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Rosenthal Re-aligns MLB


Hank Scorpio

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With some expansion:

American League

Division 1

New York

Detroit

Boston

Toronto

Division 2

Baltimore

Cleveland

Tennessee

Tampa

Division 3

Minnesota

Chicago

Kansas City

Texas

Division 4

Los Angelas

Seattle

Oakland

Colorado

National League

Division 1

New York

Philidelphia

Pittsburg

Washington

Division 2

Atlanta

Miami

Chicago

Cincinatti

Division 3

St. Louis

Milwaukee

Houston

Pheonix

Division 4

Los Angelas

San Francisco

San Diego

Portland

All 4 division winners go to the playoffs. The end.

MLB will never agree to a scenario that makes it impossible for the Yankees and Red Sox to meet in the playoffs. It is more likely for the Sox to be moved to the NL to set up the possibility of a Yanks / Sox world series than any scenario that removes the wild card.

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I believe we'll see the following:

Expansion to 32 teams.

Realignment to 4 Divisions of 4 teams each.

Expansion of playoffs to 8 team format like NBA.

Adding more teams to the playoffs will increase TV and gate revenue for the league. It will make the playoffs more interesting to a larger number of people and improve league interest as well. It will give small market teams a far better chance of getting into the playoffs, regardless of the division they play in and it will insure that more key large market teams (Yanks, Sox, Angels, Cub) make the playoffs each year, which MLB and ESPN both want. It will keep people interested in baseball farther into the season as more teams will be in the hunt for the playoffs into September.

Purists will hate it, but the average fan will love it. Increasingly, pro-sports are more interested in pleasing the average fan, because that's the easiest way to grow revenues.

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The Red Sox only own the Northeast because there was no other option. NE fans love baseball, and I bet they'd support another team in northern NE.

Manchester is a growing city, rated #13 in the country by CNNMoney in 2009 for the best place to start a business. Forbes rated it #1 for the region in cheapest places to live. It is also the largest city north of Boston.

Manchester has 107,000 people. It's in Boston's designated media market, so essentially all of the fans of any team there would have to be from the Boston metro area.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of saturating big markets to limit their advantages. But Manchester would be, like, the 28th place I'd think about putting a team. Putting a major league team there would be just like putting one in Schaumburg, IL, or Ontario, CA, or Galveston, TX, or Frederick, MD, or Guelph, Ontario. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who lives in any of those cities who think it's reasonable to put a MLB team there.

Because they don't want fans looking at the standings and seeing their team in 16th place, that's why. Like it or not, that's the main reason...

Yes, MLB is very inward-looking and doesn't want to do the things that could exicte mid- and lower-level teams and their fans. If it ain't about making the postseason as currently constructed it ain't gonna happen.

Re-align or go to a more balanced schedule....Which would you prefer?

Yes.

It is? I have to say' date=' that's big news to me and the other 2.2+ million living out here. ;)

In all seriousness, allow me to give you a local's perspective. There simply is no public or political will whatsoever in Portland to build the sort of ballpark it would take to lure the MLB to town. Heck, people are screaming bloody murder and the politicians are spinning their wheels out here over building a new park for the PCL Beavers, since an MLS expansion team is supposed to begin playing here in 2011 in a renovated PGE Park. There's even serious discussion of the Beavers leaving the area altogether. As much as I would love to see MLB here, and I think the area could support it well once it was here, I don't see the stadium thing happening...even when the economy begins to improve.

And finally, the talent-level in MLB is already watered down a bit too much for my liking. Let's not make it worse by adding 2 more teams.[/quote']

I've seen a lot of articles suggesting that it was a forgone conclusion that the Beavers were leaving. If the only viable stadium for baseball is being renovated in such a way as to force out their AAA team, it seems unlikely that a new MLB stadium is close.

In any case, I think we're in for a long wait for any kind of expansion or realignment. Owners are more than happy to let things be and get new fans for existing teams through media, instead of more teams.

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In any case, I think we're in for a long wait for any kind of expansion or realignment. Owners are more than happy to let things be and get new fans for existing teams through media, instead of more teams.

I think we will see a team moved in the near future.

What do you think about my idea of having dynamic divisions in static leagues (based on the previous season standings)?

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I've seen a lot of articles suggesting that it was a forgone conclusion that the Beavers were leaving. If the only viable stadium for baseball is being renovated in such a way as to force out their AAA team, it seems unlikely that a new MLB stadium is close.

It's still up in the air. But while parties on both sides say they want to work something out, the Beavers must have a new place to play for the 2011 season no matter what. The latest is that they are looking at Tucson as a "temporary" home. Just MHO, but if the Beavers open their 2011 season in Tucson without some sort of deal in place to build a new stadium in Portland, they won't be coming back.

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To me the best solution is to move the Rays and Marlins out of Florida and move the Marlins to Brooklyn and the Rays to Manchester, NH. Florida is not ripe for MLB other than ST.

AL East:

Baltimore

Boston

Manchester

New York

Toronto

NL East:

Atlanta

Brooklyn

New York

Philadelphia

Washington

Boston and the Mets and Yankees can squawk all they want but that's 3 votes against 27 others.

Boston would lose the majority of NH and VT fans to the Manchester team and some Maine fans as well, though my guess is most would stick with Boston.

The Mets and Yankees would lose share to the Brooklyn team.

