What about the minors?

[foreverfree]

Most MiLB teams, all but a small handful, are affiliated with an MLB franchise, so I imagine some MiLB fan dollars are diverted to the parent MLB franchise; am I correct? I think you know where I'm going from here. OK, time for those "in the know" to chime in.

John

 

[jaxvid]

I don't think any Minor league teams make enough money to pass on to the parent organization. I'm fairly familiar with how the Toledo/Detroit relationship works.

Toledo is considered a good minor league operation and they can barely stay in the black. Minor league clubs are encouraged to cover their costs, if they do that then they are very successful. That's one reason the minor league teams have lots of hispanics, it's cheap. The MLB teams carry some salary of the minor players, and pony up for the bonuses to sign the players.

At the lower levels I imagine the big league clubs carry a significant portion of the operating expenses. It's a business like anything else.

I wish the NFL and the NBA would be forced to carry the costs of their minor leagues instead of passing it onto the taxpayer through the financing of college sports. I believe that the caste system would collapse if the NBA and the NFL were exposed to the free market.