Attanasio Says MLB Cap Would Help Maintain Competitive Balance

Attanasio Said Ticket Sales At Miller Park Are Best Indication Of The Economy's Impact

Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio said competitive balance has been "great in baseball for the last decade or so and we have to keep it like that," according to Mark Kass of the BUSINESS JOURNAL OF MILWAUKEE. Attanasio, who has "been pushing for MLB to implement a salary cap," said, "I am concerned, especially in a bad economy like this, that you have a segmenting out of the haves and the have-nots. When the gap widens between the haves and the have-nots, it throws the competitive balance out of whack." Attanasio added, "It wasn't so much that I am hung up on salary cap as I would like to see competitive balance. Whether it is a salary cap or making the luxury tax payments greater, whatever you have to do to keep the competitive balance." Attanasio said a lot of other MLB owners are "telling me privately that they agree with me, but I don't see a lot of people speaking up on the issue." Meanwhile, Attanasio said the economy has "impacted our ability and our willingness to spend money, hoping things will stay good because you are just not sure what is going to happen in this economy. Frankly, with everything going on in this economy, I am getting a little nervous with our payroll at [$80-85M]." When asked what he will be watching with regard to the economy, Attanasio said, "Ticket sales, first and foremost, for our team because of how important they are to our overall revenue picture" (BUSINESS JOURNAL OF MILWAUKEE, 2/6 issue).