Ballpark Travel

I. Introduction Major League Baseball (hereinafter the “MLB”) has been mired in the past by collective bargaining trouble through lockouts, strikes and a publicized distaste between the Major League Baseball Players Association (hereinafter the “MLBPA”) and ownership. Until 2002, there were four collective bargaining agreements that ended up with a work stoppage since the 1972 agreement. The collective bargaining agreements in 1976, 1981, 1990 and 1994 all had bloody labor negotiations that caused either a strike or lockout in order to come to an agreement during those years. 1994 was by far the worst as it ended up with the cancellation of the World Series, the loss of thousands of games and millions of dollars. The 2002 Basic Agreement made many changes to the economics of the sport, four years later, the 2006 agreement has altered those changes and on the surface has lent to teams spending a greater amount on free agents. Thus far in the 2006-2007 off season it compares to the 2000-

Introduction In August of 2002, on the doorstep of another work stoppage in Major League Baseball (hereinafter “MLB”), the league and the Major League Baseball Players Association (hereinafter “MLBPA”) came to an agreement to enter revenue sharing into the leagues policy. The decision to add revenue sharing to alter the economics of the sport came as a result of Bud Selig’s blue ribbon panel to examine competitive balance in baseball. Competitive balance in sports is measured by how well a league can field equally competitive teams and is an economic problem that is not going to be achieved anytime soon. The problem is that the fans, owners and the league all do not want to have the competitive balance situation in sport. As according to the Louis-Schmelling Paradox, monopoly on winning is actually a bad thing for professional sports leagues. It states that competition is necessary for economic success as it will keep fan interest high. This theory is an important part to understanding