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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 10/26/11

Mlb Files Suit On Manner Of Exposed Finances: As Cba Approaches Expiration

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And the ultimate insult to fans is that MLB tries to pawn itself off as a business as innocuous as the neighborhood deli.

 

But the primary question on behalf of not only consumers of MLB, but also taxpayers and even the MLBPA is if the leaked financial statements are even accurate. Without "open books', MLB baseball and its clubs have various mechanisms available to them allowing them to squirrel away certain expenses and revenue income without them appearing as such on a balance sheet. And to that end, even the IRS most likely does not have the correct numbers, either.

 

And both federal and state governments have but enabled such fuzzy math not only from MLB, but as we have seen with the National Football Leagues (NFL) and especially during this current National Basketball Association (NBA) lockout.

 

Cities and states are so hungry for additional revenue and potential jobs that things are only expected to get worse in terms of finding accurate numbers among thieves.

  

For example, there is an abuse of accounting practices throughout all of the professional sports leagues according to many Certified Public Accountants, in the field. It is essentially a case of how far they can push the envelope without being caught. And in MLB, the jury is still out as to whether any of its teams are truly losing money -- not unlike claims from the NBA -- in spite of revenue sharing and the luxury tax.

 

Although a financial statement of MLB's projected 2001 earnings was presented to the House Judiciary Committee when Bud Selig testified before it on December 6, 2001, his testimony then was about how "between 1995 and 1999 only three teams -- ten percent of the industry -- the New York Yankees, the Colorado Rockies, and the Cleveland Indians, were profitable. During that five-year period, on operations alone, the industry lost in excess of $1 billion figures," according then to Mr. Selig. So this is indeed a topic near and dear to his heart. But the question is was he telling the truth then or is he lying now about MLB's prosperity?

 

Unfortunately, we the public, are no closer to getting accurate figures on MLB genuine revenues -- in spite of this soon to be negotiated CBA -- than we are to cracking the code to the vault in the U.S. mint. And it is not enough to take MLB at its word, given all of its hide-the-ball accounting practices.

 

Given the timing of MLB's lawsuit, against one its own insurers yet, could its timing be any worse? Instead of spending resources, this post-season, to bring young fans into the game of baseball and to maybe win back many whom they lost long ago in the 1990's, MLB is seemingly squandering any good will left towards it and chooses to maintain an image of the Big Bad Wolf.

 

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Diane M. Grassi is an investigative journalist and reporter providing topical and in-depth articles and analysis on U.S. public policy and governmental affairs, including key federal and state legislation as well as court decisions relative to the (more...)
 
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