The Mets had the sport’s highest competitive balance tax payroll in 2022, reports Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. For CBT purposes, New York’s final tally checked in at $299.8MM. According to the report, that was around $2MM higher than the 2015 Dodgers’ $297.9MM mark that had stood as the previous spending record.
New York is responsible for a $30.8MM tax bill, the second-largest tally in the majors, after paying the tax for the first time in franchise history. The Dodgers will foot the highest tax payment at $32.4MM, Blum writes. While Los Angeles’ $293.3MM CBT payroll trailed that of the Mets, the Dodgers were subject to higher penalties as a payor for a second consecutive season.
The Mets are sure to shatter their own record this coming season, as they’re currently projected for a tax number north of $368MM. The Dodgers have trimmed spending, reportedly in hopes of resetting their tax status this year in preparation for a more active offseason next winter. They’re narrowly above the lowest CBT threshold at the moment. Roster Resource forecasts the Dodgers at approximately $238MM, around $5MM north of this year’s $233MM base threshold.
As the Associated Press first reported last September, six teams went over the CBT mark in 2022. Blum reports today the specifics of the payments owed by the Yankees ($9.7MM), Phillies ($2.9MM), Padres ($1.5MM as a second-time payor) and Red Sox ($1.2MM). The final three figures, in particular, are very modest expenditures relative to club payrolls. Nevertheless, the decision to narrowly surpass the threshold is significant in that it raises penalties for payments in future seasons and alters teams’ compensation for signing or losing qualified free agents. The Padres and Phillies surely don’t have regrets after each posted one of the best years in recent franchise history, but the decision didn’t translate to success in the Red Sox’s case. Blum writes that the tax money will be paid to MLB by the end of this week.
A team’s CBT number is determined by the average annual value of a club’s commitments plus player benefits and their contributions to the new bonus pool for pre-arbitration players. The CBT figure isn’t a match for an organization’s actual player payroll in a given season. Blum reports each club’s final raw payroll figure as well, with the Mets again fronting the pack at roughly $274.9MM. The Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Padres, Red Sox, White Sox, Braves, Astros and Blue Jays filled out the top ten.
On the other side, the A’s had the lowest payroll at approximately $49MM. The bottom 10 was rounded out by the Orioles, Pirates, Guardians, Marlins, Royals, Rays, D-Backs, Reds and Mariners. Full team data is available at the AP link.
Cohen going to team up with the Dodgers to find some very convenient loopholes.
Nah, he’s just going to write the chwck.
Just a bump in the road, about 40 million will come off the books at the end of this year for Cano and McCann alone and Max and Justin is just a 2 year deal
Bloom going just $1.2M over should have gotten him fired.
Somebody in his front office must have miscalculated, probably because they are devoting so much time to obscure useless analytics.
I mean seriously … look at all the penalties the Sox faced because of such a small amount.
Ridiculous.
The 1.2 million is the tax. It doesn’t say how much the Red Sox are over. I think it’s more like 4.5 million over the limit.
Cards – You’re right, my bad. Based on the 20% penalty for Tier One, the Sox were just $6M over on LT spending.
Still ridiculous to suffer the penalties for such a small overage.
I agree. They should have shed some payroll at the deadline.
They have to draw the line somewhere.
I wonder if they went over because they didn’t care, knowing full well they’re resetting in 2023 as they have no intention of going over this year? I’ve tried to figure out what the Red Sox were doing at the trade deadline and I remain perplexed.
Lord – I find it hard to believe they’d intentionally go over. It’s not just the tax they are being penalized with.
The two picks the Red Sox will receive for Bogaerts and Eovaldi will fall after the fourth round, likely at picks Nos. 133 and 134. If they had not exceeded the threshold, those picks would have come after Competitive Balance Round B, likely at picks No. 70 and 71. So going over the threshold dropped the compensation picks more than 60 spots and cost the Red Sox about $1 million in bonus pool money for this year’s draft.
And the Sox would have had to give up their second- and fifth-highest selections in the draft as well as $1 million from their international free agency bonus pool if they had signed a qualified free agent. Which is one reason why they didn’t use some of their 2023 payroll space on a big name free agent.
