Interesting article done last week by forbes.com. Here iswhat you need to know about it. Just read these numbers and tell me that baseball doesn’t need the Yankees and Red Sox more than any other team out there.

With revenue sharing setup the way it is, MLB isn’t supporting the league, “Yanks/Sawx” are:

• The Yankees paid $77 million in revenue sharing and lost $50 million last year in operating costs…the overall value of the A’s, Twins and Royals increased 20% each.

• The Red Sox paid $51 million in revenue sharing and lost $18.5 million last year in operating costs…Meanwhile the Pirates, Devil Rays and those Royals (again) each earned $20 million.

I know that the Yankees have the highest payroll and the Red Sox are up there too. But notice that both are still losing money. In the economics of baseball today, if you put out a good product and want your best shot at winning, then you better be ready to lose some money. But if you wanna put out a bullshit lineup and not care about the fans or winning, then you’re gonna make a fortune.

Some could point out that’s the problem with Major League Baseball.  Most people point out the lack of a salary cap allows teams like the Yankees and Red Sox to outbid almost every other team for the best players available.  Thus making the “balance of power” or “competitive balance” uneven.  This is why you see the Yankees and Red Sox in the postseason almost every year.

What you don’t hear about up until now is how that Yankees and Red Sox are the driving force behind any profits Major League Baseball receives.  I mean just this week the Red Sox were on ESPN on back to back nights.  Why? Cause a million Sox fans probably tuned in.

Red Sox fans as well as Yankee fans are all over the world.  I am sure if someone had enough time they could go out and find atleast 20 Yankee fans and 20 Red Sox fans in every major city in the country.If you don’t believe me, turn on the TV the next time the Yankees or Red Sox are playing on the road.

In Cleveland this past week you could hear the Sox fans over the Indians fans (during the one game they won anyway.)
When the Yankees travel to Tampa (hell, when they travel anywhere except Boston) their fans always outnumber the hometown fans.

Yankee merchandise makes up 27% of total MLB merchandise sales.  The Red Sox make up 13%.  That is a combined 40% just from these two teams.  That means the other 60% is spread out over the other 32 teams.  (Take out the popular Braves, Mets and Dodgers and that percentage probably goes down)

You can even argue that the two most popular baseball players are David Ortiz and Derek Jeter…a Red Sox and a Yankee.

I get a little tired of fans of other teams complaining about how all we hear and see are Yanks and Sawx.  I think we need to see more.  Cause without these two teams, baseball would be in worse shape than it already is.

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