Radical Realignment
"Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim." Bertrand Russell

Instead of thinking about contracting the financially weakest teams in baseball like Montreal, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay from the Major Leagues, why not relegate them to AAA?

Here in England, I've had a chance to examine this system of relegation and promotion as it currently works in English football. The two worst teams of the top league are relegated to the next level down, and the two tops teams from the division below it are promoted to the top, Premiership. At all levels of play, from the major league level Premiership down to the lowest division, the National League, a theory of promotion and relegation is in place.

In theory, if a team receives a financial benefit from promotion, and experiences a financial loss from relegation, teams at the bottom of a league have a greater incentive to improve team quality than would be the case in a league of fixed membership, as is Major League Baseball. In addition, for those already enamoured with the theory of wildcard spots in postseason baseball as an enhancement to end-of-the-season matches, a system of promotion and relegation would create excitement not only for the top level teams in a battle for promotion, but also among bottom level teams trying to stave off relegation.

If the Brewers are playing the Reds, or Tampa Bay is facing Detroit in a season-ending three game series among losing teams with virtually no effect or meaning, fan incentive to take interest or attend is relatively low. However, if Detroit and Tampa Bay are fighting off relegation to a AAA league with millions of revenue sharing dollars at stake, the meaning of their games, even long after they've been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, is greatly enhanced and fan interest would increase. Best of all, no longer would you have franchises, no matter how badly they perform or how apathetic their management is to winning, continuing to "compete" in the Major Leagues where they don't belong. A burst of across-the-board competion that currently does not exist in an exclusive membership league would generate a constant source of healthy competition regardless of a team's place in the hierarchy of cities and leagues.

This doesn't even consider the enhanced layers of interest created by promotion. Cities like Pawtucket, Ottawa, Louisville and Durham, the four finalists of the International League playoffs last season, would not only get major air time on ESPN as the build-up to see who would join the Major Leagues increased, but would also, in theory, enjoy a major financial boost to their respective communities for having gained entry into the Major Leagues for the season and all the revenue sharing that such a move would encompass.

There are two major impediments to putting a theory of relegation and promotion in place in Major League Baseball. Both of them involve, what else, money.

First of all, you've the issue of territorial rights. In the current monopoly of a fixed-membership league like Major League Baseball, an influential fat cat owner like Peter Angelos can effectively deny the capital city of the United States from gaining entry into Major League baseball simply because he is worried about a decrease in fan base and revenues with the addition of another Major League team in his vicinity. This isn't competition in the American sense. Fixed-membership leagues like MLB with exclusive territorial rights prevent real competition and create instead, super revenue-generating monopolies like the New York Yankees.

It naturally follows, in this spirit of psuedo-competetive markets, that in a league which continues to apply a theory of exclusive territorial rights, teams from the largest cities will of course have an attendance and financial advantage over teams in smaller markets and, unless totally mismanaged, are also likely to sell their own TV rights and pocket the proceeds. This is how the revenue gap between teams in big and small markets continues to grow.

If team revenues were shared equally, all team revenues, including territorial cable television and logo marketing rights etc., as primary examples, the disparity between large market franchises and smaller market franchises would be reduced to greatly enhance true competition. Again, you'd have to begin with centralising TV rights sales, including cable and private deals to begin to close the revenue gap currently experienced without sharing all broadcast rights equally.

The second glaring problem with this idea being applied to Major League baseball is that by and large, Minor League teams are not independent. Their talent are provided by their parent Major League clubs as well as some degree of subsidization. They are like children who are given clothes, bicycles, room and board and a subsidy of an allowance but who never have the prospect of growing up to do it all on their own.

Therefore, the notion of parent teams stocking minor league teams with prospects would have to be chucked. Minor league teams would have to assume their own responsibility for stocking their own teams with players who might be later purchased by bigger franchise teams (let's say, for example, how the Expos appear to currently operate as a pipeline of talent for the highest bidders) -- If these minor league teams identify promising players and sign them to long-term contracts, after the player develops they can sell their contracts to teams in a higher league. This is, for all intents and purposes, how smaller market teams currently operate with large market teams. It's why each season sees the inevitable selling off of a major, unaffordable talent for prospects or money to let's say, oh, the Yankees and about three other possible bidders each season. Why not legitimise it and allow minor league teams to earn revenue from it which they in turn, can use to develop still more sellable talent?

