Hmmm...... Better get out the nomex suit for this one....
I don't think contraction is the answer.
On one point from the original post, from another sox fan. Don't use "can't outdraw a texas HS football game" as the benchmark. Fenway is pretty small, and with Alamo stadium seating 23000 we'd only be a few bad seasons away. And for a HS championship in a pro stadium it's not looking good. One in 1977 drew just short of 50,000.
They should tryto do something about the cost of attending. The teams that don't draw well do charge much less. My brother went to a few Red sox games in KC when he was stationed nearby. $10 for pretty good seats!
What really should happen are changes in compensation, as well as in player treatment. The players union only really helps the top players, while many solid players who aren't superstars have shortened careers.
A team can't reduce a players salary by more than 20% no matter how bad they are.
The 5/10 rule makes it difficult to move some players
And having arbitration start at 3 years makes some players fairly expensive.
Brian Daubach is a prime example. 4 very good years with the red sox, but his salary went from 400,000 to 2.3 million for 2002. After 2002 he was released before the 5 years with one team could apply. He was also up for arbitration and probably a good sized raise. He signed with Chicago, for around 400,000 and was eventually released. Signed with Boston again, released, then the Mets and Cardinals, who he never played for. I believe the last 3-4 contracts were initially minor leage deals where he had to earn his way onto the big league team. I believe a lack of regular playing time hurt his performance, some guys just need to play regularly.
There's no way the CBA helped him at all.
In some ways I think the reserve clause while often unfair did keep some guys around longer than they would play today. There was more of a comittment between team an player. And the fans got some consistency.
So maybe a base minimum salary of 2 million or so, some realistic performance bonuses setup in a way that prevents a club from sitting a guy to avoid a bonus. And a tighter requirement for free agency. Maybe only available after 5 years with a proceedure to become a free agent earlier if the player feels he's being held back deliberately. And no compensation to the team for losing a free agent to push better treatment.
Yeah, still some problems, like how to handle injuries and stuff like that, but I think it would help many teams field a better team for longer.
Steve B
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