Titles Done Dirt Cheap

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Getting a lot of flack about the money the Yankees spend today as it looks as if they are circling the drain on 2010. A guy said to me that they didn't get much with their $200 million dollar payroll.

Ah, I hate to be argumentative, but with attendance, television revenues, parking and sales of hats - they made a tidy little profit, and I have to laugh about those who feel that they have an unfair advantage. Let me break it down for you in simple terms.

Baseball has a product that sells real well in the Bronx. Should there be a salary cap on the team that plays there? Imagine for an instance that there is...and all teams spent the same...

Know what would happen? It happened before - the product wouldn't sell like crazy in the Bronx.

Then you know what would happen?

The money that the Yankees give to the pool of baseball would go way down.

All the other teams sharing (stealing) that money - with their crap attendance and lousy stadiums - would lose a revenue stream. The product would be watered down because all teams would be mediocre (see the NFL and NHL).

How many of you out there hate the Yankees? Raise your hands.

How many of you love the Yankees? Raise your hands.

How many have no opinion either way? There are no hands being raised.

How many would feel just as strongly if they had the players of say, the Kansas City Royals?

Broken down easier. If baseball makes $500 million dollars and one team is bringing about $300 million of that to the table, and is willing to pay a tax, so everyone else can re-invest, is it good economic sense to handcuff the one team making that money?

If you bring a hundred dollars to the house income and everyone else brings three, is it good common sense to say that I can't spend my hundred bucks for the good of the family?

There's a story going around today. The Yankees took dirt from the old stadium, slapped a photo and the team logo on a plaque and sold the "Commemorative Package" for $60-$100 per plaque.

There is less than an ounce of dirt in each plaque.

They have made roughly $360 million off the sales of the memorabilia.

Salary cap?

Try selling dirt in Tampa, or KC or Minnesota, or Oakland. That's why Cliff Lee is house shopping in Westchester while he's beating the Yankees brains out this year.

That's why Steinbrenner was one of the best businessmen of all-time.

Makes you sick, huh, haters?

Number 28 is slipping away this year, but I can see the number circled in the dirt of the new stadium. Followed fairly quickly by numbers 29 and 30.

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