Yankees president Randy Levine, while crying poor: ‘Nobody’s crying poverty’
By Mark Powell
The New York Yankees front office, like most professional baseball teams, is not struggling with money. Yet, president Randy Levine claims the players need to make concessions.
While the owners and players have disagreed on more than just money, the financial disparity is at the center of why teams and players have yet to report to spring training, and why the season is delayed as a whole.
Owners want a large cut of the pie — which the players are already willing to give them — while players want more competitiveness and to force mid-market and small-market teams to spent more to compete. That hasn’t been received well by some owners — such as Tigers owner Chris Illitch and Angels owner Arte Moreno — who would rather keep the luxury tax as is.
The luxury tax, of course, serves as baseball’s de facto salary cap, without making nearly as much of an impact. In an interview with Michael Kay on YES, Yankees president Randy Levine expressed shame that matters had gotten this far, and pleaded with players to make some concessions.
Yankees president Randy Levine: ‘There’s not endless money’
“There’s not endless money out there. Any perception that there’s endless money, especially after COVID, is just not true,” Levine claimed. “This is nothing to shut down the season over on both sides. This is something that can be compromised.”
Levine went on to preach fear, stating that as things stand, missing the season isn’t out of the realm of possibility, though he hopes that changes.
MLB players do not want endless money, as Levine claims. They want a higher average income for those of them not lucky enough to cash in on the free agent market. The majority of major-league players are not millionaires.
As for Levine’s situation, the Yankees are one of the most valuable franchises in professional sports.
Sure, the COVID-19 shortened season might’ve brought with it a downturn in the usual profits, but that doesn’t change the fact that most seasons, a team like the Yankees — or even the Pittsburgh Pirates, for that matter — is profitable.
Were it not, billionaires wouldn’t waste their time investing in professional sports.
Next. MLB players step up to help pay stadium workers affected by lockout. dark