Good point. I didn’t factor in the additional penalties. Makes even less sense. Did Bloom even attempt to explain the rationale?
Shaim Doom remains perplexed as well!
Shaim Doom remains perplexed as well!!
“obscure useless analytics”
The type of research every single team does looking for an edge over the competition.
Reposted in the right place: They choose not to trade guys, but that may be more of a show of power that they don’t just give away players for free. It helps with long-term credibility and authority. Sure, I’d have to know what specifically they were offered for Evoldi and Martinez, but it’s still a possible reason for the deadline.
They basically paid 1..2m for the privilege of having 2 lower draft picks and not being able to be in the draft lottery next season.
No excuse at all.
Bloom has been a disaster. Not the Zaidi, Neander or Friedman he was made out to be.
At least they don’t have that GM from that Florida team that I shall not name.
I can’t get over the Avisail Garcia deal.
Blooms handling of last seasons trade deadline and going over the lux tax last year coupled with his ridiculous offer to Bogey and complete misreading of Bogeys market and terrible off season when he had a crap ton of money to work with should get him fired.
I wasn’t in the hang Bloom crowd I was sorry to see DD go and was willing to give Bloom a chance. I think there has been some unfortunate things happened but I also believed and said this off-season was make it or break it. Well color me unimpressed with all the payroll to work with he has put together, most likely, a last place team maybe a 4th place team in the AL East. He shouldn’t survive the season as the GM or whatever his title is.
More of the Bloom hypocrisy. You want to build a self sustaining system. Great. Yet, you go over the CBT and end up with lower draft picks. How exactly does that line up with what he’s saying? With the new rules Sox could have the worst record next season and not even get a top 10 pick.
You’re committed to drafting, developing and keeping your own. Like Devers. You don’t want to get into a long term contract with Bogaerts at his age. I get it. Problem is he wasn’t always 30. Could have locked him up for 8-10 yrs when he was 26 or 27 for a lot less than his current contract.
Last season a bunch of injuries and a whole lot of ifs. Already have injuries and 10x more ifs for next season.
Listen Yewed, I have been a wait and see guy on Bloom I always pointed to this off season as a make it or break it. He had a ton of money to work with to make this a better roster then last year and yet it’s worse. At some point there has to be accountability for the building of your major league roster. On paper this isn’t a very good team compared to rest of the division. I just believed that this was a key offseason and he didn’t live up to expectations. I will be surprised if he’s with Boston after this season. It’s also important to remember Blooms words are they are going to compete while building for the future. While I give him a pass the first years he had the pay roll to do that and he has failed it’s simple as that that’s my opinion.
The Padres made the ridiculous offer to XB, not Bloom. XB is not a SS and should not have been paid like one. Padres overpaid, and compounded the mistake by not moving him off SS immediately. Instead, they are moving their SS, Kim, to 2B and their 2B to first. They will probably shuffle them all again next year, should Machado opt out. Can’t wait for the Padres sell off.
Stymie I’m not upset because they didn’t match that Padres offer but the gross miscalculation of his free agency value and not locking him up when he even said he was just looking for something like what Story got. I believe 100% that Bogey wanted to stay but by giving him the ridiculous offer they gave him prior to the 2022 season forced him to test free agency it’s just a damn shame.
They choose not to trade guys, but that may be more of a show of power that they don’t just give away players for free. It helps with long-term credibility and authority. Sure, I’d have to know what specifically they were offered for Evoldi and Martinez, but it’s still a possible reason for the deadline.
The majority of these bottom 10 teams spend little, take cbt revenue from teams that do spend, get high draft picks, plus yearly compensatory picks and offload their 1-year contracts every summer. How are other league owners okay with that?
Because they’re all making a killing. As David Come rightfully pointed out on his podcast yesterday, Bob Castellini & Peter Angelos have been very vocal about their lack of profit and their inability to put a competitive team in the field, yet they refuse to open their books and can’t answer the media questions regarding the specifics of their allegations.
