Yankees respond to Mark A comments... a feud brewing?

[FIPS133]

I'm actually encouraged Attanasio is speaking to this topic. He's obviously a very intelligent businessman and he realizes the MLB payroll system makes it difficult for his team to field a consistent championship caliber product. The only solution is to change the rules. I'm sure he has ideas on the changes he'd like to see but will probably keep those amongst the owners as to not tip his hand to the union.

 

I really think this is good news, he's not defeatist, rather realistic about the challenges of the current system and the need to fix them to be able to field a champion. I wonder how many other owners are with him on this.

[brewmann04]

Levine should Read the NY times article i believe in which the Brewers were prasied for Using whatever monies they get and put it back into the team.

[endaround]

Levine's comments were just plain disingenuous. He knows damn well that the pittance of money the Yankees are giving the Brewers on an annual basis won't make a hill of beans in allowing them to field a payroll anywhere close to his team's. It's actually fairly disgusting that the president of a major and historic sports franchise would make such idiotic and combative statements.

This is what bothers me the most. Not that he is taking a shot back to defend his team and their policies, but that he words it in a way to make it sound like the Brewers themselves get Millions of dollars to spend on players. It makes the Brewers front office look very bad.

The Brewers do get millions to spend on players. They are one of the top recipients of revenue sharing (as they should be).

[TooLiveBrew]

No, and I hope it's not the last either. Keep calling them out, and they can keep digging a deeper hole for themselves with their transparently arrogant and selfish comments.

The part I hate about this debate is that it's always "The Yankees". There are plenty of teams with financial advantages due to huge markets & profitable TV networks. Singling out one doesn't make any sense to me.

[trwi7]

The part I hate about this debate is that it's always "The Yankees". There are plenty of teams with financial advantages due to huge markets & profitable TV networks. Singling out one doesn't make any sense to me.

 

When the Yankees payroll is at least $50 million higher than the team with the second highest payroll, they're going to get singled out.

[TheCrew07]

The Packers are in a much smaller market and they make it work for them... and even though the Packers are sacrosanct here in this state I can't imagine a competitive Brewers team wouldn't draw a similarly loyal fanbase to make it work for them.

The most obvious difference is that the TV contract in the NFL is equally shared between all of the teams. Green Bay is in fact the smallest market in professional sports.

 

The Packers will not be able to compete without a salary cap, the revenue sharing will not be enough, there are plenty of worries floating around 1265 Lombardi Ave these days.

[TooLiveBrew]

When the Yankees payroll is at least $50 million higher than the team with the second highest payroll, they're going to get singled out.

I understand that, but that doesn't mean it makes sense. The Red Sox could absolutely spend dollar-for-dollar with the Yankees if they wanted to, and I'd venture to guess the Cubs & maybe another two or three teams could as well. The one thing I can say for the Yankees is that they at least put the most amount of their insane profits to work on the field each season. I know their fans really like that (of course any fan would). Would folks rather the Yankees just spend less money & make more profit for the sake of parity?

[zzzmanwitz]

The Brewers do get millions to spend on players. They are one of the top recipients of revenue sharing (as they should be).

 

Sorry, I meant Hundreds of Millions, which is what Levine implies.

[Mr QL]

Man, I wish bad bad things on the Yankees. Attanasio should keep talking because all real baseball fans agree with him. There whole argument that we could compete for top free agents if only we weren't so greedy is completely invalid with us.

 

Arguing with Yankee fans is pointless too. Especially when they start ranting on socialism or that they deserve to win the championship every year.

[danzig6767]

Since all baseball teams are dependent on one another and in general dependent on the structure of Major League Baseball, I think the teams should have to put all of their television revenue into one pot and then divide it equally. The Yankees could not sell their television rights to YES without the likes of the Royals, A's, Rays, Twins, Blue Jays, etc. In fact, all 162 of the games they play and televise can only be played and shown with the cooperation of the other team and structure of Major League Baseball. That should solve the revenue problems.

Even if they only had to put half of it in a pool it would help the massive gap. I'd be ok with that also because i don't have an issue with some teams having an advantage, just not such a huge advantage.

[Baldkin]

The YES network rakes in $400 million net every year. So, the Yankees payroll being $200 million is nothing at all. I don't know what the Brewers are getting from FSN but I doubt it's even 10% of that amount.

[Invader3K]

I've heard the Brewers get only about $5 million from their TV contract, so there is in fact a huge discrepancy.

[Flood Pants]

I've heard the Brewers get only about $5 million from their TV contract, so there is in fact a huge discrepancy.

It sure is. There seems to be no way to improve this, though. FS Wisconsin is really their only option. No other station will give them as much air time. Milwaukee's only hope for media revenue is to get on national TV more.

[Invader3K]

Attanasio with some followup comments, via Tom Haudricourt:

 

"If you look at his statement, I think he talked about the hundreds of millions the Yankees have put (into revenue sharing), not that we've received hundreds of millions," said Attanasio. "We've received a small piece of that.

 

"We do get a piece of revenue sharing, and we appreciate it, and we need it, and we use it. We put it to use. It's a matter of record that we use our revenue sharing dollars pretty much every year in our budget."

