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Mr. DeWitt is a savvy and successful businessman, who I greatly respect. I cannot understand why he would invest in businesses that are not all that profitable (when everything is taken into account) and further, stay in endeavors like that for over a quarter of a century.
Even if he put every dollar of profit back into the team for his entire ownership period, the base asset (the team itself) has grown in value at a 12 percent annual rate. Also, I might guess that his recent public comments were limited to the team itself, perhaps not including partial ownership of the TV network, Ballpark Village and other endeavors. For example, where is the Nike money and the MLB Advanced Media sale money being accounted for? Even if we ask, we will never know these details, nor are we entitled to.
There may certainly be other teams not doing as well as the Cardinals. However, any time a team goes up for sale, there are many bidders, anxious to buy in. For example, the Royals recently sold for $1 billion, in the fourth-smallest market in MLB.
I have no gripe whatsoever with business owners being profitable. Customers can decide if they want to patronize. But I believe that baseball is indeed a very good business, when taking all aspects into account.
These very public negotiations have billions of dollars at stake (when considering the next CBA). There is nothing to be gained for ownership to disclose any more information than they have to, so understandably, they do not. However, that can also arouse suspicion that less than all the details are on the table.
That cannot be distilled to calling anyone a liar or a thief. That is not being fair.
P.S. The annual Forbes report is the best approximation we have of team finances.
Players’ position becomes clearer: let MLB decide how many games willing to impose at full prorated, then file a grievance that MLB failed best efforts to play as many games as possible.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) June 13, 2020
“Ugly” may be putting it mildly.
Lead #MLBPA attorney Bruce Meyer to #MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem: ‘As far as how you have conducted negotiations and without getting into all of your underhanded
tactics to circumvent the union, your approach has been one delay tactic after another.’’ Yes, it is ugly— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 14, 2020
Players' union done negotiating, tells #MLB to simply tell the players when to show up for work, with powerful letter from union and Andrew Miller comments. https://t.co/GOUlLiwneE via @USATODAY
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 14, 2020
Do the fans count for anything?
Silly bccran, of course not.
Check that, fans are counted for paying the bill, however much it is. I believe the players, owners and TV providers would double salary and revenue overnight and pass it all over to the fans if they knew the cost increases to the fans were in the range of inelastic demand.
Another TV contract is being negotiated beyond the TBS one announced today.
And to add to this, ESPN has been negotiating their extension for months. https://t.co/ro0oW1rCPv
— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) June 14, 2020
Major League Baseball Statement pic.twitter.com/xrv3ruOeu2
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 14, 2020
Well only thing in question now is if we play 48 or 52 games. My guess is all games will be within the division.
Lol the players didn’t negotiate in good faith? I don’t recall them making the same proposal over and over again.
We all want to know what was in that March agreement
It’s interesting that everything but the kitchen sink has been leaked by MLB to the media… accept the March agreement.
— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) June 14, 2020
Psssssst, quiet. MLBPA even alluded to it “leaks to media” and the more of that you have the less likely there will be a season. I am almost now in the camp of ‘Let’s just skip it.’ If an agreement is ever reached it will only be without the media leaking details like a sieve and players keeping their traps shut. MLBPA appears to have little control over players on Twitter and all they are doing is firing up their fans and screwing up the negotiations. It is to a point now where these guys do what the old unions did – go to some private hotel or resort and do an ‘all-nighter’ or more without the knowledge of the media or players. In my mind, it is the only way there will ever be a season. It is looking like the negotiators don’t have the full backing of their own organizations without running back and asking permission on every single point. Both sides will have to vote on any agreement but the season,if started, would need so many asterisks in the record books it would hardly be worth it.
Wonder if we could form a “fans unite” group and somehow send a message to MLB and the players union and let them know we’re about to lose interest all together. Enough is enough. Every other major professional sport is moving forward.
Give this a read.
About 20,000 votes so far in this national blame poll.
MLB owners don’t share with players when there’s upside. Why are they insisting on being partners on the downside?
Most siding with players in latest labor war… pic.twitter.com/HU29XAmMGx
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 14, 2020
Polls and more scribbling by writers lost without a season to pontificate about. None of it is helping as far as I can see. Just hardening the lines. Hate to even think about CBA negotiations next year. If anything we may see ballparks with only players this season. It may be possible that we will see completely empty ballparks next season. Baseball and politics are both doing the same thing at the moment – shooting themselves in the foot.
Give this a read.
That about sums it up. MLB blew whatever opportunity they had for goodwill.
Wonder if we could form a “fans unite” group and somehow send a message to MLB and the players union and let them know we’re about to lose interest all together. Enough is enough. Every other major professional sport is moving forward.
If fans had a real say in the matter, players would make salaries far more in line with what regular people do, owners would be swimming in much smaller piles of cash, and ballpark prices would be a fraction of what they are. Baseball is entertainment, plain and simple. There’s no reason for the way money is doled out in sports, and that’s even before you consider the way the multibillion dollar league treats minor league players (and now we see, cities too).
well stlcard25, I see your point but what is a regular person. are we talking about an engineer, a college professor, doctor, factory worker, food service worker. So if we are going by that, I should be making lots more or a lot of these other people should make what I make. If you are om with a doctor, engineer, or a professor making lots more than the others then these players, team officials, and owners have the right to make their money.
Like I mentioned to another poster… Why doesn’t somebody ask Mr. DeWitt, and other owners, what ‘not very profitable’ means rather than just making incendiary comments. There’s probably a way to find that out without having to have them show you their IRS 1040’s. If you’re already 100 per cent sure they’re only going to lie to you, then you should probably sit down and shut up because you are of no use in solving anything.
If the owners are going to be out there making ridiculous comments like DeWitt did then they need to be prepared to be more transparent with their books or maybe they should shut up.
Sunday notes: How short-sighted greed is tearing baseball apart https://t.co/J3NNKlES4e
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) June 14, 2020
“Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts talking about a cash-flow problem when tens of millions of people have lost their jobs? Not good. Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt, who has seen the value of his franchise multiply by at least a factor of 10, talking about how you can’t make money in baseball? Not good.”
“At a time when some people are struggling to apply for unemployment benefits, nobody wants to hear about the quandaries of billionaires. Nobody should ever hear about minor leaguers having their salaries slashed, in the way that the Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics intended to do.”
“But here we are, and the longer this impasse lasts, the more resentful that fans get, as the owners haggle over amounts of money which, when measured against their collective wealth, are pathetically small — certainly not worth rendering long-term damage to the sport.“
I said it before. This is not about the money. How can it be? The starting salary for an average player is $563,500, and we all know how high it can go up from there. The owners are all multi billionaires. Both sides know they have plenty of money. So what’s really at the bottom of all this? I said it was ‘control’ but now I’m thinking it runs deeper than that. To say that both sides are possessed by greed for a few more dollars is shallow and simplistic, IMO. You can’t solve a problem if you don’t know what it is. So what is it, really??
Saw a player mention on Twitter today that 70% of MLB players never make $1 million per year. The average MLB player lasts 5.6 years in the league. In other words, this average player never reaches true free agency (at six years of service), hence his salary remains relatively low. This is a big reason many players are pushing for changes at the low end of the experience range.
On the other hand, owners have no limited shelf life.
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