European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 8, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse It Ltd a amps. Page 34 the stars and stripes sports monday August 8,1994 owner in determines Market size commentary by Ray rat tothe san Francisco examiner if we understand our rhetoric correctly baseball owners Are fighting for the future Security of their helpless and floundering Brethren the a Small Market a mighty e of them you a say Revenue sharing would certainly help the have Ottiest of the have not and a salary Cap would help even Shore. Being Able to budget expenses has always been considered a Boon to the Small Businessperson. It has nothing to do with actual Competition of course. The smart Guys will still win and the not smart Guys will lose. Doubt it ask a Clipper. Ask a Colt. Ask a Cardinal. Ask a nor Dique. But when you ask your average Tom Dick or Vyacheslav to name the a Small Market teams a what kind of answer do you get a Ruhh Pittsburgh Montreal hmm Flagstaff Laramie which is Why it is so hard for the average Mary Alice or cassiopeia to work up much More froth for the owners Side than for the players. _ they want to know where their entertainment dollars Are being diverted and for the life of them they can to get a straight answer. For instance Jerry Reinsdorf owner of the White sox said he could easily survive for another thousand years or so. He according to him is doing Fine. Three Days later we found out through traditional research a leak that the White sox Are one of the feeble 19, the 19 teams that Are projected to lose Money soon under the current system. Believe it or not the dodgers and mets Are in that group now there Are three Small Market teams we Hadnot figured on. So who is actually Small As opposed to who says they Are Small or Are planning to be Small in the near future Pittsburgh is considered the classic of the genre. It is a relatively Small big town with a declining metropolitan population which has never shown much inner Burn for the pirates win or lose. Montreal is on most lists in Large part because the expos do not play hockey nor As a hard and fast Rule do they play postseason baseball. Seattle might be one just recently got its own Cable network Access and because it has a legacy of top to Bottom incompetence. And san Diego although it is hard to Muster much sympathy for the padres on any level save Tony Gwynn. And Oakland sure As Long As the giants insist on staying in san Francisco. And yet Oakland seemed an awfully big Market in the late �?T80s. O and the giants absolutely As Long As the a a keep loitering around although san Francisco seemed to be doing Fine in 1987 and 1989 and As Long As we re discussing it 1993. But Isnit it always the Way today a Small Market team is yesterdays organi fans prepared to retaliate by Howard Goldberg new York a although fans Are split on which Side they support in baseball a labor dispute they be made up their minds done to strike or Well stay away. One in seven surveyed in an associated press poll say they Are annoyed enough to Stop following baseball if there a a strike and 52 percent say they would watch or attend fewer games in the future. The players have said walk out aug. 12 if no agreement is reached. While 2 in 10 fans say they should do just that 7 in 10 Are opposed to a strike. R the results from 415 men and 250 women in the United states who consider themselves baseball fans Are from random polling by phone july 27 through tuesday by ice Survey research group of Media pa., part of aus consultants. Results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage Points. Baseball fans split about evenly on which Side they support with 37 percent backing players and 40 percent the owners. Of the rest 16 percent Back neither Side and 7 percent Are Uncertain. The owners want a Cap on salaries which averaged $1.89 million on opening Day to protect the profitability of teams in smaller cities with less local broadcasting Revenue. Players dismiss the owners Contin Tion that some teams Are facing financial disaster. The players want the minimum salary raised from $109,000 to $175,000-$200,000 and want the threshold for salary arbitration lowered from three years of major league service to two. Owners want that process eliminated. A whopping 78 percent of respondents in the Survey see too much greed involved. Fifty two percent say both sides Are too greedy 20 percent say its the players who Are getting carried away and 6 percent fault the owners. A if i were a fan my first reaction Ali ii u Ali ate amp a one a dip vex fee Cor. Would be its a Bunch of millionaires fighting each Othef a management negotiator Richard Ravitch said. A then if there a a strike id sit Down and learn More. I know in a biased but i think id find nothing unreasonable in what we re asking.�?�. A the notion that players Are millionaires in the same manner owners Are millionaires is silly a Union head Donald Fehr said. A the owners have vastly More Money. They have corporate anti National Triumph. The Minnesota twins Are a Small Market team but they weren to in a 1988 when they Drew three million fans. _ the Atlanta braves Are a big Market team but in 1990 they draw a million and Atlanta was considered one of the worst baseball towns in America. In the classic explanation Colorado a owner Jerry Mcmorris Points out that Denver was considered too Small a Market for major league baseball for years but now its big enough to support other teams. Now you re probably saying to yourselves listen stupid the big Market Small Market thing is defined by local television and radio and of course you Are right. But once you have Revenue sharing the big Market Small Market thing stops mattering. A and Revenue sharing is Only an open question because the big Market owners have tied it to a salary Cap figuring logically enough that there is very Little in this for them if. They have to give Money to Small Market teams to bid on big Market team ties. They Are vastly wealthier. I think its dear to everyone that this is not a fight of the players a Only a third of the fans profess to being not particularly annoyed by the possible interruption of the season. Of the miffed majority 17 percent describe themselves As annoyed but resigned to a strike 33 percent Are very annoyed but not enough to Stop following baseball and 14 percent Are annoyed enough to give up on the sport. Players in the free agent Market. _ it does no to really matter then who is Small Market and who is big Market in this fight. This is about whether after Revenue sharing there is enough to go around two or three or twelve times Over for every millionaire in the Bunch and who gets to Cut the cake this time. Quot but maybe after the strike has comes one you could All spare a warm thought for the poor Fellows who run the teams m Pittsburgh and Montreal. They seem to have come to expect it. Milwaukee apr Milwaukee Brewer Rookie shortstop Jose Valentin Isnit sure if his plane tickets to puerto Rico next weekend Are refundable. Pitcher Bob Scanlan said Valentin bother checking. Valentines teammates Are so certain there will be a strike aug. 12 that the club Isnit planning to travel to Cleveland on the team bus following an afternoon game at Detroit on aug. 11. A a not after what they be pulled the last convinced they la be going Home Waukee couple of Days a Scanlan said of the own on the. 11th a . Couple of Days a Scanlan said of the own Eros refusal to make a $7.8 million payment to the pension fund. Milwaukee manager Phil Garner suggested his players at least catch the team bus to Cleveland then depart from there. A no reason to a Scanlan said. A people Are going to go Home.�?�. That creates a logistical problem for the Brewers should a strike be averted. A in our particular Case the players May reconsider because its a Day game on the 11th,�?� gamer said. A if the players stick around where Are they going to stick around will they go to the Airport 2nd wait because Che club will provide transportation for them to Cleveland have to provide their own transportation assuming the association Calls them at Midnight and tells them a gentlemen we be decided to go ahead and splay a so Why not take the bus ride a the players feel they be already been taken for a ride. Most have made plans and bought tickets from Detroit to Milwaukee where they will stay a Short time before scattering. V there a nothing we can do Here. We cant use the Ballpark a said Valentin who plans to return to Manati puerto w Fife wife and 2-month-old son. I be got to stay in shape. In be got some friends and my dad Well practice at a Oai Park near my Home just in Case the strike is Over real re a it Al s it of is d e a o d n e d n h o n l d v a. E t a