 

Attanasio goes on to say he didn't feel Levine was referring to him or the Brewers specifically with his comments about revenue sharing. That said, I still think he was way out of line.

[mattsr0625]

the only good thing is that the brewers tv contract is up after this year. it was the worst tv deal ever signed in sports history.

[Point Beer Is Best]

The Packers will not be able to compete without a salary cap, the revenue sharing will not be enough, there are plenty of worries floating around 1265 Lombardi Ave these days.

Not to take this too far off-topic, but the Packers actually pay into the revenue sharing system. They're pretty financially sound and have built up a rather large war chest to help weather the storm if need be. If the salary cap goes away for good, then they may be in trouble long-term. The disadvantage they have is lacking a deep-pocket owner to pay a top free agent a boat load of cash up front.

[logan82]

the only good thing is that the brewers tv contract is up after this year. it was the worst tv deal ever signed in sports history.

No it isn't. They signed an extension just last year.

[JJHardy7]

Not to take this too far off-topic, but the Packers actually pay into the revenue sharing system. They're pretty financially sound and have built up a rather large war chest to help weather the storm if need be. If the salary cap goes away for good, then they may be in trouble long-term. The disadvantage they have is lacking a deep-pocket owner to pay a top free agent a boat load of cash up front.

 

I get what you are saying, but 'long-term' could maybe only be a few years. To keep it on topic, if spending went nuts in terms of discrepancies like MLB, the Packers would be screwed sooner rather than later. I know they have reserves built up, but discrepancy is spending is the biggest issue IMO. This off-season there hasn't been a ton of crazy deals in the NFL because they really don't know what is going to happen. Some MLB teams have spent decent money on specific players even during a down economy. To me, the discrepancy is the issue. The fact is in the NFL you can't have a payroll as small on a percentage basis as the Pirates, Padres, and Marlins.

 

I would be interested to know one thing...if we take all of the MLB payroll and divide that by the MLB teams...what is the 'average' payroll? The reason I ask this is because a cap of some sort would need to start somewhere. I wonder if the 'average' payroll in MLB is bigger than the NFL's cap/payroll....my guess is that it is much lower, but the payroll discrepancies are so out of whack it is going to continue to hurt small market teams over time. And yes...Milwaukee is a small market. Look at the revenue it generates from their TV deal...

[snyttri]

Does anyone have a number as to how much the Brewers have received via revenue sharing and how that has figured into the team's finances over the past few years.

This article collects all the publicly released revenue sharing info until MLB stopped releasing it after 2005.

http://bizofbaseball.com/...editorials&Itemid=39

Red Sox owner John Henry has accused seven teams of being revenue sharing abusers. I think that means the Marlins, Pirates, A's, Royals, Padres, Nationals and Rays.

[Principessa21]

Levine responded again:

“We’re not complaining,” Levine said later in a telephone interview. “We’re just responding to other teams constantly trying to blame their own problems on the Yankees.”

[bucksbeat]

At least we stole Randy Wolf away from them... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/devil.gif ... Weren't expecting us to go that high, huh Yanks?

[Tbadder]

Levine's points would be more valid if the Brewers were suddenly able to negotiate a TV contract that would give the Brewers 1/3 of the revenue that the Yankees get from YES.

 

The Yankees do have unfair advantages, though I also don't think it behooves Attanasio to keep playing this out in public as much as he does. It's not going to change anything, and it does sound a little whiny.

I completely disagree with this. Fans, public figures, owners, past players, we all need to continually point out the unfair advantage the Yankees have. We need to shout it from the rafters. We need it to ring in the heads of America's sports conscience. However, I don't think it should be whining either. It should be pure rage and it should never let up under any circumstances.

[brains and braun]

I believe Levine. Were it not for the Brewers and other small market teams, he could afford a haircut. That looks like pre-Stein jheri-curl that he's rocking there. Here's a photo of Levine getting ready for a hard day at Yankee Stadium:

 

http://i156.photobucket.c...semitchell/JheriCurl.jpg

[vacin8r]

Apparently Levine is often described as this kind of guy. If he ever feels attacked in any way, he responds with vicious verbal confrontations. I think if Mark A is smart, he should keep going after him. CBAs dont last forever and it seems there are more have nots in baseball these days than haves, especially in the wake of current economic conditions. If you can get the yankees to keep going out in the media and basically saying, yes, we rule all of you, but its all within the rules, so suck it up and spend the pennies we give you and try to stay in business, it will breed more contempt among the have nots toward the haves. Then when its time to negotiate a new CBA the 60% of have not owners wont ratify it without a huge increase of revenue sharing, or some type of salary capping, not to mention fixing free agent compensation and the draft. It doesnt take a genius to see what competative balance does to help the NFL. Just keep angering people by quoting the rulebook, thats a great plan when the people you are angering are those who have the ability to change the rulebook.

[molitor fan]

I agree completely, Mark A should keep going after the attrociously permed Levine....especially now since complete fools like Colin Cowherd are getting Levine's back. Cowherd, who stated that he does not watch any baseball game that does not involve the Yankees because they "at least have stars", attacked the Brewers as being a "pathetic joke" of a franchise.

 

I would love Mark A, who is intelligent and has integrity, drag these morons into the public so their stupidity can be dragged into the wide open.