MLB response to tanking: more playoff teams?

[Dr. Unk]

Horrible Idea.  Sounds like something Vince McMahon could use if he creates the XLB.

[Camden_yardbird]

15 minutes ago, Frobby said:

 

You guys are hilarious.   Per Forbes, the average value of a major league team has increased from $1.2 bb to $1.78 bb in Msnfred’s first four years in office.    He’s not going anywhere.   

Due in large part to media contracts.  But we have seen what happens when those are over valued (ESPN layoffs).  The backlash is painful.  

I think the warning signs are there that despite the market valuation baseball is not a healthy sport in a number of ways. (Attendance, cheating, faith in the fairness of the game, tanking, stadium issues, unmarketed players).  

Manfred is not really addressing those issues.

[DrungoHazewood]

15 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

I am definitely for eliminating the 1 game wildcard.  It can be exciting but is kind of like your boss saying "Congratulations for landing that multimillion dollar contract for the company, as a bonus I am going to give you a half of a day off."

If baseball wants to fix tanking, it has to fix its Revenue sharing problem first and foremost. 

That's like saying if the world wants to fix climate change, then a simple solution is to just get Republicans and Democrats and the Chinese and the Indians to all come together in a spirit of mutual cooperation and shared sacrifice and they'll work out something awesome.  If it was that easy, it would have happened generations ago.

The problem with fixing revenue sharing is that the people who bought into the Yanks and Dodgers and Red Sox and Cubs and Astros and Giants and Cardinals and others did so on the basis of a model where they have dominant revenue streams.  Their franchise values are based on this.  You are asking them to voluntarily give up $10s or $100s of millions of dollars or more for the good of teams who they currently beat on a regular basis.  The only way they agree to this is if they see the entire structure on the verge of collapse, and even then they probably start off by lopping off weak teams rather than sacrifice their own finances.  And MLB is not on the verge of collapse - it's at peak historical revenues; pretty much the opposite of collapse.

[DrungoHazewood]

4 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

Due in large part to media contracts.  But we have seen what happens when those are over valued (ESPN layoffs).  The backlash is painful.  

I think the warning signs are there that despite the market valuation baseball is not a healthy sport in a number of ways. (Attendance, cheating, faith in the fairness of the game, tanking, stadium issues, unmarketed players).  

Manfred is not really addressing those issues.

I'm curious as to what stadium issues MLB has.  95% of the league plays in a relatively new or refurbished or classic stadium that was paid for by the taxpayers and that they rent at heavily discounted rates.  I don't like the idea of socializing the costs of professional sports stadiums across the 75% of the population who doesn't care, but from an owner's and baseball fans' perspective the stadium boom is probably Bud Selig's greatest triumph and lasting legacy.

[eddie83]

10 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

Due in large part to media contracts.  But we have seen what happens when those are over valued (ESPN layoffs).  The backlash is painful.  

I think the warning signs are there that despite the market valuation baseball is not a healthy sport in a number of ways. (Attendance, cheating, faith in the fairness of the game, tanking, stadium issues, unmarketed players).  

Manfred is not really addressing those issues.

Are owners running to leave the sport? 

All sports have negatives. MLB keeps making money. They certainly have their issues and things to fix but it is still very popular. 

[tntoriole]

Anything that makes it more complicated, I am against.  Because I am old. 

[Absltgreek]

While this specific proposal might not be perfect, the idea of expanding the playoffs (realistically alongside with expansion to 32 teams) seems inevitable. I'm personally a fan of the idea to expand to 6 playoff teams, give the top 2 teams a bye, while teams 4-6 play in a best of three series; second round best of five; etc.

[Enjoy Terror]

14 hours ago, waroriole said:

NBA has 16 postseason teams and they’re the poster child league for tanking. Not sure how this helps. 

I don’t watch basketball but how does tanking in the NBA work? My understanding is that the draft is a lottery...

[Frobby]

34 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

Due in large part to media contracts.  But we have seen what happens when those are over valued (ESPN layoffs).  The backlash is painful.  

I think the warning signs are there that despite the market valuation baseball is not a healthy sport in a number of ways. (Attendance, cheating, faith in the fairness of the game, tanking, stadium issues, unmarketed players).  

Manfred is not really addressing those issues.

The Fox media contract is very recent (Nov. 2018), and worth about 50% more than their last deal.    The next ESPN deal is expected to be similar.    I’ve been hearing about how the TV rights market was a bubble since at least 2013, but the reality is that rights fees continue to increase. 

[Enjoy Terror]

8 hours ago, Philip said:

I cannot fathom how a majority of the owners think he is a good thing for baseball.

Every move he’s made has been to drive $$$, so what owner wouldn’t love that?

[StottyByNature]

8 hours ago, Philip said:

 I haven’t read the other comments yet, but this commissioner is such a complete disaster I cannot imagine that he hasn’t been quietly killed yet. I cannot fathom how a majority of the owners think he is a good thing for baseball. Every single move he has made has been bad.The worst was his reaction to the cheating scandal.

He cannot go soon enough, Hell, I’d even be willing to replace him with Dan.

The commissioner isn't going rogue here.  He would never do this without at least the tacit consent of the owners.  He was hired for a reason.

[atomic]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

 

You guys are hilarious.   Per Forbes, the average value of a major league team has increased from $1.2 bb to $1.78 bb in Msnfred’s first four years in office.    He’s not going anywhere.   

I am not sure why they would say the value has gone up that much.  Attendance is down.  TV viewership is down.  People who subscribe to RSN's is down.  Perhaps Forbes is wrong.  

[atomic]

22 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The Fox media contract is very recent (Nov. 2018), and worth about 50% more than their last deal.    The next ESPN deal is expected to be similar.    I’ve been hearing about how the TV rights market was a bubble since at least 2013, but the reality is that rights fees continue to increase. 

I wouldn't be surprised if ESPN ditched the MLB.  One are of concern for Disney is these money losing Contracts for sports.  I can't imagine MLB is making any money for Disney.  

ESPN Sunday Night baseball average 1.6 million viewers.  Compared to the 12.6 million viewers they averaged for Monday Night football.  And the only reason they draw as much as they do is all the Yankees games on there. If they had an equal distribution of teams on their like the NFL does they probably would average less than a million per game. 

[Redskins Rick]

15 hours ago, Frobby said:

I think it sounds kind of fun.    But 7 playoff teams out of 15 is a lot.    

Thats what the NBA and NHL has done, pretty much the regular season is an extended warmup for the playoffs.

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

2 hours ago, glenn__davis said:

It would be funny maybe like the first 1 or 2 times.  But it would happen so frequently that it would lose its luster.  A baseball playoff series is essentially a coin toss.  

It’s way too gimmicky and wreaks of Manfred desperately trying to attract younger fans. 

If this idea gets put in place then Manfred will go back to his horrid extra innings proposal of starting each inning with a runner at second base.