LA Angels Monday DIY Links

Manfraud is at it again. The new breed of ownership of MLB franchises is very different than what most of us grew up with in that it is not a family run operation any longer that the Commissioner of Baseball works for, it is corporate now. Why does that matter; more now than ever it is about making money instead of making the team or the league better for the fans it is all about $. The new breed of ownership does not care about tradition and as one example, it’s about the 2 leagues becoming two leagues called East & West, geography cities closer together to save money on travel to supposedly save wear and tear on the players. Example given is the Mets and Yankees in the same league. Remember a few years ago 34 minor league teams were pulled out of cities that for long periods of time had teams and then they didn’t.

Minor league stadiums now look like miniature big-league stadiums with increased prices to match including paying for parking. It’s about the money, not the players or fans, it’s about the investment.

NFL merged the AFL and NFL together while keeping the NL & AL monikers and it worked; NBA has the East and West and it works out for them, of course just about every team goes to post season. Hockey is geographical in its divisions, and everybody darn near goes to the playoffs and playoffs means more money all around.

Manfraud said that once the Oakland A’s and Tampa Bay Rays issues were fixed the expansion would become a reality and each has new stadiums coming and the ownership will want to copy the NFL profit sharing and there will be a cap and a floor in regards the salaries and the league will let the players strike and they will outlast the players.

MLB wants to add 2 additional teams asap, because the current rate to come on in is going to be around 30 billion dollars and the ownership gets that money. So, all divisions currently have 5 teams and adding 2 more teams will upset the apple cart so to speak making things uneven and to fix that remove American and National branding and put half the teams in the MLB East and the other half in MLB West and of the 16 teams within each side let 12 go to the playoffs

It’s coming down the pike and there is no stopping it, it is a new day and tradition be dammed along with the fans because as Pink Floyd sang it’s about the Money.