They’re trying to play both sides. And he also points out that the owners profit doesn’t come in year-to-year riches. Their chief profit comes when they sell the team for 10X the amount they purchased it for. These owners are trying to maximize profits instead of making the team/game better and also maximize the resale. It’s failing. Put the money into the team, put a competitive team on the field or else, as Cone put it, sell the team.
As a Guardians fan, I wonder the same thing. It’s a great business decision and that’s why it’s allowed, but it’s terrible for the fans.
6 teams above $200M (2 above $270M)
9 teams $150-199M
7 teams $100-149M
4 teams $80-99M
3 teams $60-70M
1 team under $50M
What an ugly imbalance. How MLB allows this is embarrassing. I’m seeing at least 8 teams playing at a huge disadvantage.
A lot of that is self inflicted. How the players didn’t demand all competitive balance funds go to payroll is beyond me.
That would’ve put every team at about $125 million. Instead 8 teams pocketed other teams money.
I’m all for a stricter tax limit, too. But a ton of the inequality is created by owners who pocket other owners money rather than paying players.
@halos
Owners aren’t “pocketing the money.” There are other costs to running a team besides player payroll. Also, maybe consider the competitive balance fund the cost to continue having a larger market to operate in. NY’s market is 9 times the size of KC. That’s where the inequality stems from. Guess MLB should start a campaign to move people from NY, LA, and Boston to the other cities until all markets are the same size? Nah, the tax is easier and doesn’t really make up for the market disparity. That keeps the large market owners happy, and their fans mad at the small market teams. Fans are so dumb.
That’s crap. The bottom feeders are absolutely pocketing the money. There needs to be a floor like in sports that have a cap like Basketball and Hockey. Make the bottom feeders at least spend to the floor if your gonna make the rich pay. It’s only fair. Having the Mets with a 350 million payroll and the A’s with a 40 million dollar payroll is a disgrace.
Actually, fans are smart enough to do math rather than take a few bad owners at their word.
Every team gets an even cut from the national tv contracts, MLB package, and MLBAM. That’s a guaranteed $60.1 million per team. Last year that included a bonus $30 million from MLBAM
Then every team puts 48% of their local revenue into a pot with each team pulling out an equal 3.3%. In the three years prior to the pandemic, that sum was right at $110 million and has increased since then.
So the Royals received over $110 million from that pot, $60.1 million in national TV money, and still got to keep 52% of their local revenue last year. Not to mention the bonus $30 million.
That’s a total approaching $200 million in revenue not including the bonus. Well over $200 million with it. The team spent $90 million on payroll.
I’m a small business owners. I know there’s cost to running a business. But there’s zero chance the cost to run an MLB team is 120% of the MLB payroll.
The vast majority of the $140 million-ish delta went into the owners pocket. I don’t fault a guy for turning a profit, but that’s insane.
I agree with the floor actually. But thinking every team can spend 350 million is something only a large market fan would think.
As someone said above, there are more expenses than player salaries. The Mets and Yankees could probably cover player salaries with their local TV money alone. Not every market gets that kind of bread from their local TV deal.
Exactly.
Floor: two year average of the competitive balance allotment plus 50% of national tv money distribution.
First tax rate: 150% of the floor.
Increased every 10% of floor.
Cap: 200% of floor
Would direct basically half of all MLB revenue to players, owning a team stays profitable, ensures far more parity.
I like this with one caveat. If you have a floor, you would have to make sure local TV revenues are shared as well.
Nobody is expecting every team to spend 350 million because the Mets did. That’s ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with resetting once in awhile, Every team ends up with an aging payroll at some point. Cubs just did it. The point is if you’re never putting your chips in you’re a fraud. Ricketts just spent a ton of money. Do I expect the A’s to? No. But when you’re a permanent tightwad like the A’s and Pirates who cry no fan base, Well then move or stop crying. When the A’s play in that crap ballpark and make their fans swim in raw sewage when it rains something needs to be done. The Orioles for their cheap ways the last few years in an endless rebuild at least put their chips in on Davis and others. The fact that the League doesn’t AT LEAST make them put the free money they get back into the product is comical. You watch, When the Pirates players deserve to be paid they’ll on the first train to NY or LA for a bunch of newer cheaper dudes. They do it every time.
