Bud should sell MLB to the NFL

[Viva Magglio]

The game of baseball, in and of itself, is not in trouble. It will always flourish. From little league to high school to college to the independent leagues, the game prospers.

However, the same cannot be said about Major League Baseball. While the panicked cries of doom and gloom by Bud Selig could be exaggerated, there is no doubt the MLB is in trouble. Clearly, it is the weakest of the big four major sports leagues. The NFL, NBA, and NHL are in super shape compared to MLB. NASCAR is in super shape was well. I think that even MLS is in better shape than MLB.

Even if Uncle Bud is cooking the books (and I wouldn't put it past him), it is clear that MLB's book of business is not in good shape. Complicating things further, Donald Fehr believes nothing is wrong with MLB's book of business. And the players, most of whom Fehr has converted into lemmings, fail to see the severity of this situation. Hence, we will have yet another work stoppage of some kind because of this mentality gap between the billionaire owners and the millionaire players. When the labor showdown comes, I don't think I could side with either faction because both are so out of touch with reality. Can you say "self-inflicted gunshot wound"?

I think that MLB will ultimately have to adopt an NFL-style revenue sharing plan and salary cap. I know that stand is trumpted by the MLB owners, but they may be right on this issue. However, the players raise a legitimate point about the owners not being forthcoming regarding baseball's economic condition.

Financial issues aside, MLB must implement drug testing for steriods and other performance enhancing substances. Again, I think the NFL has the best system for this. I realize that the NFL's drug testing system is not perfect, but it's better than the non-policy MLB has. And while Selig does have MLB going in the right direction on issues of minority hiring, there is room for improvement in that area as well.

All of this leads me to an admittedly silly and unrealistic idea. Selig and the owners should sell MLB to the NFL and let them run it. Or, more accurately, the NFL should take over MLB's business operations. Even though I believe the bulk of the NFL's popularity is due to gambling more so than fans' love of the game of football, the NFL is rock solid in its business operations. I think it will take this kind of dramatic action to save MLB.

[Dadawg_77]

The major reason MLB won't ever have a NFL revenue sharing plan, is the source of incoming revenue. The NFL greats a great majority of its revenue from national TV contracts, not from ticket sales of 8 plus a couple pre season games. So revenue sharing isn't a problem for them. MLB on the other hand a great majority of its revenue comes from local sources, tickets sales for 81 games, local tv and radio and so forth.

The problem with Uncle Bud and his lot, is the owners have always trumpeted the sky was falling. Recall the boy who cried wolf story, after fooling everybody for a while no believed him when he called wolf the last time. I forgot how long ago, but MLB opened its books for the union to see after claiming economic hardship. Fehr hired a Harvard prof. to go through the books. His report basically said that the owners were using accounting techniques, to lower their actual profits. The report became public and major embarrassment for the owners. This is part of the reason why the owners are reluctant to open their books now.

[KruseControl04]

First off, I'm not a big fan of the salary cap. I never was. revenue sharing on the other hand I like. But the big thing is, we need to make sure that the owners who profit from the revenue sharing don't just pocket the money. They have to go out and use the money to try and make their team better. That would help level the playing field, and make baseball more competitive. I posted a few more ideas on my, "the MLB MUST change" thread, so you can hop on over there to read what else I think can be done to fix the game.

[Daver]

It's not Bud's to sell.He is an employee.