Two Sports Myths and Why They're Wrong by Fort Rodney Winfree Jason

Author:Fort, Rodney, Winfree, Jason [Fort, Rodney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2013-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

2

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SHOULD EMULATE THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

MLB, the NBA and the NHL should all emulate the NFL: the ONLY sport where a contest between Indianapolis and Boston (or Arizona and Denver for that matter) can generate significant national interest.

—Mike C, posted at Bats, Tyler Kepner’s New York Times blog, October 11, 2007

INTRODUCTION

It’s a common perception that the National Football League has surpassed Major League Baseball in the eyes of fans over the last three or four decades. It is surely true that the NFL currently generates greater revenues (although we will have more to say on that shortly). Poll results also typically show that football, especially the NFL variety, is the nation’s game. Now, just why it is that the NFL obtained its lofty status and manages to hold on to it remains a mystery to these same observers. Maybe the NFL has better marketing, suggesting that MLB leadership emulate the NFL approach. Maybe American sports fans have simply drifted more toward a faster paced, violent sport, suggesting that MLB needs to speed up their game. Maybe most important, MLB needs to level the playing field for smaller-revenue owners relative to their larger-revenue competition. Whatever the reason, if it is going to stay relevant, attract young fans, and grow its fan base, then (so the conclusion typically goes) MLB should look more like the NFL.

Since marketing is marketing and there is no reason to suspect that the MLB version is somehow dumber or less apt than the NFL version, and since baseball is baseball (the essence is that there is no clock!), one prescription always seems to come to the fore—if MLB wants to give the NFL a run for its money, it needs to do something about competitive balance. The basic notion of competitive balance is that teams are equal in terms of quality, so that every team has about the same chance to win. The NFL is the most balanced sport on the playing field. But the prospects for any other league to achieve the same type of balance as the NFL are slim to none. It is true that the NFL used to be the model of revenue sharing, but MLB has adopted a very similar sharing process in both breadth and scope without impact on balance. MLB also has the additional luxury tax, which has had no effect. The defining difference whittles down to the NFL’s salary cap, but no impact of that league’s cap on balance can be found, and caps in both the NBA and the NHL follow suit.

We follow through on this myth, for myth it surely is, that somehow MLB will be better off if it emulates the NFL. First, let’s spend a little time with the idea that the NFL has become the most successful of North American pro sports leagues. Note that this suggests that MLB is somehow falling behind football. In fact, it’s not clear that the NFL has surpassed MLB rather than just holding its advantage over time.

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