes more, then the players make more. If the league makes less, the players make less. Yet Goodenow is portraying this as a "hard cap". To me it looks like a partnership.

Speaking of which there are lots of partners in businesses who don't trust eachother, but continue to do business because it's profitable for both sides and they have safeguards in place to check and monitor eachother. I don't see why the two sides in the NHL can't do likewise.

If they could agree on an amount of money to give to the players as a whole, they could get rid of contract negotiations. Just give the money to the NHLPA and let them divvy it up amongst themselves anyway they think is fair. Watch how fast the infighting would start and the union solidarity would crumble.

 

[SuggaBella]

who watches baseball?

watching paint dry, now that's more fun

I agree! Its like a yacht race if you ask me.. 9 innings, plus 182 games, best of 7 series in the playoffs. wow. I'd rather tune in on game 7 of the world series and catch the top of the ninth and just said I watched the whole season.

But seriously though, I dont know half as much about any of this as I am lead to believe by alot of you guys' educated responses.. but do you guys think that the feact that NFL has only what 12 games a season and do or die playoffs boosts their ratings? I can watch my favorite football team play every game their season and STILL have a life. Soccer (on an international level) has the same appeal. Instead of every year there is a new competition, once every 4 years they compete and the anticipation is crazy. Tons of people tune in to see the world cup.

With baseball in mind its practically impossible to watch every game unless you are a die hard fan. Tunning into the 54th game of the season because you like the sport but arent a die hard fan is like taking a pee in the wind, because its so insignificant on the big scheme of things.

Just my two cents. More concentrated seasons and TV ratings would go up big time. But then again, as I mentioned above.. I am probably completely wrong!

XOXO
SuggaBella.

 

[Fortunato]

The owners (no matter what sport you are talking about) brought this all on themselves....
They complain that players are making too much. But who is it that agreed t pay them that...hmm? was it ...THE OWNERS???

Not exactly... the problem is that they did it WITHOUT agreement.

People get the game confused with the business. Teams in any given league are NOT in business competition with each other; they are partners in business. The ONLY place they should compete is during the respective "matches". The problem is that, to far to many team owners, they could care less about the business, and are far too anxious to screw over their business partners in order to try and get an advantage in these matches.

Yes, you can argue that it doesn't ALWAYS work, but the probability is much higher for these sorts...

That said, the players also want the best of everything, all ways. What other unions have both a collective bargaining agreement, AND the ability for players to negotiate their own contracts? None. All "minimums"... no "maximums".

The worst of it all, is that there are three "parties" involved. The owners (who want "owner things"... whether it is money, or pride, or whatever); players (who want, by and large, money), and fans. The first two are "represented" in negotiations, while the third is left with one option... "take it, or leave". The result is always the same... huge increases in revenues at every turn (ticket prices, network contract, etc. ... or, when you get desperate, more creative measures such as new uniforms every year or changing the colour of home jerseys in order to stimulate merchandise sales). This WILL continue until fans walk away.

Yes, there is an easy way to fix it... sadly, it's the only way, too. But until/unless consumers "reject" what professional sports are doing, and choose to spend their entertainment money elsewhere, all they are doing is confirming BOTH the owners and players "worth" in their acts of self interest....

Best regards,

F.

P.S. Ms. SuggaBella, the limited amount of games (16, 8 of them at home) make each one more of an "event" for the NFL... a day is set aside, tailgating, etc. And it undoubtedly it increases the importance of the game (which you would hope helps inspire better performances). All this certainly helps justify $100 tickets ($800 for the season)... but even this way, if the NFL did not have good business controls on the franchises from the league, they would still run into the same problems as the other sports leagues.... As for soccer, there are many leagues and the clubs operate a little differently... but the problems of financial mismanagement, especially as it relates to player costs, are as rampant there as over here....