MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and MLBPA Exec Dir Donald
Fehr were interviewed by NBC's Tim Russert on "Meet The
Press" yesterday, and Selig acknowledged that revenue
disparity between MLB teams has increased. Selig: "There's
no question that revenue sharing, salary restraint, the way
we do business with each other, all of that has to be
changed. ... The disparity thing is so serious, wherever I
go ... people are concerned ... their team doesn't have a
realistic chance of winning." Fehr said of the upcoming CBA
talks and a possible salary cap, "I don't see any historical
precedent for it. We've always believed in free markets.
... The key is going to be revenue sharing." On possible
franchise contraction, Selig said, "In trying to solve the
disparity problem, I said there were a myriad of solutions,
and I don't want to rule anything out today, because there
is no question that we do have to solve that problem,
because it is getting worse by the day." Selig, on
relocating franchises: "While there are rumors about some
teams right now, there is no immediate situation where a
team will be moved. But we are going to confront each
issue. I have said that I have changed my mind to the point
that if a team can't make it in a city and it's [going to
go] bankrupt or is not competitive, then there's no question
that we're going to have to move the team" (NBC, 7/9).
BASEBALL'S PLACE IN SOCIETY: In Atlanta, Mark Schlabach
reported on baseball's appeal in a front-page report and
wrote that "even the glitz and glamour of the All-Star Game
can't hide the fact that baseball continues to lose a large
portion of its most important audience -- kids who would be
fans for years to come." ESPN VP/Research & Sales
Development Artie Bulgrin said that viewers between the ages
of 2 and 17 make up "only" 9% of the male audience for the
network's game broadcasts on Sunday and Wednesday nights.
Those numbers increase to 13% for ESPN's "Baseball Tonight."
Bulgrin: "Kids today make their own entertainment. People
always say kids aren't sports fans, but they're still the
biggest sports fans. They just consume sports differently"
(ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 7/9). In FL, Mike Bianchi wrote that
MLB's "standing at the forefront of American sports has been
trampled by football in every way imaginable." Baseball
"has become a national postscript" (FL TIMES-UNION, 7/9).
But in a SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL Cover Story, John Rofe
writes that MLB ratings are even with last season and
baseball "is also playing to a younger, more prosperous,
audience." Rofe: "Perhaps most striking is the game's --
and its players' -- newfound appeal to corporate America"
(SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/10 issue). Selig was asked by
Russert about the front-page report in the Atlanta
Constitution and said, "Our demographics have improved. I
know, in going from ballpark to ballpark this year, the
number of kids there, and talking to the clubs, how
effective our marketing has been" ("Meet The Press," 7/9).
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN: In Palm Beach, Israel Gutierrez
wrote on MLB taking away the 2000 All-Star Game from the
Marlins in '98 and giving it instead to the Braves, claiming
the game "should be played in new facilities." Gutierrez
wrote the move came after the Marlins lost 108 games "with a
stripped-down team, and there was thought that the league
didn't want its jewel of a game to be associated with an
organization that was bad for baseball." Marlins VP/Sales
Lou DePaoli said there would have been about 10,000-12,000
season tickets sold this year if the Game was played in FL,
instead of the current 6,500 total (PALM BEACH POST, 7/9).
