Just by way of example, the current lowest projected salary in the MLB is the Baltimore Orioles, at just under $30mm. Their principle owner, Peter Angelos, has a net worth of about $2 billion. Note that he only owns roughly 25% of the team. Other owners include filmmaker Barry Levinson, with a net worth around $150mm. Tom Clancy (net worth near $400mm at the time of his death) owned a portion when he passed. I don’t know whether his shares passed to his heirs or were sold. Anyway, you get the idea.
Don’t believe for a second these teams are being operated at a loss and even if they were taking in no income at all, these owners could pay the entire salary of their teams for decades while remaining absurdly wealthy. (Not that I think they should. I think owners that provide an entertaining product should make a sizable stack of bills for the effort.)
Owners crying poor remind me of Moe Green in The Godfather claiming that his casino was operating at a loss. A real MLB commissioner who wasn’t a lapdog for the owners would go full Michael Corleone and suggest that new ownership might be luckier.
Don’t believe for a second these teams are being operated at a loss and even if they were taking in no income at all, these owners could pay the entire salary of their teams for decades while remaining absurdly wealthy. (Not that I think they should. I think owners that provide an entertaining product should make a sizable stack of bills for the effort.)
Owners crying poor remind me of Moe Green in The Godfather claiming that his casino was operating at a loss. A real MLB commissioner who wasn’t a lapdog for the owners would go full Michael Corleone and suggest that new ownership might be luckier.