If like the guy says the Royals got 60 million in TV money and 30 or so from the Tax, Then there’s nothing wrong with making them pay a 133 million in payroll, which is like a lousy 33 % of the free money. Geez
Well said. Many fans seems understand the inequities in the distribution of baseball revenues, but fewer get that the system virtually guarantees profitability even (if not especially) for the lower-revenue teams. In effect they are being rewarded by the higher-revenue teams for failure. Payroll floors and ceilings probably can’t fix this. The only way to really fix it is to divide the revenue of the game equally 30 ways, and reward teams for success instead of failure. We get what we get because the incentives are totally backwards.
The fact that the Cubs have a Spring Training home that is better than just about any facility the A’s have is a joke. When that downpour hit on the A’s and you saw dung flowing down the aisles ( Literally, Looked like re formed burritos ), That’s a joke. For the A’s to get 90 million in free money and toss out a 40 million dollar payroll Is a slap in the face to other teams. At least the Pirates have a nice stadium but you can bet there’s none of Nutting’s money in there, Except maybe the decorations for his free suite. There are cities who would support a team, If these owners don’t want to. Everybody plays everybody so rivalries don’t mean squat anymore anyway.
The Cubs spring park is nice.
I do love the A’s park (HoHoKam) post remodel. Perfect spot for a day game, still has that old spring training feel.
You mean the Cubs OLD park? LOL Bet they haven’t changed a light bulb since the Cubs left. Remodel? I bet all they did was paint their Logo over the Cubs .
They did a substantial remodel. Put in great covered patios past first and third that are perfect viewing spots. Great upgrade to the video board.
Great fan access to the bullpens. A guy handed my son a ball after his warm ups pitches last year.
Not joking when I say it’s a favorite of mine. Granted, I like smaller parks. But I do go there more years than not.
The Mets are an exception, in that owners of a business do not usually open their own wallet to operate the business once established. Costs for the Yankees and the Pirates are very similar. TV money, attendance, souvenirs, parking, even concessions are all tilted in NY’s favor. No way can Pirate fans pay what the Yanks charge for tickets and concessions. When the costs are the same, but revenue is less, surprise! Payroll will be less.
It’s not free money. It’s compensation (partial) for market disparity. Each team is an equal part of MLB but cities are different sizes. This is supposed to be enough of a balance to stop the Marlins owner from complaining.
The Mets payroll will come down after this year about 40 million of the 350 will come off the books at the end of this year for Cano and McCann alone and Max and Justin is just a 2 year deal so after 2024 another 80 million roughly will come off.
I’m criticizing the league, owners, players. everyone. That’s like going to a premium store and allowing a vendor to sell $.99 products at the store. When you have a premium product you set the market.
You mean the teams pocketing the money from national tv contracts and revenue sharing?
Teams put about half their local revenues into a pot then all 30 teams take an equal 3.3% out of the pot.
So the big market teams put in way more than they get out. Small markets get out way more than they put in.
That number is in addition to the national contracts. It is literally Nutting and the usual pocketing other teams money.
Schools should really teach more practical math …
That disparity is what happens when you penalize the higher spending teams & still allow bottom teams to run out a AAA squad instead of paying to put a good product on the field with no consequences. The reason why *everyone* is okay with that in ownership/MLB administration is because they’re all raking in money. After all, there are only 30 teams and $11.5 billion dollars can only be divided up within that limited pool of owners.
I wrote a piece on this.
I’d be pissed as an owner when the A’s or Pirates came to town knowing they’d owner pocketed my cash then rolled out a team nobody wants to see meaning I have empty seats in my ballpark. Or I have to pay for a bobble head or something.
So the only thing I can think keeps this system going is the teams who want to win are cool with the fact some teams don’t. Winning brings exposure, playoff revenue, etc.
So the big market owners see it as a cost of doing business.
Meanwhile props to Milwaukee for having the smallest media market but always spending right at the number from that pot.
Those 8 teams chose to have a payroll that low.
Manfred bragged that no team would have revenue under $250 million in 2022. From the Braves and Blue Jays we know that non-baseball costs are around $130 million.
So those 8 teams decided it was more important to take a huge profit than to spend that money on players.
