Complete revenue sharing would be a socialistic joke. And a hard salary cap would never get accepted. The MLBPA won't accept a salary floor either (although, given that there is a minimum salary for players, there is a de facto salary floor -- the minimum salary times 25 (season roster) or times 40 (full roster), depending on how you want to calculate it. What makes baseball finances unlike other sports is the farm system. The big-league club is paying the salaries and other expenses of those players. (The minor-league club pays for things like travel, the facility, and the like.) That's an expense that isn't counted in payroll calculations. That's why you can't just take all the revenues and divide them into 30 pieces. Now, visiting clubs used to get a share of the gate receipts and they should go back to that. Maybe the league gets a percentage of TV and radio money, too. But full-out revenue sharing like the NFL (which is NOT the reason for its popularity) would be bad for baseball.
BTW, I'd take another look at the Sports Broadcasting Act.
Of course it is easy to be a fan of a team that buys a championship every four years.
The Yankees spent millions more than the next highest paying team this year and over $100. Million more than all but six teams.
http://deadspin.com/2013-payrolls-and-salaries-for-every-mlb-team-462765594
They spent even more in 2012. Almost $40 million more than the next highest paying team.
http://baseball.about.com/od/newsrumors/a/2012-Baseball-Team-Payrolls.htm
In 2011: Same thing but worse, ALMOST SIXTY MILLION MORE that the next club.
http://baseball.about.com/od/newsrumors/a/2011-Baseball-Team-Payrolls.htm
It would be easier to list the years that the Yankees spent less than any other team in the league because over the last 100 years IT HAS NEVER HAPPENNED!
The reason why the NFL is so popular is that every team has the chance to compete. Where as in Baseball at least forty percent of the teams could never compete on a regular basis simply because the pigs at the trough don't care about competition. The Yankees gorge themselves on the talent of the small and mid market teams. They pilfer that talent that the other teams develop. They have every ability to do so because they control the league. They dictate the terms of revenue sharing, which is basically nonexistent. They also resist any change that would make for a more competitive and more subsequently interesting and successful league.
As for Socialist, the MLB is a FRANCHISE. They are independently owned teams, but like every franchise they are supposed to work as a group to increase the entire well being of the whole. Franchises do that through revenue sharing in the form of franchise fees and centralized purchasing. This allows for a consistent product. That is why a Big Mac in New York is the same as one in Dallas.
The fact that the MLB is a franchise makes the disparagement in salaries even more egregious.
A hard salary cap along with a hard salary basement coupled with real revenue sharing would make for a much more competitive league and thereby increase the value and profits of ALL THE TEAMS. That would than make the ability of an organization to judge talent and coach that talent much more important than their ability to write a big check to those players up for new contracts.
As it stands now New York can afford to make stupid trades and give massive contract because they know that no one can compete with them.
As for Cano, they can afford him. They can afford anything. They spend ten times what the lowest payroll team spends.
Why would that ever change without pressure from the other teams in the league. I cry for their inability to find the nickels in the sofa sign Cano. I some how believe that they will spend whatever they decide they need to if they really want him.
Mike Royko may have said it best: “Hating the Yankees is as American as pizza pie, unwed mothers, and cheating on your income tax.”
I hate the Yankees and all real Americans do. The skeevy crap hole New York and the front runners can have them. They are everything that is wrong with baseball.