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In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to: Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund    alzresearch.org/giving/ Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources     alzfdn.org/donate/ Photo Credit: Tommy Garcia

Top dogs in the Sunshine State still. #Marlins #MLB

Has the bubble already burst for MLB? I was thinking about that yesterday while thinking about the Rays ownership situation. The tone of every organization is set by the owner. Stuart Sternberg bought the Rays in 2005, after a career on Wall Street. His previous background dealt with finding value, knowing when to buy, and knowing when to sell. It's no surprise that Sternberg's General Managers all echoed that trait. Even after Andrew Friedman was hired away by the Dodgers, the Rays had an uncanny ability of trading an established player at his highest value, and finding a player whose value had yet to be realized. Sternberg sold the Rays in 2025. This came after the Rays pulled out of plans to build a stadium in St. Pete. But it also came as the entire Regional Sports Network system was crumbling around baseball, which is a key source of local revenues. And there were other revenue issues I'll dive into below. The strength of Sternberg's background is knowing when to buy and sell. He had expressed frustration with the stadium situation for years, which may have been the biggest factor in his exit. But he sold at a time when MLB's revenue stream was running into problems. Not only were the RSN deals collapsing around the league the last few years, but the national deals were running into problems. ESPN backed out of their deal with MLB in 2025, right after committing billions to the NBA/WNBA. ESPN had a deal to pay MLB $550 million annually for Sunday Night Baseball, the Wild Card round, and the Home Run Derby. They also received 30 weekday games. The opted out of this deal, making 2025 the final year of the agreement. MLB ended up selling the combined rights in 2026 for $800 million per year. At least, that's how the league framed it. This was in the form of a $50 million deal with Netflix (Home Run Derby), $200 million with NBC (Sunday Night Baseball/Wild Card round), and a re-worked package with ESPN for $550 million. The MLB spin on this was they increased revenues from $550 M per year to $800 M per year, for an extra $250 million. However, they ended up selling more to get this higher total. The trio of Sunday Night Baseball/Wild Card/Home Run derby was $550 million with ESPN before the opt-out. The new deals with Netflix/NBC received $250 million for the same trio, along with added games for those networks to stream throughout the year. Not only did MLB lose $300 million, but they gave more product to the new networks. For example, NBC added exclusive early-afternoon Sunday games, in addition to Sunday Night Baseball and the Wild Card Round. They also received exclusive double headers for Opening Day, Labor Day, and games around July 4th. And they acquired the broadcast rights to the MLB Draft's first hour, along with the All-Star Futures Game and the celebrity softball event. Netflix received the Home Run Derby, but also received an exclusive Opening Night event, the Field of Dreams game, and the World Baseball Classic rights. Continuing the trend of selling more product to make up for the lost revenue from ESPN, MLB entered a new deal with ESPN. The new deal had MLB selling exclusive MLBtv distribution to ESPN for the same $550 million total. What MLB gave up was independent control of their best product. The new deal was less about ESPN airing events on their network, and more about ESPN's digital marketplace being the exclusive place to find MLB's streaming service. They even assumed control of six local, formerly league produced broadcasts that all submitted their broadcast rights to the league to manage after their RSN deals failed. So, MLB ended up with $250 million in additional revenue per year, but they also sold a lot more product to get to that level. ESPN decided their old deal with MLB was overvalued, and the market agreed. MLB didn't find immediate buyers to replace ESPN at the old price. They took $300 million less for the ESPN package, while offering more than what ESPN was receiving. The difference was made up with the new MLBtv deal with ESPN, allowing the league to claim they were making more revenue. True, but their products were selling at a much lower value. Now, the owners are saying they need a salary cap, floor, and revenue sharing. This is unprecedented. In the past, owners wouldn't even entertain this, citing the financial strength and growing revenues of the league. A lot of the changes proposed by the owners also come with proposals that would reduce operational costs. One of the proposals early in negotiations would have removed prep players from the MLB draft. This would have outsourced a lot of early development to the college ranks, allowing MLB teams to eventually restructure the way their minor league levels work to cut costs. Another proposal would have instituted an international draft and adding hard slots to the amateur draft, which would have ended up cutting amateur signing costs across the board while reducing the middle men costs on the international side. Behind the headline-catching salary cap/floor and fair revenue sharing proposals, MLB is proposing a lot to reduce costs for owners, at a time when their product is selling for less, their biggest local revenue streams are failing, and owners are selling. It's not just Sternberg exiting the Rays. The Angels and Padres had controlling interest sales this year. The Yankees reached a $2.6 billion financing agreement with Apollo Global Management. This was broken down as an 8% equity stake and an additional 8% in preferred stock, convertible to equity after four years. The Steinbrenners still maintain majority control, but this gave Apollo a future 16% stake in the franchise. It also reflected a recent shift in MLB policy. Owners previously capped ownership from a single private equity firm at 15%. They voted to increase this to 20% over the summer, right before the Yankees agreed to their 16% deal with Apollo. The Yankees weren't the only team selling minority shares to private equity. The Giants sold 10% to State Street in 2025. The Padres and Rangers reached deals in recent years. Texas was coming off spending that led to a World Series push, and their agreement provided ownership with liquidity. The Padres needed liquidity in 2021 due to their RSN collapse, which previously was paying them $60 million per year. Behind the scenes, things aren't looking good for the financial health of MLB. **Long-time owners are cashing out. Sternberg sold after owning the Rays for 20 years. Arte Moreno sold controlling interest in the Angels after owning them for over 20 years. The Padres were sold after over a decade, and right when their RSN deal was collapsing. Even the Orioles were sold in 2024, with the Angelos family previously owning controlling interest for over 30 years. **Teams are selling minority shares to add liquidity, and MLB is amending their rules on how much ownership a single private equity firm can hold in order to allow the Yankees to reach their deal. The Padres sold a minority share in 2021 to achieve liquidity, before selling controlling interest in 2026. **I will note some of these deals coincide with former owners passing. The Padres and Orioles were both sold after their owner died. Their families immediately sold, instead of maintaining ownership. **From a product revenue standpoint, MLB was rejected by ESPN, who deemed their old package to be overpriced. The market confirmed this, with MLB receiving $300 million less for more product sold to replace the deal. They made up for lost revenue by selling their biggest product, which gives them one less lifeline in the future. **And there's the fact RSN deals are collapsing around the country from the highs of the last decade, with teams trying to start their own networks, but losing tens of millions over their previous deals in the process. The current trend for MLB is looking down on many fronts. This is no longer a league that is bragging about record revenues and reaching massive deals for premium broadcast events. Instead, it's a league that is: -Losing a lot of money on their local deals -Losing value on their national deals -Has long-time owners cashing out -Has other teams selling minority shares to private equity -Changed their previous rules to allow for larger shares to be sold I don't think the approach of publicly pushing for a salary cap/floor and equal revenue sharing is a tactic. I think MLB owners realize they need to make a change, as the league is no longer in the healthy state that it was in just 5-10 years ago.

