What’s the buzz from the world of sports? Here are some items that will have people talking:
1
Boston Red Sox owner John Henry has been fined $500,000 by Major League Baseball for publicly criticizing the sport’s revenue sharing rules.
Henry told Boston radio station WEEI on Tuesday that the commissioner’s office punished him for comments he made to The Boston Globe in November 2009.
After the 2009 season, Henry said seven “chronically uncompetitive teams” received more than $1 billion in revenue sharing and wondered who could think that was a good idea besides those clubs.
The good news from this story is that the $500,000 collected in the fine was distributed to the Royals, Marlins, Pirates, Athletics, Padres, Rays and Nationals.
2
And there’s more good news coming to those clubs — Hank Steinbrenner decided it was good idea to open his mouth.
Cha-ching!
“We’ve got to do a little something about that and I know Bud (Selig) wants to correct it in some way,” Steinbrenner said of revenue sharing and the luxury tax. “There’s a way. … At some point if you don’t want to worry about teams in minor markets, don’t put teams in minor markets or don’t leave teams in minor markets. Socialism, communism — whatever you want to call it — is never the answer.”
The Cincinnati Reds would beg to differ.
3
While Selig has not addressed this issue public, Talking Points has it on good authority that the commissioner does have a plan to relocate MLB’s four smallest market teams — the Rays, Royals, Pirates and Brewers.
The relocation idea — we’ll call it the Bud Plan — would require a realignment of leagues and divisions. Under the Bud Plan, the American League East could consist of the New York Rays, New York Royals, New York Pirates, New York Brewers and New York Yankees.
Happy now, Hank?
