I’m going to stray a little bit from baseball to look at the way sports team owners have handled their businesses. Yes, they are businesses and are there to make money. Good teams are competative and bring in more fans and more money to the teams. Think paying a player $10 million a year is a good thing, don’t worry the cost is already passed on to you via the gates, concessions and team merchandise.
I was just parusing through articles about Ben Roethlisberger’s latest escapades and I have to say that I might see some hope in the Rooney family’s management of their franchise, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Being a Seattle Seahawk fan I am still a little bitter about the Superbowl in 2005 where the Referees seemed to want Jerome Bettis to retire with a Superbowl win in his hometown more than the media did. That aside, I feel that the Steelers are setting a new precedence amongst owners.
Look back a few years ago when Rafael Furcal was due to start prison time for multiple DUI arrests and his report date was moved back so he could participate in the National League Championship series. Or when Chicago Bear’s Tank Johnson, facing weapons charges could not leave the state of Illinois, but was granted an exemption to play in that year’s Superbowl. Imagine if I told the courthouse I couldn’t come to jail on the day they wanted me to because I had a big project due at work or had to travel across the country to train new employees on a computer system. They would say, your bail is revoked, please come with us now. Now I don’t have stats, nor would I want them, about how many “extensions” or “exemptions” are granted to regular Joe’s and Jane’s but in my eyes, the days of pro athletes avoiding meeting their obligations will soon end. Owners invest in these players and if they get bad press, they will start dumping these players.
Collusion. Such an ugly word that has an expanse of grey area of if’s and but’s. Major League baseball owners have long been in collusion even prompting special rules in the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players union.
Look back at the early days of baseball when players, once signed to a team, could not leave that team unless sold, traded or outright released. You get paid what we give you or you go home and listen on the radio. Owners held wages low as to not affect their profits. Free agency and player’s unions helped salaries to escalate steadily ever since with an average 10% increase each year since free agency began. Don’t worry about those owners though.. ticket, beer and parking prices have kept pace with those. They won’t lose their beach houses and yachts because of having to pay their players.
A name that I have read a little about is MLB Commisioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis (Don’t worry Pig fans, it’s a different spelling). Landis ran the Major Leagues as the first Commisioner of baseball and as a stipulation to his acceptance of this position, insisted that he be the sole commisioner and his decisions would be beyond reproach, final and not contestable. Landis promptly took charge and his first point of business was dealing with the 1919 Black Sox scandal. He cracked down on gambling and game fixes with an Iron fist. Landis also went after owners during this period, ending poor practices by owners who would put profits before players at all costs. While owners thought Landis would solve the gambling problem and step down, Landis had different ideas and stayed on as Commisioner for 24 years until his death.
One significant mark on Landis’ career and tenure in MLB is that he perpetuated segregation in the Major leagues. Many unwritten rules are rumored to have come down from him to team owners and it wasnt until four years after his death that Jackie Robinson broke the barrier and opened Major League baseball to all. Known as “The Baseball Tyrant” by journalists of his day, he certainly did a lot to impact the game with those actions still being evident today.
Ownership collusion was existant even as late as the 1980’s and we would be foolish to think it doesn’t exist today. How many teams would have signed Terrel Owens or Manny Ramirez had they not been publically known to cause problems.
My original thought, if I rambled I apologize, was that owners are again cracking down on players who give them bad press. I wonder if a new round of “collusion” is on its way?
noisenation.mlblogs.com 