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CNN Live Saturday

Are Yankees to Blame for Baseball's Troubles?

Aired August 24, 2002 - 17:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Off the field, as Major League Baseball owners and players meet this hour in hopes of avoiding another strike, baseball's highest paid player is offering to take a pay cut of as much as 40 percent to get a deal done. But Texas shortstop Alex Rodriguez isn't optimistic about the proposal. Some have been pointing fingers at the Texas All-Star's $252 million deal, and the New York Yankees' deep pockets for baseball's current problems.
CNN's Josie Karp has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE KARP, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The New York Yankees are baseball's most storied franchise. The game's marquee team, and from some vantage points, the big reason the sport is bracing itself for a ninth work stoppage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our premise, if you will, in these negotiations has been that we have a competitive balance problem in baseball that is related to economic disparity, disparity in revenue and disparity in payrolls.

KARP: The Yankees clearly represent the disparity. With a boost from having their own cable channel, they generate more local revenue than any other team. And they have the game's highest payroll.

The owner of the Cleveland Indians recently pointed the finger at the owner of the Yankees and accused George Steinbrenner of being part of baseball's problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This battle, to me is more about big owners against small owners and the small owners trying to use the players as leverage against the bigger owners.

KARP: On the same day last week, players set a strike date, and Yankees executives met with baseball representatives to urge them not to offer up one team as a sacrifice. A recent proposal made by the owners could have forced the Yankees to hand over more than $86 million to subsidize lesser teams. They will pay the biggest price in the end, but not everyone agrees the Yankees deserve all of the blame for baseball's economic woes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is clear when they're talking about restoring competitive balance, what they really want is for the Yankees to win less often. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: George is obviously an easy target, but the fact is that George spends his revenues and re-invests them in his product, and those revenue comes from Yankee fans who want the best product.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the Yankees used to make a ton of money and be badly run and lose the division, then nobody was complaining about the television contract then.

KARP (on camera): On what could be the final weekend of the baseball season, the Yankees are hosting the Texas Rangers. And the Rangers offer perhaps some of the best evidence that other teams are responsible for baseball's financial mess as well.

(voice-over): Exhibit number one is Alex Rodriguez. The Texas shortstop's $252 million contract helped to drive salaries up, but it didn't help the last place Rangers win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of the failure of some franchises is they're not effective at marketing their teams or, frankly, building their teams.

KARP: If revenue sharing and a luxury tax don't help fix baseball's problems, other options have been offered. Former commissioner Boey Cune (ph) suggested adding a team in New Jersey, and there are those who say go ahead with contraction, just consider contracting the Yankees.

Josie Karp, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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