Sports Beat by Riley Denver
Surprise, surprise! The New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners were Major League Baseball’s final four.
The fact that these teams have four of the 11 highest payrolls in baseball probably had nothing to do with the fact that they are the cream of this year’s crop, right?
Wrong!
The fact of the matter is, in most professional sports, money talks. New York, Atlanta and Arizona are all owned by billionaires and Seattle is owned by Nintendo, so they can do a lot of talking.
Who will win the Stanley Cup? Colorado, Detroit and Philadelphia are popular choices.
These teams just happened to go on summer shopping sprees aimed at retaining or adding marquee free agents like Joe Sakic, Brett Hull and Jeremy Roenick respectively.
Simply put, rich teams are more likely to win. Money doesn’t fix every team’s problems, like the New York Rangers, but having no money at all is a problem all its own.
Today, pro athletes want two things: a nine-digit salary, and to play for a winner. But only the teams with the money are more to be winners.
It’s a deadly cycle and what’s more, it’s an exclusive club.
The more teams win, the more money they make. The more money they make, the better players they attract.
So they win more. Then they make more money.
The exception is football.
South of the border, the National Football League has a strict salary cap and an enormous revenue-sharing system that keeps all teams profitable.
On top of that, the schedule-makers give strong teams tough schedules and weak teams easier schedules to balance things out. Their goal: parity.
The Baltimore Ravens and St. Louis Rams had been so bad for so long and are now among the league’s elite.
Due to massive player turnover, the Canadian Football League is just as unpredictable. Toronto and Vancouver are two of the biggest markets in the country. Both teams have struggled this season.
Winnipeg, on the other hand, is rolling over the league and feature the league’s marquee player in quarterback Khari Jones.
It’s time for baseball and hockey to take a cue from football.
Their two-class system ensures that teams like the Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays in baseball, as well as the Ottawa Senators and Calgary Flames in hockey, will not reach the pinnacle of their respective sports.
The Senators have enjoyed some success lately and are a top-level team. But historically, they were the worst team in hockey for five years and have never advanced as far as the conference final.
Sure, the NHL contributes to small-market Canadian teams. But that amount is such a small percentage of total costs the money doesn’t cover one star player’s salary.
It’s boring watching the Yankees win the World Series three years in a row.
It’s boring watching the Atlanta Braves win their division 10 years in a row.
A word of warning to owners: a boring product doesn’t sell.
A league where any team could win the championship means more fan interest, bigger crowds and higher profits.
All fans ask in return is a level playing field.