USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale notes MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is "euphoric that teams with massive payrolls" are no longer guaranteed success. The Dodgers, at $248M, are the "only first-place team in baseball with a payroll exceeding" $140M. The Nationals, who rank sixth at $140M, have the "next highest payroll among first-place teams." Meanwhile, the A's and Royals are "first-place teams with payrolls that rank among the lowest 10 payrolls in baseball." Selig: "When you look at all the evolution of the economic changes, it's led to really wonderful competitive balance. That is what we set out to do, and baseball is better off as a result of it" (USA TODAY, 8/14).
BONUS BABIES: In Toronto, David Shoalts reports each of the NHL's 30 teams will "get an unexpected" $5M due to the "success of the league’s Stadium Series and the first payment by Rogers Communications." That is a total of $150M in checks "mailed out this summer." Prosperity is "always relative in the NHL," so for a club such as the Maple Leafs, the $5M is "not going to set off any parties." But for clubs such as the Coyotes and Panthers it is a "great bonus at a time of year when the cash flow is pretty thin" (GLOBE & MAIL, 8/14).
TOO CROWDED? GOLFCHANNEL.com's Rex Hoggard wrote with the PGA Tour releasing the '14-15 schedule yesterday, there is an "undeniable shift in the circuit's landscape." While the "basics remain unchanged, pods of must-play events have emerged that all but guarantee top player participation." The WGC-Match Play's move to May has "created a month-long run of can’t-miss events, including the Match Play, The Players, the Wells Fargo Championship and the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event." Hoggard: "Something will have to give and it’s likely that will be the Wells Fargo" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 8/14).
