10-24-2005, 02:30 AM
GonzoStyle Wrote:It's not a non-level playing field, it's how any aspect of business goes.On this front, absolutely.
As for level playing fields, George was smart. He saw opportunity and ran with it.
The fact that the Yankees were god awful when he bought the team was just an indication that CBS knew nothing about running a sports team.
The Yankees are now, and have always been the most storied franchise in sports. That gives them a leg up, even without money - Hidecki Matsui is a prime example there. The capacity to make money with the Yankees in NYC is way above the capacity for any other team, with the Dodgers coming in a distant second.
Thats just the way it is; and the Dodgers show a prime example of how to NOT take advantage it.
Having said all of that, it takes brains to take advantage of all of that. George has always been a smart business man, and the growth of net value of the Yankees is a reflection upon that. He is not however, always a smart baseball man. The Yankees were fortunate when he was suspended - fortunate to have some really smart men around (Stick Michael, etc), who turned the franchise around.
I'll give him props for seeing a vision that puts money back into players and the franchise. The biggest joke is that some teams pocket the money.
As for the non-level playing field and aspect of business - these arent mutually exclusive. Baseball is as much Laissez-faire as america or any sport. Once again, he plays by the rules.
The NFL is the closest sport to having a level playing field- with a National TV contract, and fucking the players. Even there, however, its not all even in the important departments; The Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants will always be able to make more money than the Atlanta Falcons.