To be fair they all got an extra $30 million-ish at the end of last year for the MLBAM sale. That’s a one time payment.
Still leaves a cool $220 million as “routine” income.
Baseball only cares about making as much money as possible and serving their overlords. They dont care about a competitive balance. Just fans do. MLB just puts on the illusion it does w sort caps and penalties but at the end of the day – it’s better business model to allow the largest markets to have all the best players
I’m not even a Red Sox fan, but I was thinking the same thing. Why wasn’t this taken into consideration at the trade deadline when they could tell they were not going to have a postseason-caliber team? They should have traded Bogaerts and Eovaldi. Even trading just one of them would have gotten them well under the luxury tax threshold and netted them a decent return.
In hindsight, they should have attached Jeter Downs to Chris Sale for a trade to another team.
I still find it odd the Dodgers are willing to sacrifice some this year to hopefully have a better year in 24.
World Series window is wide open.
I still think they make some notable move this season. They’re too good and too rich not to.
Halos – It’s not just about 2024 for the Dodgers. By making room to sign Ohtani, they’d be improving their team for at least another 7 years.
It’s obvious. Dodgers are saving their money for Ohtani.
Having him go there of all places would really just twist the knife into Angels fans.
Halo you can say that again. I was wondering about this earlier today..
Let’s say the Angels or whomever signs Ohtani for the $500M that most people think its going be.
And.they are giving him that amount because he can hit and pitch at a high level.
Can the team that signs him put a clause that states should Ohtani hurts his Arm or Shoulder to the point he can no longer pitch effectively in the majors. Can that clause stipulate we pay your yearly salary 40% less due to fact you can only hit and no longer pitch?????
I don’t think that’s possible. The only way I can think to protect yourself as a team would be to have a base salary with incentives for innings and at bats.
You can put all kinds of incentives and clauses into contracts. But like we saw with Correa—Ohtani won’t sign that isht.
He’s going to get a ton of guaranteed money.
One simple answer to some of this – if a team participates in any public funding at all for the stadium or any other tax incentives, then they should open the books. Period.
If you want to run this as a private business, then that is great (even though you still have an antitrust exemption which should preclude even that) but if you want public funds then that should be the tradeoff.
Isn’t that up to the municipality funding the stadium to demand the owner open the kimono?
FLOTG – Yes, they should be looking at them. However, it is taxpayer money that is being used, therefore the books should be open to the public as well.
If it’s not your local MLB team sucking the public funding it’s an “incentive” package and tax credits for a big corp to come into your city and “create jobs”
How the game continues to be played!
I agree Carver. And to add to your point, it’s worse than private business receiving public funds in a way because they are also the very few whose businesses fall under a Congressionally-sanctioned monopoly.
They will fight it tooth and nail because they’re pocketing revenues instead of putting a playable team on the field, and then claiming poverty. If people knew the money they made they would probably riot over the public funds given to these guys.
Glad my team doesn’t play in the bottom 10 any longer
The problem is you have teams that put big money into the MLB roster and then you have teams that run like a small business or fast food joint and put all the money into scouting and development so when the current group gets too expensive the next group of minimum wagers are ready to go. The disparity comes from MLB being complicit and allowing owners to do this at the expense of the product on the field, which for many is substandard and not worth the price of admission
Then you have the Dodgers, who are always top 3 in team payroll and second in spending in scouting department. Compared to the Pirates, who spend the least amount in scouting and always have one of the lowest payroll’s.
Yes how dare a bottom 5 small market, like Pittsburgh, not spend like the number 2 market, Los Angeles! We threw loose change at them!
Pirates kicked the Dodgers ass last year.
They bring in a whole lot more of local TV money in their market too.
You might want to know the whole story, revenues versus expenses for each, before assuming anything. There are more operating costs for a team than just player salaries. Again, a lot of you assume a lot.
Unless we see the books, none of us really knows.
It is definitely a flawed system. I am hoping the teams at the bottom will change their ways but I have my doubts. The Pirates for example have some young guys that could end up being stars. They already paid Hayes..maybe that is a sign they are moving in the right direction but I tend to believe they need new ownership along with the other perpetually near the bottom teams. I like hearing my team is ok with going over the tax threshold..they will already be close this year with all the additions, especially Swanson.
