baseball/ sports owners question

[moosepirate]

recently i've become more interested in baseball but there are a few things i don't understand regarding team ownership and management.
Everyone makes a big deal about how the Yankees are the highest payed team in baseball. How is it possible for one team to be paid more than another? Isn't this unfair? What does "the Boss" do to work around this? what are loopholes etc?
My local team ( the A's ) seems pretty cheap in comparison, and trade away their good players. This can also extend to other sports. I've heard that the Cardinals (Phoenix) have a notoriously cheap owner. Or locally, we have Al Davis trade for several offensive studs and do nothing to fix one of the NFL's worst defenses. I'm looking forward to 42-35 ballgames this season.
How are owners of teams allowed to make decisions that are not in the best interests of their team. Wouldn't this slight the fans?

[MattSharpIsCool]

It all depends on how much money the owner himself has and wants to spend.

Steinbrenner, the owner of the Yankees, has the money and is willing to spend it all to watch his team win. There is no rule saying how much an owner can spend, but the more he spends, he does have to pay a luxury tax.

The owners believe the moves they make are in the best interest of their team. Dont forget that sports are also a business, and the owner wants to make money.

If an owner's baseball squad is bad defensively and great offensively, but the owner has the opportunity to either sign Omar Vizquel (a great defensive player) or Albert Pujols (possibly the best offensive player in the league), he will most likely sign Pujols, assuming the price is affordable. More people will come to the ballpark to watch Albert Pujols than Omar Vizquel.

[robo2448]

It all depends on how much money the owner himself has and wants to spend.

Steinbrenner, the owner of the Yankees, has the money and is willing to spend it all to watch his team win. There is no rule saying how much an owner can spend, but the more he spends, he does have to pay a luxury tax.

The owners believe the moves they make are in the best interest of their team. Dont forget that sports are also a business, and the owner wants to make money.

If an owner's baseball squad is bad defensively and great offensively, but the owner has the opportunity to either sign Omar Vizquel (a great defensive player) or Albert Pujols (possibly the best offensive player in the league), he will most likely sign Pujols, assuming the price is affordable. More people will come to the ballpark to watch Albert Pujols than Omar Vizquel.

Good job explaining that. Steinbrenner does absolutely nothing against the rules. Some owners are just really gay and don't spend money, and some don't have the resources. You cannot underestimate the benefit of playing in NY. Steinbrenner was one of the poorest owners in baseball when he started. But he poured almost ALL of his money into the team, the team got good, and more people came to watch the team win, resulting in him gaining money. In recent years the Yankees have dramatically increased there revenue, by winning and being the most popular team, starting there own cable network, and signing Matsui which led to Japan investing in Yankee merchandise.

Some owners play in small markets where they cannot take the risk of investing all their money in their team. However, teams like the Mets, the Red Sox, the White Sox, the Cubs, the Angels, and the Dodgers could easily have the same amount of revenue if the owners did as good a job as Steinbrenner did with resources.

And fun fact of the day: The 2003 Red Sox were the the world champions with the highest payroll and least homegrown players ever. Not trying to start a fight here, just an interesting fact.

[Simple Man]

It all depends on how much money the owner himself has and wants to spend.

Steinbrenner, the owner of the Yankees, has the money and is willing to spend it all to watch his team win. There is no rule saying how much an owner can spend, but the more he spends, he does have to pay a luxury tax.

The owners believe the moves they make are in the best interest of their team. Dont forget that sports are also a business, and the owner wants to make money.

If an owner's baseball squad is bad defensively and great offensively, but the owner has the opportunity to either sign Omar Vizquel (a great defensive player) or Albert Pujols (possibly the best offensive player in the league), he will most likely sign Pujols, assuming the price is affordable. More people will come to the ballpark to watch Albert Pujols than Omar Vizquel.

Exactly, Couldn't of said it better. I wish I could rep you though.