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Red Sox Yankees give rest of MLB a Christmas gift.
mercurynut
Posts: 3,207
in Sports Talk
12/24/2007 5:14 PM ET
Yanks, Red Sox hit with luxury tax
New York's competitive-balance tax decreases to $23.88 million
NEW YORK -- The Yankees lowered their luxury tax for the second straight season.
The club was hit with a tax bill of $23.88 million by Major League Baseball in a notice sent to teams late Friday, pushing them over the $100 million mark since the penalty for profligate spending was introduced in 2003.
The only other club that must pay the competitive-balance tax, as it is formally known, is the World Series champion Boston Red Sox, who owe $6.06 million.
Checks are due at the Commissioner's office by Jan. 31.
New York's bill is down from $26 million last year and a high of $33.98 million in 2005. In all, the Yankees have run up taxes of $121.6 million in five seasons with no World Series title to show for it.
The Yankees' tax total would have dropped even lower had they not signed Roger Clemens in midseason. The Rocket went 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA in 18 appearances, and he cost New York a $6.98 million tax increase in addition to the $17,442,637 in salary he earned.
He left Game 3 of the Yankees' first-round playoff series against Cleveland in the third inning because of an injured hamstring. New York won the game but was eliminated by the Indians the following night.
Boston will be paying tax for the fourth straight season but the bill for the Red Sox has been only a fraction of what the Yankees have paid. Boston's four-year total is $13.86 million, including just $497,549 in 2006.
The only other team to pay tax was the Angels, who owed $927,059 for 2004.
New York's payroll was $207.7 million and Boston was second at $163.1 million for luxury tax purposes, which uses the average annual values of contracts for 40-man rosters and adds benefits. Both teams pay at a 40 percent rate for the amount over the tax threshold, which rises from $148 million this year to $155 million next season.
New York figures to lower its payroll without Clemens next year -- unless the Yankees acquire Johan Santana from Minnesota and sign the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner to a big extension.
Yanks, Red Sox hit with luxury tax
New York's competitive-balance tax decreases to $23.88 million
NEW YORK -- The Yankees lowered their luxury tax for the second straight season.
The club was hit with a tax bill of $23.88 million by Major League Baseball in a notice sent to teams late Friday, pushing them over the $100 million mark since the penalty for profligate spending was introduced in 2003.
The only other club that must pay the competitive-balance tax, as it is formally known, is the World Series champion Boston Red Sox, who owe $6.06 million.
Checks are due at the Commissioner's office by Jan. 31.
New York's bill is down from $26 million last year and a high of $33.98 million in 2005. In all, the Yankees have run up taxes of $121.6 million in five seasons with no World Series title to show for it.
The Yankees' tax total would have dropped even lower had they not signed Roger Clemens in midseason. The Rocket went 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA in 18 appearances, and he cost New York a $6.98 million tax increase in addition to the $17,442,637 in salary he earned.
He left Game 3 of the Yankees' first-round playoff series against Cleveland in the third inning because of an injured hamstring. New York won the game but was eliminated by the Indians the following night.
Boston will be paying tax for the fourth straight season but the bill for the Red Sox has been only a fraction of what the Yankees have paid. Boston's four-year total is $13.86 million, including just $497,549 in 2006.
The only other team to pay tax was the Angels, who owed $927,059 for 2004.
New York's payroll was $207.7 million and Boston was second at $163.1 million for luxury tax purposes, which uses the average annual values of contracts for 40-man rosters and adds benefits. Both teams pay at a 40 percent rate for the amount over the tax threshold, which rises from $148 million this year to $155 million next season.
New York figures to lower its payroll without Clemens next year -- unless the Yankees acquire Johan Santana from Minnesota and sign the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner to a big extension.
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Comments
80s and 90s when small market teams like the Royals, Blue Jays, and As were in the post-season and World Series.
A salary cap wouldn't be any better as management would have room for unlimited earnings, whereas labor would be restricted on how much they earned no matter what happened with profits. It was seen as so unfair that it resulted in a lengthy strike
Hard to call the tax a pay-off when the total is still less than $1 million to each franchise
Revenue sharing might work
<< <i>During the 1980s the players were not being paid fair wages relative to the money they helped bring in
A salary cap wouldn't be any better as management would have room for unlimited earnings, whereas labor would be restricted on how much they earned no matter what happened with profits. It was seen as so unfair that it resulted in a lengthy strike >>
No, it wouldn't. It would be a cap with a floating ceiling, just like they do in the NFL. When revenues rise, the cap rises, and everyone wins. It will never happen in MLB as long as a few wealthy teams are able to keep their market advantages to themselves, unlike the NFL, which saw the potential problems long ago and decided the league's health was more important than a handful of team's health.
<< <i>Hard to call the tax a pay-off when the total is still less than $1 million to each franchise
Revenue sharing might work >>
Many teams show financial losses when in reality it is simply shady book keeping. Many teams sell their TV rights very cheaply to stations that are owned by the same people that own the team
The NFL model has worked amazingly well because the league sells the TV packages, not the individual teams. That works for a 16 game season, not a 162 game season. With 162-games people would not watch out of market games the same way they watch Monday Night Football. Regular season NFL games are on TV less that 40 days a year. Would major TV networks put MLB games on 180 days a year?