[Hofcollector]

That is an insane amount of money you're talking about! Jeez! But just like everything else, when it comes to financial matters there's always a 'bubble to burst' or an economic adjustment to be made. A depression, a recession, a something. And I hate to sound all doom & gloom, but somewhere, somehow a team is going to get in a jam. They'll be 300 million upside down, expecting another sweet 8 year deal, but the TV contracts aren't going to be what they were. There will be a bankruptcy and a reorganization and a few bad long term contracts and prices will readjust. Maybe not in my lifetime, but eventually.
The real tipping point will be popularity with the fanbase. That's what brings in the revenue. That's why MLB got a big All-Star contract for 8 years. Advertising pays for TV. TV pays for baseball. If the fanbase starts to shrink, Advertising doesn't shell out the same $$$$ for the same airtime. When teams are dependent on TV revenue, they start to ignore the fans in the stands. Could a team survive today on ticket sales alone? If the market dries up, can a team sell enough hot dogs to a 40% of capacity stadium? $31Million per year for a pitcher ... 30-35 starts per year ... $1mil per game for 1 player @ $10 per hot dog you'd need to sell 100,000 franks to 20,000 fans (on a good day) that's 50 hot dogs per fan.

For example:
I became dependent on insurance company money. When that started to get cut, and less revenue was coming in from that source. patients had to shoulder more of the burden. When they couldn't and my revenue started going down & down, I needed to boost my patient base or raise my prices, but one was inversely proportional to the other. When I started to pay more in rent than my revenue, I decided to close & move my office. While my landlord, who was dependent on my lease comes up short paying for his property after I'm gone, he'll needs to fill the vacancies or raise the rent. When he can't, he'll have to sell short and cut his losses.
The market can only support what the base can support.
When the base is week, everything above crumbles.
Trickle down? Trickle up? Either way .... Everything affects everything else.

I understand where your coming from to a certain extent. Eventually a bubble will burst of some sort but what you need to remember is your dealing with the uber-rich. I don't honestly believe it'll ever be a "the sky is falling" scenario. These individuals don't rely on leases or rent or anything most of us really comprehend. It's a hobby to them. Yes I realize that its a mega business to anyone but I mean it's not their primary business. These franchises were bought as luxuries. I'm sure every owner has a breaking point where he or she would sell and I'm even more positive a few may get upside and have to but someone will always be there to buy. American cities are starving for professional sports franchises because the one thing we Americans can never get enough of is our sports. Look at the Montreal Expos. They were not getting the financial support to stay afloat so they sank. Where did they emerge? Washington. Right in the middle of a recession, and they've thrived.

[DrMitchJ]

I understand where your coming from to a certain extent. Eventually a bubble will burst of some sort but what you need to remember is your dealing with the uber-rich. I don't honestly believe it'll ever be a "the sky is falling" scenario. These individuals don't rely on leases or rent or anything most of us really comprehend. It's a hobby to them. Yes I realize that its a mega business to anyone but I mean it's not their primary business. These franchises were bought as luxuries. I'm sure every owner has a breaking point where he or she would sell and I'm even more positive a few may get upside and have to but someone will always be there to buy. American cities are starving for professional sports franchises because the one thing we Americans can never get enough of is our sports. Look at the Montreal Expos. They were not getting the financial support to stay afloat so they sank. Where did they emerge? Washington. Right in the middle of a recession, and they've thrived

All good and valid points, Matt!
But like any hobby (baseball card collecting, for example ) sometimes the cost gets too high to justify!

[Hofcollector]

All good and valid points, Matt!
But like any hobby (baseball card collecting, for example ) sometimes the cost gets too high to justify!

True enough. Except for baseball cards. I NEED my baseball cards.

[DrMitchJ]

True enough. Except for baseball cards. I NEED my baseball cards.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Baseball Cards.

[madamson]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Baseball Cards.

AMEN!

[Hofcollector]

Hehehehe.

[corbin21]

I could not have said it any better !!!!!!!!!

[uvaspina]

That is an insane amount of money you're talking about! Jeez! But just like everything else, when it comes to financial matters there's always a 'bubble to burst' or an economic adjustment to be made. A depression, a recession, a something. And I hate to sound all doom & gloom, but somewhere, somehow a team is going to get in a jam. They'll be 300 million upside down, expecting another sweet 8 year deal, but the TV contracts aren't going to be what they were. There will be a bankruptcy and a reorganization and a few bad long term contracts and prices will readjust. Maybe not in my lifetime, but eventually.
The real tipping point will be popularity with the fanbase. That's what brings in the revenue. That's why MLB got a big All-Star contract for 8 years. Advertising pays for TV. TV pays for baseball. If the fanbase starts to shrink, Advertising doesn't shell out the same $$$$ for the same airtime. When teams are dependent on TV revenue, they start to ignore the fans in the stands. Could a team survive today on ticket sales alone? If the market dries up, can a team sell enough hot dogs to a 40% of capacity stadium? $31Million per year for a pitcher ... 30-35 starts per year ... $1mil per game for 1 player @ $10 per hot dog you'd need to sell 100,000 franks to 20,000 fans (on a good day) that's 50 hot dogs per fan.

+1. The other thing I'll add is that fewer and fewer teams are owned by a single benevolent billionaire these days (like Mike Ilitch of the Tigers). Increasingly, team ownership looks like the Dodgers' (a consortium of business men and organizations who hold fractional shares). Those guys are all about the money, and once they milk every cent of profit they can, and the stream starts running out, trouble starts.

Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge a guy (especially one I like, like Price) getting paid. In fact, I often find myself defending the mega contracts these players get to my friends and family (who say things like, "teachers and police officers should be getting paid a million dollars then). So, I totally appreciate the fact that, in a business that is generating billions in revenue for MLB and the owners, the players need to get theirs. But, BUT, teams are going to the well too often, and too deep, to sustain these payrolls. Not every team is rolling in profit either. Like Doc said, when the cost to take a family to a game starts creeping past $200, the interest starts drying up a bit, younger kids don't get hooked, older fans die off and lose interest, etc. For all the talk of TV money, the fact is that baseball is still just a regional sport, as is demonstrated by the ever-shrinking national tv ratings. Obviously, the draw of MLB is the fact that it offers live programming, 162 games per year, per (about 2,500 games total). So, obviously there's a lot of money to be had. But when is enough enough?