I brought up this solution a month ago and got a big "meh" from the board. To me, it solves revenue disparity, though BOS and the NY teams will likely fight it tooth and nail.

Move a team to the NY area, another to Hartford. The cable revenue and attendance will be there.

Couldn't Selig invoke the "best interests of baseball" for this type of realignment?

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I brought up this solution a month ago and got a big "meh" from the board. To me, it solves revenue disparity, though BOS and the NY teams will likely fight it tooth and nail.

Move a team to the NY area, another to Hartford. The cable revenue and attendance will be there.

Couldn't Selig invoke the "best interests of baseball" for this type of realignment?

How does it solve revenue disparity? First off, you have to get the stadiums built in those locations, so one big potential road block. Secondly, Hartford is a rather questionable location in terms of being able to support a team.

But fine, say those things aren't issues, I still don't see how it's bringing the Yanks and Sox down to the pack. It would hurt them some, but I really don't see many people leaving behind those teams for these new teams. I think their TV ratings and market would remain basically unchanged and there would be minimal effect on attendance. Maybe way down the line a big difference could be seen, but I don't see this as much of a near-term solution.

It can be part of the solution, but it's far from being a good sole solution imo.

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How does it solve revenue disparity? First off, you have to get the stadiums built in those locations, so one big potential road block. Secondly, Hartford is a rather questionable location in terms of being able to support a team.

But fine, say those things aren't issues, I still don't see how it's bringing the Yanks and Sox down to the pack. It would hurt them some, but I really don't see many people leaving behind those teams for these new teams. I think their TV ratings and market would remain basically unchanged and there would be minimal effect on attendance. Maybe way down the line a big difference could be seen, but I don't see this as much of a near-term solution.

It can be part of the solution, but it's far from being a good sole solution imo.

I don't know if it solves it, but I do think that it would pressure the ability of the Yankees and Red Sox to tap into revenue streams. Revenue is a finite resource, as are fans, merchandise sales, cable revenue, advertising. I don't think stadiums are even that high on the list of obstacles.

I live in Glastonbury CT, smack dab in the middle of the two markets. I am about 2 hours from Yankee Stadium and 2 hours from Fenway. In my area, the question people ask you immediately about baseball is "are you a Yankees or Red Sox fan?"

It would take time to build up a faithful fanbase, but there would be plenty of sources of revenue to support a team here, while knocking down the ability of the Yankees and Red Sox to maintain monstrous payrolls relative to every other team in baseball.

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I don't know if it solves it, but I do think that it would pressure the ability of the Yankees and Red Sox to tap into revenue streams. Revenue is a finite resource, as are fans, merchandise sales, cable revenue, advertising. I don't think stadiums are even that high on the list of obstacles.

I live in Glastonbury CT, smack dab in the middle of the two markets. I am about 2 hours from Yankee Stadium and 2 hours from Fenway. In my area, the question people ask you immediately about baseball is "are you a Yankees or Red Sox fan?"

It would take time to build up a faithful fanbase, but there would be plenty of sources of revenue to support a team here, while knocking down the ability of the Yankees and Red Sox to maintain monstrous payrolls relative to every other team in baseball.

Merchandise sales is split among all the teams as far as I know. So what matters is revenue from people attending games and local TV. Don't see how either are going to be affected much in the short-term with your plan.

Again, if this can be done, great, but other things need to happen as well to make a true difference in the short-term. Even in the long-term, don't see it having a big enough effect.

So whats higher on the list of obstacles.

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Merchandise sales is split among all the teams as far as I know. So what matters is revenue from people attending games and local TV. Don't see how either are going to be affected much in the short-term with your plan.

Again, if this can be done, great, but other things need to happen as well to make a true difference in the short-term. Even in the long-term, don't see it having a big enough effect.

So whats higher on the list of obstacles.

I think the biggest obstacle is the Steinbrenner family and John Henry. If you think Angelos provided resistance for the Nats, just wait.

You mentioned local TV. Do the Yankees/Red Sox have to share revenue from the YES network and NESN?

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I think the biggest obstacle is the Steinbrenner family and John Henry. If you think Angelos provided resistance for the Nats, just wait.

You mentioned local TV. Do the Yankees/Red Sox have to share revenue from the YES network and NESN?

Yeah, of course those are big obstacles, I was talking as if MLB overcame that.

Well it's kind of figured in their revenue sharing payment. I say kind of because they are able to make more than they report, at least that's what's assumed.

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You mentioned local TV. Do the Yankees/Red Sox have to share revenue from the YES network and NESN?
Well it's kind of figured in their revenue sharing payment. I say kind of because they are able to make more than they report, at least that's what's assumed.

Actually, it's very much not figured in. This is where most of the $$$ disparity comes from. Nobody knows how much they get from their private TV deals, there a zillion ways to make it look like one thing when it's really something else. Getting the TV money to be a known factor that comes under revenue sharing is perhaps the biggest single need re: getting the insane wealth disparity down to uncrazy levels. Sadly, because the teams have had years to set up their RSN deals in opaque ways, it's gonna be very, very difficult to do...

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I think we will see a team moved in the near future.

What do you think about my idea of having dynamic divisions in static leagues (based on the previous season standings)?

I like dynamic divisions, rotating annually or every so many years. I'm kind of undecided on doing that by previous record. My preference would be for a lottery or a draft for division position. Well, if you have to have divisions - I'd just as soon see one big table.

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