Let's face it, there are too many Major League baseball franchises considering the talent available. If instead of contraction, you initially targeting 5 of the smallest market teams and, in essence, demoted them to AAA baseball, you could create a ripple effect of competition and talent that would increase the quality of play both at the Major League and Minor League level.

*****
"Dan Snyder is the owner that every player in the N.F.L. wants to play for," newly acquired RB Clinton Portis said of his deep-pocketed boss. Indeed. He's the man with the bucks in the NFL. According to Deloitte & Touche, the Washington Redskins were the second richest sports franchise in the United States with income of 197.7-million euros. That would put the Redskins fifth on the world list.

Now, in a surprise of surprises, the Redskins are rebuilding for what must be the fifth time in five years. Each season's promise fizzles and fades and success in the world of free agency, it is learned and relearned, in and of itself, does not promise success. But this time they've got Gibbs, who led Washington to four Super Bowl appearances in 12 seasons between 1981 and 1992, and three titles. People are whining yet again after another influx of cash and free agents. Why whine? Their millions haven't earned them any success to date other than in the box office. I've got a feeling though, that with Gibbs, this is soon to change.

Gibbs, upon his return, has a veteran quarterback in Brunell and one of the game's best running backs in recently acquired Clinton Portis. They've got receivers (half the Jets' team, in fact, and they've got a good offensive line. In addition, in their annual free agent binge Washington also grabbed cornerback Shawn Springs, defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin, linebacker Marcus Washington and defensive end Phillip Daniels. They probably aren't done either. I'd say that Boy Blunder Danny Snyder finally got it right this time and so long as he stays out of the way of Gibbs and his staff, this is something not even he can flub.

By the way, it appears Terrell Owens Superstar shares my views on Baltimore as a sports town. Unhappy being traded to the convict consortium at Ravens town, Owens wants to rescind the trade that sent him to Baltimore. How's that for timely debate?

*****

Miscellany

Larry Bird, whose Indiana State No. 33 jersey was retired Saturday, told the crowd in Terre Haute, Ind., "We had a special team. We played together, played to win, and everyone knew their roles. ...

"Everyone knew I was going to take all the shots."

here is the Birdman in all his Sycamore glory. They could certainly use him these days. The Indiana State men's basketball team suffered a 63-59 loss to the University of Evansville in the first round of the 2004 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Friday (March 5), ending the Sycamores' season. Pzzzt.

*****

"Doping is like adultery: the perpetrator knows that it is wrong and that the consequences could be disastrous, but is overcome by lust" says UK Times writer Matthew Syed. Doping and steroids are facts of competition. Name me anything in life that involves money and doesn't involve cheating. War, religion, democracy, economics, academic achievement, you name it. If there's a buck to be made by cheating, you can bet your life there will be people cheating to get to it. Enough of the pollyanish hand-wringing over steroid rumours in baseball. Cheating is as much a part of baseball as winning is so it would be nice if the whiny-mouthed idealists could turn it down a notch and let us enjoy Spring Training.

*****

In their three games this season, Houston's giant Chinaman, the Chairman Yao, is averaging 26.7 points and 9 rebounds compared with ShackSqueal O'Neal's 24.7 points and 8.7 rebounds. Most important, the Rockets have won two of the three meetings. Finally, a man among mice who can face up to and climb Shaq Mountain. I'd rather see dynastic centers duke it out in the NBA than a bunch of speedy but essentially one dimensional pimps pound their chests with inflated egos and ruin one franchise after another with their trillion dollar contract demands. A talented big man is essential in the modern NBA for success. Name a team that's won the NBA finals in the last five seasons who didn't have a talented big man to guide them...