Escalating Team Debt Levels Remains A Concern For Selig

MLB will spend $2.97B on 190 guaranteed player contracts for the five-year period beginning in ’06, which tops the $2.77B “on the books this time last year –- and that was for a six-year period,” according to a USA Today survey cited by Hal Bodley of USA TODAY. The Yankees, whose payroll this season is $201.2M, have “guaranteed 11 players $425.6[M] through 2010.” In the same time span, the Red Sox are obligated to pay $177M to ten players, the Cardinals $171.2M to six players and the Mets $171M to eight players. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said, “Debt of this magnitude is a matter of serious concern. ... It’s something that I monitor very closely because certainly it can affect the way we operate in the future.” Bodley notes the D-Rays and Pirates “have guaranteed the smallest amounts of all teams,” $13M and $6.3M, respectively. MLB’s total projected payroll this season is $2.3B compared with $2.197B in ’04. Industry wide revenues in ’04 were $4.1B and are projected to be $4.5B this season (USA TODAY, 3/24).