[Thane_Banquo]

Any guesses as to who?

[Huck]

: (

[P-Marlowe]

MLB didn't care enough about its fans to finish the all-star game because one of their prima-donna pitchers might have had to take an extra day off, and then they expect us fans to fill their stadiums.

I don't think I care enough about baseball to worry that they are going to go bankrupt. Minor league ball is more fun to watch. Hell, high school baseball is more fun to watch and its free.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Ooooo! Americans may lose one of their "bread and circuses"!!! Heaven forbid that they actually become involved in life instead of staying glued to the tube.

[Blackdakota]

I'm not one bit saddened by this so-called news. Selig should have cut the cord with these loser teams, reduced payroll costs, reduced ticket prices and filtered out the lackluster not worthy of pro-ball talent too long ago. He has about as much business sense as a bag of garbage. The entire league is toast.

[duckman]

Who really cares. These players are a bunch of cry babies and don't care about the game. Just look at Monday's All Star game.A tie score? They are paid big bucks to play a kids game. I have not watched a baseball game since they went on strike instead of playing the world series. I used to be a big Yankee fan but no longer care for the game.

[Agent Smith]

This is a classic case of killing the goose that lays the gold eggs. To heck with all of them for destroying a great game. IDIOTS.

[Always Right]

2 major league teams in peril

The Tigers have been in peril for 10 or more years, but it is not financial peril.

[xrp]

Hopefully all of MLB will collapse soon. I've been doing my part to support the collapse of Major League Baseball by not going to any games or buying any MLB gear since the 1994 strike. The players AND owners are both to blame and are only digging their own graves. No loss to me, I just read a book.

[dennisw]

This is great news. I'm tired of big time sports and all the money involved. Fans (read: paying suckers) are the last thing they think of.

Last ball game I saw was minor league night game in Savannah and liked it a lot more than the majors. Real nice family atmosphere with kids running semi-loose and having a ball! $4 with plenty of free parking.

[Timesink]

Thread started last night, worth checking out: Selig: Team Might Not Make Payroll

[Born to Conserve]

The problem is all the losers that worship these morons.

I go to the AAA games with the kids, eat hot dogs, sit under the lights, put a few bucks in the hat as it goes by . . .

All the professionals and their fans can go to he!!

[TheBattman]

Oh, my - I am so heart broken over this. How about we arrange for the Federal Government to pay Bud some bailout money. That way we can preserve our "national heritage". BARF!

If it weren't for the fact that a relatively few players make up literally millions of dollars of the payrolls of these teams, I might could have sympathy. And even though I am impressed with someone who can throw/catch/hit a baseball as a lot of these guys can, I will never believe that that skill is worth the millions that some make.

I mean, come on - these guys PLAY A GAME for a living! Lets put things in pespective....

The teams already bleed local cities and states for tax incentives, millions in stadium construction and upkeep, etc. If a team is not self supporting, then goodbye - "you are the weakest link".

[CatoRenasci]

I loved baseball as a kid, going first to San Francisco Seals games with my dad (who'd been offered a contract by the Seals in the mid-1920s) and then to the Giants games after they moved out from the Polo Grounds. I played with great enthusiasm but no particular skill growing up. I also remember local semi-pro teams in small towns everywhere. Baseball used to be the national pastime in the summer, but its soul has been gone for 20 years or more, at least.

If baseball cannot make money, it's because the cost of putting on the show is greater than what people are willing to pay. The owners and players have to make a choice: cut costs or quit playing. I would love to see the game return to its roots, but I don't think that will happen. I just hope soccer doesn't replace baseball.

[Ole Okie]

Heard on one of the Atlanta stations this morning that Tampa Bay and Arizona were the two teams.

[Wyatt's Torch]

In 1994, I was in favor of the players striking as I am in favor of any person getting paid what someone else is willing to pay them. Then baseball goes out and expands....again. A few things need to happen:

1) A salary cap needs to be instituted. Normally I am all in favor of capitalistic businesses but the disparity of the big market teams (Yankees) versus small market teams (Pirates) isn't good for the game...unless you're a Yankee fan. Salary caps work extremely well in the NFL. That would be an ideal model.

2) There needs to be contraction. Cut out 6 teams (4 NL 2 AL). I don't want to hear about baseball losing money when they are overextended. This move will have the added bonus of improving play as at least a third of the pitchers have no business in the league.

3) Everyone needs to enforce the contracts that they sign. MLB needs to standardize penalty clauses for holding out for renegotiations. If the players don't like it, sign only one year deals.

<\soapbox>

[RichardW]

This is great news. Hope they all go down in flames. MLB is a farce in its present condition. A revolution is necessary to bring back sanity to the game. I would never pay a penny or spend one second of my time watching these clowns.

[Shooter 2.5]

I was at a party and a guy asked me if I liked sports. I told him that I was involved with the shooting sports and that I shot in 5 competitions a month. He then informed me that he meant the ball sports and that I wasn't interested in "sports".
I thought that actually being out there and playing meant that I was interested in sports and not watching a TV program.
Our numbers are increasing. We have gone from half a dozen shooters to 40+ and the competitions and matches now take all day.
It wasn't a surprise to find out that the Kansas City Chiefs gave money to the anti-gun people because they didn't want anyone switching sports.
I also see more people exercising in the parks. It looks like people have stopped being couch potatoes while watching sports to taking an active role.

[Richard Kimball]

The players have proposed much more modest increases in revenue sharing, saying any dramatic differences might slow the growth of player salaries.

When teams like the Rangers offer contracts to players that are more than the book value of the team, it's obvious that the game cannot continue as it has been. Alex Rodriguez contract is valued at $250,000,000 and the Rangers attracted 1.3 million in attendance last year for home (2.3 million home and road) I know that there are also television revenues, concessions, parking, etc. However, we're talking about one player costing the equivalent of 1 dollar a ticket for both home and road games for ten years, or $2 a ticket if you consider home games. That's 1 out of 44 players it takes to put on a major league game, not even considering that there are a boatload of costs other than player salaries. Players claim "the fans come to see us." Yeah, but how many are going to come and see you play wearing t-shirts and cutoffs playing with broomsticks in the abandoned Kmart parking lots?

Player salaries currently have no basis in economic reality. Another factor is that there are so many more sports options for fans than there were forty years ago. I can't fathom baseball maintaining it's popularity, even if they were doing everything correctly (and they're certainly not) simply because of this increased competition, particularly with cable programming giving publicity to what were formerly niche sports.

I wouldn't want to see MLB go away, even though I seldom watch it. I do want to see the sport go back to some semblence of reality in economic models. Will quit worrying about it at all when major league sports teams get their hands out of the taxpayer back pocket for stadium deals, etc.

[Wolfie]

Gee, I hope its not a city with one of those brand spankin' new taxpayer funded stadiums. I see some very expensive parking lots in our future.