Any three teams who spend the least three years in a row should be subject to having their franchises sold to an owner who’s willing to spend more. As long as the owners receive CBT funds, there’s no incentive to spend more on their teams. There should be a disincentive set up to ensure competitive teams are fielded in every franchise.
If you want the small markets to spend more, increase the revenue sharing, while adding a payroll floor. Of course you will never get the large market teams to agree to an equal playing field.
They should impose reverse penalties on those teams who aren’t spending. A reverse CBT penalty, if you will. A’s have the lowest payroll @ $42MM? That’s completely unacceptable. Pirates operations are borderline criminal.
The teams owners’ are not owning teams for profit, like conventional businesses. They have a duty, an obligation to the public, the league & its employees to put that money back into the team & league. Their profit is generated when they sell the team.
That’s also why Castellini & Angelo’s are getting hammered by the media for inconsistent non-answers on what they are doing with all their teams’ money. It’s also why they refuse to provide a look at their best evidence to support their claims (their books). They’re lying.
Pirates, Reds and A’s all just went ” We’re going to Disneyland”. Woo Woo And we’re not signing anybody.
The Reds second highest paid player is the released Moose and the third is Ken Griffey Jr. who gets 3.6 million in deferred money through next year (it wasn’t on here but have seen it elsewhere), players not even currently on the team.
Payroll went from 107 last year to an estimated 80 this year and they have spent 130 million in the past.
Bob has the kid GM sitting on his hands instead of signing players. Embarrassing and a big middle finger to the fans.
Castellini should be forced to sell the team, imho. If he truly can’t afford to put a better product in the field (likely a lie according to Dave Cone, Trevor Plouffe, media sources) than he should relinquish control to someone who can.
I know several fans who agree with you, including his cat, I think.
You are correct sir!!
Castellini decided after 2020 that the Reds are now no longer interested in multiple year contracts. Last week, Phil Castellini, told the Rosie Reds (a long standing Reds fan group) that guaranteed contracts encourages players not to produce. He said something to the effect “how would you like to be paid not to work?” Keep in mind, this guy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has never worked a day in his life. So the Reds are only going to sign free agents to one year deals. They also have no interest in extending players like India and Stephenson. When the young players hit arbitration they will be traded. Long before they become eligible for free agency.
I did not hear that about the Rosie Reds last week. No wonder they haven’t signed anyone significant.
TOBTTR here is a link to the story.
redlegnation.com/2023/01/14/why-do-cincinnati-reds…
Thanks. Unbelievable he said this in public. I remember the interview late last season where he bristled about hearing sell the team, Bob too.
What a joke! Make these teams share ALL tv revenue and hard cap the payrolls. Adopt a financial system more akin to the NBA/NFL or continue to watch this sport decline in popularity.
The fans willing to accept going to the games with their friends and neighbors is okay with me if it’s OK with the fans of the Ray’s & O’s. If I ever have a hankering to see the Red Sox and don’t want to pay JohnHenry’s asking price I know I can fly to Tampa or Baltimore and get three games in either place for what I would have to pay @ Fenway for 1 game.
Tampa’s average H attendance in ’22–13,927. The O’s Ave. 17,543. The RSox Ave. 32,408. I get to visit the restaurants and spend the money saved supporting the local workers. A flight to Tampa or Balt/ Wash is relatively inexpensive. Plus there’s plenty of room. No waiting lines for refreshments between innings.
If I were the Dodgers I wouldn’t be counting on
Shohei Ohtani especially with the deep pockets of the Owner of the Padres who has perhaps the nicest weather in America to live and play in plus is willing to spend his money on his team.
I am calling it now – Shohei will end up in Seattle.
Ohtani is building a lifetime brand. Until the Padres win a few championships, the Dodgers are much more lucrative to his brand. I’ll be surprised if he goes anywhere else.
You actually are kind of making my point. Seattle has a lot of connections to his home and support for Japanese players and their families.
LA has the highest Japanese population in the world outside of Japan. I also think Dodgers jerseys will sell better in Tokyo.
