proposals to help baseball face its financial challenges. The first was for the league to raise the percentage of local revenue that is shared between the teams from 20 percent to 40 percent with the bulk of the money going to help the teams that are struggling financially. Second, they suggested the creation of a 50 percent competitive balance tax on payrolls that exceed $84 million. It would tax the teams on the money they spend beyond $84 million, and that figure would remain fixed even as salaries continue to climb. Third, the panel proposed the development of a competitive draft in which the eight worst teams each year could select players not on any other team’s 40-man roster. The draft would include international players and eliminate free-agent compensation picks. These are draft picks that teams get when another team signs a free agent away from their team. Fourth, they suggested the establishment of an expanded central fund to distribute pooled money from sources such as broadcast TV, the Internet, and product licensing and allow the commissioner to allocate funds unevenly, if necessary. Finally the panel advocated keeping strategic franchise relocation open as an option for teams operating without any hope of competing in their current market. All of these suggestions would most likely help to diminish the competitive imbalance that exists in Major League Baseball today between the large market and small market franchises, but it is also fairly unlikely that any of their proposals will be adopted any time in the near future. Baseball owners are historically very stubborn and resistant to change, but with the current situation baseball finds itself in, it may require unprecedented cooperation among the owners, and also between the owners and the players union, in order to solve the serious problems that face baseball in the near future. It is important that they remember that Baseball had a very difficult time recovering...
