Forbes magazine issued its list of the most valuable major league baseball teams. Should we be surprised?
Here’s the list and the reported current value (in millions).
1. New York Yankees (1,600)
2. Boston Red Sox (870)
3. New York Mets (858)
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (727)
5. Chicago Cubs (726)
6. Philadelphia Phillies (537)
7. Los Angeles Angels (521)
8. St. Louis Cardinals (488)
9. San Francisco Giants (483)
10. Chicago White Sox (466)
11. Houston Astros (453)
12. Texas Rangers (451)
13. Atlanta Braves (450)
14. Seattle Mariners (439)
15. San Diego Padres (408)
16. Minnesota Twins (405)
17. Cleveland Indians (391)
18. Washington Nationals (387)
19. Colorado Rockies (384)
20. Arizona Diamondbacks (379)
21. Baltimore Orioles (376)
22. Detroit Tigers (375)
23. Milwaukee Brewers (351)
24. Kansas City Royals (341)
25. Cincinnati Reds (331)
26. Toronto Blue Jays (326)
27. Florida Marlins (317)
28. Tampa Bay Rays (316)
29. Oakland Athletics (295)
30. Pittsburgh Pirates (289)
Cheer up fans, it could only be worse in Pittsburgh, and is that a tragic situation. PNC Park is a beautiful stadium constructed right on the Alleghany River. When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL or the Penguins in the NHL, the western Pennsylvania fans are wild if supported by a winning team. Sadly, ownership has no interest in winning. Last year, they cleaned house of almost all top players. They are baseball version of NASCAR’s start and park team. They don’t really show up to compete, do they?
Does anybody need more fuel to feed their dislike of the Yankees? That they are worth almost twice as much as their nearest competitor tells the story.
Surely the situation in Florida raises concern. The Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in the game right now and were in the World Series in 2008. Yet, their attendance this year is near rock bottom. The Tropicana Dome is no place to watch baseball with its dingy atmosphere and artificial turf, it is the only indoor only facility left in the game.
Down the road in Miami, the Marlins have often been the laughing stock for empty stands but a new stadium with a retractable roof is being built on the former grounds of the Orange Bowl in Little Havana. The Marlins know how to attract talent, but they haven’t been able to afford to keep them.
Oakland has been successful developing talent, but with a huge spacious stadium that was horribly mutilated in the mid 90’s to lure the NFL Raiders back has destroyed any atmosphere the field had for the summer pastime. Just a leisurely cruise across the bay stands ATT Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, one of the most beautiful Camden Clones where baseball fans have top rate accommodations. Deal after deal for a new stadium somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area have fallen apart.
When Skydome opened north of the border in 1989, the world thought it saw the future of baseball in Toronto. Fans packed the futuristic stadium with a retractable roof and all kinds of modern gizmos, suites, and doo-dads, and you wouldn’t have natural grass in outer space, so it remains one of two false turf stadia. Skydome is now Rogers Center and with the Yankees and Red Sox dominating the AL East, competition seems futile for the Blue Jays. Fans have been gone for years. Still, given the market size, it’s hard to imagine Toronto could fall so low.
Doesn’t it seem hard to accept the Cincinnati Reds could fall to 25th?
Cincinnati was once one of the hottest baseball towns in America in the days of the “Big Red Machine” but a series of transgressions including the embarrassing ownership reign of Marge Schotz. Since winning it all in 1990, there’s not been much to cheer for in a city that was one of baseball’s original big teams. The new ballpark, Great American, while capturing some of the elements of the Camden Clones right on the Ohio River, something about it seems contrived and less than genuine.
The Orioles were once among the top five teams, but not having a winning record since 1997 and a second team in the Washington Nationals who share their territory, the team is desperately seeking direction s the fans continue to bolt. President Andy McPhail appears to have a solid model to build a stable team but what could be good enough in every other division in the game, they have to find how to top the Yankees and Red Sox, but before they do that, they must top the Blue Jays and Rays.
We would suggest that the figures above argue for the need of a salary cap and some kind of more significant revenue sharing formula. While the Yankees can do no wrong and Red Sox Nation is fiercely patriotic to their team, in recent years among the top value teams, only the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Angels appear to thrive.
Meanwhile, remember there was talk of contraction early in the last decade and one of the teams to be eliminated would be the Minnesota Twins? With a bevy of home grown talent and a new stadium, fortunes have turned around greatly for the Twinkies.
Where a Camden Clone stadium was once seemed as a big plus, reality shows the magic of fancy new fields doesn’t produce the great successes enjoyed by the early ventures. Two thirds of the current stadiums have opened since Baltimore opened Orioles Park at Camden Yards in 1992. The Marlins, as noted, have a new field under construction while some stadiums, the White Sox, Angels, and Royals enjoy substantial renovations. Perhaps someone can explain the additions to Fenway?
The state of baseball is a matter of point of view based on the relative fortunes of one’s hometown team. Where except in cases of gross organizational incompetence NFL teams are routinely in the playoff hunt, in cities like Kansas City and Pittsburgh, winning is a distant memory. Until they can be brought up to better fortunes, misery continues and the Yankees keep getting fatter.
