While the courts debate whether the team can be legally moved at this point in their contract, it is widely believed that Tampa-St. Petersburg would be the eager recipients of a transient Mariners team. There is more "support" for baseball in Florida, Smulyan says.
More support means more money.
No one would argue that there is less money in Seattle than in Florida, or more in Los Angeles than Kansas City. Smaller markets have fewer television and radio stations which pay less money for the broadcast rights to games. Fans with lower salaries must be attracted with lower ticket prices. These regional economic facts of life are accepted by most.
McDonald's does not expect a franchise in Portland, Or, to make as much money as one in New York City or to pay their employees the same salaries. Major League baseball suffers from a peculiar blind spot in this regard.
One example is the current arbitration process for determining player salaries. If the Yankees begin paying an outfielder with a .235 batting average $400,000 a year, a player from Seattle with a similar average will demand equity when his contract comes up. Most of the time he is given it. There is no recognition of the huge difference in the two teams' revenues, of the cost of living differential or even of the different tax structure in each state.
This problem has been exacerbated in the last few years by changes in rules governing free agency. As more players call the shots, salary inflation has skyrocketed. Unable to afford young stars, low-revenue teams are doomed to mediocrity.
THIS IS NOT to say that Smulyan and other owners owe all their financial difficulties to the outrageous demands of players. Among the expenses that Smulyan has attributed to the Mariners when calculating his "losses" are a chartered plane to take him from Indianapolis to "home" games (Arakawa could take the bus) and payments he is still making on the loan that financed his purchase of the team in the first place. Smulyan is not losing money--he is just not making as much as he wants as quickly as he had hoped.
The fact remains, however, that baseball owners, particularly those with no personalties to their team's communities, will always be interested in profit margins. Lackluster teams in slow markets are at risk whenever their owners get itchy feet. Seattle may be facing the dilemma now, but other small cities may be at risk tomorrow.
Some of this movement is perhaps inevitable. Any former Dodgers or Giants fan could tell you that. But if baseball is to be kept a "national" sport, it cannot afford an unchecked gravitation motivated only by a desire for bigger bucks.
Major League baseball has always had a disturbing sink or swim attitude toward the weaker of its members. Baseball officials should not place a xenophobic regulation over the best interests of Seattle fans.
Something might be gaining, but it won't be baseball.
Lori E. Smith '93-'94, a Crimson editor, is a Red Sox fan.