No not that one. Or that one. Or that one. Or that... I could do this all day.
Mr. Duque brought up a number of interesting points this AM about Randy Levine's comments. Here's my two cents...
Let's start with a little nit picking... Hey Mr. Levine!
"A lot more focus has to be on individual teams to do better and not just rely on revenue sharing. You can't have two Florida teams averaging 15,000 fans. You can't have it. You don't go into an NFL stadium or an NBA arena and see that."
Uh... Actually with the NBA you kinda do. You know, because arenas tend to sit 15-20K.
Also, if you played 17 baseball games a year they would sell out.
But to his broader point...
The two Florida baseball teams have no reason to exist and the Yankees shouldn't have to pay to keep them in business. On this he's not entirely wrong.
Tampa Bay plays in a shithole stadium located on the wrong side of the bridge. Plus, a large number of the baseball fans down there have other allegiances and there really is no reason to go.
I kind of understand why Miami doesn't draw. You would think the demographics would provide a solid group of people who attend and maybe it does, but that's pretty much it.
No one visiting Miami says, "Let's do the beach, check out the Art Deco scene, and Calle Ocho, and oh and we've GOT to check out a Marlins game. I've always wanted to go to Whatevertheycallit Stadium.
Conversely Yankee Stadium is a NY bucket list item, it's like Radio City Music Hall. Except the Rockettes' legs work.
Side question... Do Rockettes pull hammies? Maybe the Yankees should hire their trainer.
That said, I can see why he's pissed that the Yankees are subsidizing teams that have bad business models, especially since clearly they are better run and beat the Yankees using their money.
Of course, as EL Duque points out, that doesn't have to be the case and is more about Yankee front office ineptitude than anything else.
Nevertheless the basic premise still stands. The Yankees pay the Marlins and the Rays to beat them. Apparently they do this a lot. For example, they pay the Orioles to play Aaron Hicks and pay Giancarlo Stanton to DH.
Here's the solution.
Do it like the old days where the Kansas City A's were pretty much a farm team for the much wealthier Yankees.
The Yankees keep subsidizing the Rays and Marins but get players in return. Miami gets their 20M revenue share and we get Arraez.
Fair is fair.
Funny, Doug!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I can't figure out why the Florida teams don't do better considering the demographics down there. How do you NOT get Cubans to come to games?
Probably it's another part of both teams' business model: dumping their best players once they get good and want more money.
This is something that MLB should be able to take care of—if they gave a crap. Insist on deep-pocketed owners who are willing to shell out. But don't count on that one.
Miami, is getting a new stadium.
ReplyDeleteTB will do better with a new stadium, but how long will the bounce last? At some point, they will crater in the standings, and attendance will really plummet .
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that stands out for me is that Levine calls for these teams to "do better," by which he means attendance. Not winning, not capturing the division, not getting through the absurd playoff set-up, not winning the World Series (we really need another name for that, for obvious reasons).
ReplyDeleteAnd that's the Yankees' priorities in a nutshell. It's not about winning. It's about the gate. And the vendor take. And the TV revenue.
Money money money money....monnn-ey...
Great point, JM! And 999, even worse, the new stadium is to seat 30,000. That's it. I think it will be the smallest new baseball stadium built in over a century.
ReplyDeleteThe O.G. Yankee Stadium, meanwhile, could hold up to 82,000 with standing room. Now, in YS III, capacity is 47,000-something. That's right. Almost an entire Fenway-Park's worth of seats have been removed from the public.
MLB, with it's usual brilliance, is thinking more and more of baseball as an elite gathering place, chock full of luxury suites and upscale bars and restaurants. Fuck the people. They are destroying one of baseball's best features, which was its democratizing influence.
It's not only immoral—it won't work. Good luck filling those luxury suites when nobody cares about the game anymore.
The other player that might get fast tracked is Spencer Davis, I mean Jones...
ReplyDeleteI'm confused.
ReplyDeleteWho is Randy Levine, and what exactly does he do?
If Miami's new stadium doesn't have open air, like the DEVIL rays new one, they still won't draw.
ReplyDeletePlus, what all what you all already said.
FUCK HAL with his polo pony's deranged gelding stall mate.
Why have the Steinbrenners subsidized Randy Levine for the past 30 years. Is he their fall guy, because h doesn’t do anything else.
ReplyDeleteAnother 6 1/3 scoreless tonight from Jordan Montgomery. That might be one of our all-time worst trades. Even for Cashman.
ReplyDeleteAll things considered the worst trade in Yankees history, Hoss.
DeleteAnd...Texas brings in Chappie with one on in the 8th and nobody out. Because...they WANT to lose?
ReplyDeleteWow. How come we never had that sort of luck in Houston with Altuve?
ReplyDeleteJordan Montgomery was expendable. Leverage against Judge in off-season contract negotiations was more important. Never Forget.
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ReplyDeleteTHE YANKEES ARE FOREVER DEAD TO ME!!!! *
ReplyDelete*but I really like zombies so I guess I’m sorta screwed
I'll have to consider that one, Publius. But certainly the worst in recent Cashman history!
ReplyDeleteI think it's the worst, all things considered. Especially the true motive behind it...leverage against Judge.
ReplyDeleteYep, that's what I thing it was, a negotiating ploy and Plan B in case Judge left. And Cashman got rewarded by HAL for this devious ploy. I don't know whether it had any effect, but the end result was that Judge re-signed for relatively cheap, a bargain compared to what he could've demanded. Things like this are why Cashman is never going to get fired. HAL thinks the Dumbass is a genius.
ReplyDeleteThe Rockettes, all dancers really, most certainly pull hammies and blow ACLs and fracture toes. They stretch like crazy and they still get injured. I dated a lovely ex professional dancer who gave up dance for medical school when she wrecked a knee leaping in the studio.
ReplyDeleteI dated dancers before.
ReplyDeleteBut they worked at Tattletales or Mon Venus, not Radio City.