One thing which stood out to me was that all the 32 NFL teams make the TOP 50 list.......
Well, the Lions aren't there but 31 of 32 ain't shabby.
If I look at this list from the perspective of MLB and see only seven of 31 teams vs. nearly the entire NFL, I can only conclude that Baseball is doing something wrong. They have a longer season. They have franchises that are deeply embedded in every major media market in the US (the NFL isn't even present in Los Angeles). Yet, they aren't creating wealth on this scale.
I am not an expert on the economics of Major League Baseball, but my impression is that many franchises are owned by ossified management without deep pockets. Many teams seem to have given up on being competitive and are only focused on getting some cash-strapped town or county to fund a new stadium for them as they help better teams "fill out their schedule." I also think that the lack of a serious cap gives big market teams an extraordinary advantage [New York (x2), Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas].
Am I missing something? Is it the sheer length of the season? Interminable games between mismatched teams? The fact that 40% of the players, including some of the best, come from outside the Continental US? The lack of an effective cap? Bad ownership?
I honestly don't know, so maybe someone can enlighten me.
We are all familiar with the "NFL Story."
Cap.
Competitive games throughout the season, nearly all of which are played in about three hours +/-.
Relatively few games on a compressed schedule that leave people "wanting more" and not just "waiting for September to be over."
Smart owners.
"Winner take All" Playoff scenarios that keep people across the country on the edge of their seats for six weeks at an otherwise "dead" time of the year media-wise, even if the "Winner" isn't always the better team.
Marquee players to whom people can relate like Peyton and Favre and Brady plus dozens of others in local communities (you don't think Big Ben hasn't figured out how much endorsement money his behavior has cost him?)?
Why doesn't MLB just wake up?
