Should MLB have a salary cap?

[Hockey Guy]

I'm not a baseball fan, but I have to say that the current state of MLB payrolls is a disgrace to the sport. Again, I don't follow the sport, but that is all the more reason to respect the opinion of an outsider. It seems to me that every year the best players I hear about on TV end up being a Yankee the next year. That's crazy. How can Yankee fans have even an ounce of respect for a team that buys the Championship every year?

I'm not a Democrat and definitely not a liberal, so I don’t believe in a salary cap or revenue sharing (like hockey has). Although both a cap and revenue sharing undoubtedly level the playing field, they go against everything I believe in as a Libertarian/Capitalist. If the market supports a payroll that high in NY then so be it. I think that MLB needs to be looked at as one single organization with 30 separate satellite companies (so to speak) with each company looking out for the best interests of the collective group. I honestly think that the market will work itself out. It will take longer to happen than most people are willing to wait, but it will happen. First, people will get tired a watching the large market teams win every year so TV viewership will decrease. If TV viewership decreases, so will advertising revenue. As advertising revenue decrease, the only way to pay those high salaries will be through increased ticket prices. Increased ticket prices will equate to less demand and so on.

Remember that this is more about the sport than it is about the Yankees. MLB needs to impose whatever policies it sees fit in order to put a product on the field that people will be interested in. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the only people that really care about the Yankees are bandwagon jumpers and people in NY. I have even heard interviews with Yankee fans on TV talking about how they better win the Championship every year with a payroll like that. When I hear interviews like that from Yankee fans, that tells me that the free market system is already starting to work against the Yankees to level things out. The National TV ratings where very low this year for the World Series. MLB as an organization will have to address this problem because all of their teams will suffer from lower interest and viewership in the sport.

[Scott K]

I can honestly say I haven't watched even 1 minute of the World Series. To be honest, I watched a couple innings of the Twins first playoff game, then got sick of the announcers, and haven't watched a playoff game after that.

[JBMasterAngler]

Why would MLB want to level the playing field? They make more money and get better ratings when the yanks and/or red sox go to the playoffs every year. I personally can't stand either team, but MLB could care less what I think. As fun of a story as tampa bay was last year, it was bad for baseball in business terms. And unfortunately there's no reason to believe next year won't be any different than this year. As far as the dip in ratings go, I think that has alot more to do with the tv layout as opposed to the yanks being in the series. Baseball needs to be played everyday! And NOT in november!

[lindy rig]

Yes.

Sooooooooo tired of the Yankees