Scott Boras is main culprit on why their will be a lockout this offseason. His horrific contracts have destroyed baseball. The Top 1% of players and Scott Boras do NOT actually care about everyone else in the league. They only care about themselves. Don't let MLBPA pretend like they care about guys like Nick Gonzales or Jake Mangum because they don't. They only care about the Juan Sotos and the Bryce Harpers. If they actually cared about every player, they would be in favor of a salary cap/floor.

THE LEFT HAS WON BASEBALL IN THE NATIONAL DIVORCE LFG

I believe we have witnessed and are witnessing the biggest scandal in a North American major sport since the inception of legalized sports gambling. The Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers have each never won a World Series. Both are the AL and NL standards for building competitive teams without financial resources. What are the odds that, the season before a lockout amid financial competitiveness, two of MLB’s smallest markets make the World Series and are cited by players and media as proof you can compete without big-market spending? Both teams, of which each has never won one, have made it. We will have a first-time-ever World Series champion. It's all happening this season. Major coincidence? Or ultimate collusion? Baseball is a sport where if there’s a way to cheat, you will. The players’ union is one of the most unfair fighting mobs in any sports league. That's 'cause the sport of baseball is as dirty as it comes—always has been, always will be. I’m not saying it’s odd the Brewers swept the Dodgers, whose stars looked like they phoned it in. I'm saying it's very unbelievable. If you put on a tinfoil hat, you wonder if players pulled off the ultimate chess move. Yes, I believe the 2026 playoffs were thrown by big-market players and teams to prove a point and gain ammo for off-season CBA talks. There's many of you that will dismiss this already and think I'm crazy and that's fine—I don't think the average person understands how contentious discussions regarding a salary cap in this sport is and will be. This is Israel and Palestine. These players will never go down in history as the players that caved and gave a salary cap. The owners are prepared to lose multiple seasons in order to get one. If you think the world is very innocent, and this isn't something the players or the players' union would do, you do not have a true beat on what this moment is, and I have a bridge to sell you. People will call me crazy and point to how good the Brewers and Rays were. Making the World Series isn’t unbelievable—that’s the beauty of what they pulled off. When the CBA talks are in full force and the real shit starts to fly, I promise you that 2026 World Series will be exhibit A, B, and C. No, public perception has not been on the owner side, and I still think a good amount still will be. I think fans and smaller markets want a salary cap—however, the tide has begun to turn on perception, and this World Series has helped. Congratulations to the players and the players' union. Fucking incredible move. Respect.

It must be exhausting to be anti-salary-cap. There are only so many insults you can use until they stop making sense. "Your owner doesn't care!" Yeah, that's kinda why we want to force him to spend. "Your team sucks!" Maybe making them spend will help. "You love your owner and want to defend him!" Uhhhhh ????

Udonis Haslem That guy rocked.