The Reds payroll is misleading. They have an $80 million dollar payroll now but $43 Million of that is going to two players; Mike Moustakas (who has been released) and Joey Votto who is the final year of his contract. After the 2023 season, their payroll will be sitting at $40 Million. They may add to that slightly, but not much chance their payroll in 2024 tops $50 million.
You forgot 3.6 million to Ken Griffey Jr. per year through next year that was deferred. It was not on this list but have seen it other places.
Funny he is their third highest paid player. #2 and #3 aren’t even on the dang team.
Yes you are right. I forgot about JR.
Here are teams by reverse of metro market size:
Less than 2 million
30 Milwaukee
Less than 2.5 million
29 Kansas City
28 Cleveland
27 Cincinnati
26 Pittsburgh
Less than 3 million
25 Colorado (Denver metro)
24 Baltimore
23 Tampa
22 St. Louis
Less than 3.5 million
21 San Diego
20 Minnesota (Twin Cities Metro)
19 Seattle
Over 4 less than 4.5 million
17 Oakland (same metro as SF)
17 San Francisco (same metro as OAK)
16 Arizona (PHX metro)
15 Detroit
Less than 5 million
14 Boston
Less than 5.5 million
13 Atlanta
12 Washington
Less than 6 million
11 Miami
10 Toronto
9 Houston
8 Philadelphia
6.5 million
7 Texas (DFW metro)
Over 9 million
5 Chicago Cubs (same as CWS)
5 Chicago White Sox (same as CHI)
13 million
3 Los Angeles Dodgers (same as LAA)
3 Los Angeles Angels (same as LAD)
20 million
1 New York Mets (same as NYY)
1 New York Yankees (same as NYM)
I find the following of note:
* Miami cries poor yet has a huge metro area and cannot consistently put a good team on the field.
* Phoenix and San Fran are same size markets. Although Oakland roped in here at same market size, I think we understand their ballpark challenges, etc., but even still, there is still a very large market and Oakland crying poor is much of their own making. (And, FWIW, MLB doesn’t use straight metro market size when making calculations; they basically use the TV rights area, I believe, but that can often be misleading for some teams when figuring out in-person support when entire states that are 8 hours or more away from a park are included.)
* San Diego, despite the relatively small market, consistently outspend many above them on the list.
* St. Louis and Tampa make the most of opportunities given their size and despite being at the lower end of population. Often see online hate when St. Louis gets a small market compensation pick yet don’t see much when San Diego gets one in a larger market. STL has a much better TV deal than Tampa and has substantially more fan support which helps them out.
* Milwaukee is smallest market yet has remained (mostly) competitive dating back to 2011.
You don’t say where you got these numbers but they are only meaningful if they are defined by the media markets for each area. This is the area in which the teams have exclusive broadcasting rights, AKA the blackout areas. I suspect most of them are larger than the numbers you’ve listed. It’s also worth pointing out that numbers of people aren’t the sole driver of a team’s media rights values. Other demographic factors play in.
Not to mention attendance figures. St Louis always draws we’ll while Tampa and Miami do not.
MSA is not the best way to measure market size in my opinion. CSA more closely matches Nielsen media market sizes. That puts St. Louis closer to number 4 market size. St. Louis gets a bigger market by taking most of the Memphis media market. KC pretty much owns the Omaha market as well. Cleveland also owns Akron and Canton. It’s much more complicated than MSA. Some teams have the ability to extend their reach. Atlanta owns most of the south. San Diego has a hard time extending because they are boxed in by Mexico and LA.
Am I reading that right? The White Sox were 7th in the league in payroll and they were a .500 team?? That’s pathetic!! All the other teams in the top 10 had great years in much tpugher divisions (except for Boston who were in a much tougher division) Just shows how pathetic their organization is!
So these Teams pay the Tax money to the MLB? What does the MLB do with it?
Redistribute it to the teams that don’t pay the CBT. That’s why it’s called the CBT, it’s supposed to balance competitiveness between the high and low revenue franchises. Not that it really does. It should be called the GPT (guaranteed profits tax), because that’s what it actually does.