Here’s the list and the reported current value (in millions).
1. New York Yankees (1,600)
2. Boston Red Sox (870)
3. New York Mets (858)
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (727)
5. Chicago Cubs (726)
6. Philadelphia Phillies (537)
7. Los Angeles Angels (521)
8. St. Louis Cardinals (488)
9. San Francisco Giants (483)
10. Chicago White Sox (466)
11. Houston Astros (453)
12. Texas Rangers (451)
13. Atlanta Braves (450)
14. Seattle Mariners (439)
15. San Diego Padres (408)
16. Minnesota Twins (405)
17. Cleveland Indians (391)
18. Washington Nationals (387)
19. Colorado Rockies (384)
20. Arizona Diamondbacks (379)
21. Baltimore Orioles (376)
22. Detroit Tigers (375)
23. Milwaukee Brewers (351)
24. Kansas City Royals (341)
25. Cincinnati Reds (331)
26. Toronto Blue Jays (326)
27. Florida Marlins (317)
28. Tampa Bay Rays (316)
29. Oakland Athletics (295)
30. Pittsburgh Pirates (289)
Cheer up fans, it could only be worse in Pittsburgh, and is that a tragic situation. PNC Park is a beautiful stadium constructed right on the Alleghany River. When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL or the Penguins in the NHL, the western Pennsylvania fans are wild if supported by a winning team. Sadly, ownership has no interest in winning. Last year, they cleaned house of almost all top players. They are baseball version of NASCAR’s start and park team. They don’t really show up to compete, do they?
Does anybody need more fuel to feed their dislike of the Yankees? That they are worth almost twice as much as their nearest competitor tells the story.
Surely the situation in Florida raises concern. The Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in the game right now and were in the World Series in 2008. Yet, their attendance this year is near rock bottom. The Tropicana Dome is no place to watch baseball with its dingy atmosphere and artificial turf, it is the only indoor only facility left in the game.
Down the road in Miami, the Marlins have often been the laughing stock for empty stands but a new stadium with a retractable roof is being built on the former grounds of the Orange Bowl in Little Havana. The Marlins know how to attract talent, but they haven’t been able to afford to keep them.
Oakland has been successful developing talent, but with a huge spacious stadium that was horribly mutilated in the mid 90’s to lure the NFL Raiders back has destroyed any atmosphere the field had for the summer pastime. Just a leisurely cruise across the bay stands ATT Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, one of the most beautiful Camden Clones where baseball fans have top rate accommodations. Deal after deal for a new stadium somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area have fallen apart.
When Skydome opened north of the border in 1989, the world thought it saw the future of baseball in Toronto. Fans packed the futuristic stadium with a retractable roof and all kinds of modern gizmos, suites, and doo-dads, and you wouldn’t have natural grass in outer space, so it remains one of two false turf stadia. Skydome is now Rogers Center and with the Yankees and Red Sox dominating the AL East, competition seems futile for the Blue Jays. Fans have been gone for years. Still, given the market size, it’s hard to imagine Toronto could fall so low.
Doesn’t it seem hard to accept the Cincinnati Reds could fall to 25th?
Cincinnati was once one of the hottest baseball towns in America in the days of the “Big Red Machine” but a series of transgressions including the embarrassing ownership reign of Marge Schotz. Since winning it all in 1990, there’s not been much to cheer for in a city that was one of baseball’s original big teams. The new ballpark, Great American, while capturing some of the elements of the Camden Clones right on the Ohio River, something about it seems contrived and less than genuine.
The Orioles were once among the top five teams, but not having a winning record since 1997 and a second team in the Washington Nationals who share their territory, the team is desperately seeking direction s the fans continue to bolt. President Andy McPhail appears to have a solid model to build a stable team but what could be good enough in every other division in the game, they have to find how to top the Yankees and Red Sox, but before they do that, they must top the Blue Jays and Rays.
We would suggest that the figures above argue for the need of a salary cap and some kind of more significant revenue sharing formula. While the Yankees can do no wrong and Red Sox Nation is fiercely patriotic to their team, in recent years among the top value teams, only the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Angels appear to thrive.
Meanwhile, remember there was talk of contraction early in the last decade and one of the teams to be eliminated would be the Minnesota Twins? With a bevy of home grown talent and a new stadium, fortunes have turned around greatly for the Twinkies.
Where a Camden Clone stadium was once seemed as a big plus, reality shows the magic of fancy new fields doesn’t produce the great successes enjoyed by the early ventures. Two thirds of the current stadiums have opened since Baltimore opened Orioles Park at Camden Yards in 1992. The Marlins, as noted, have a new field under construction while some stadiums, the White Sox, Angels, and Royals enjoy substantial renovations. Perhaps someone can explain the additions to Fenway?
The state of baseball is a matter of point of view based on the relative fortunes of one’s hometown team. Where except in cases of gross organizational incompetence NFL teams are routinely in the playoff hunt, in cities like Kansas City and Pittsburgh, winning is a distant memory. Until they can be brought up to better fortunes, misery continues and the Yankees keep getting fatter.
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