This is an odd study that I hope to god was not funded by the tax payers.  I would like to start off this post by pointing out who ever wrote this article has zero understanding of sports.  How did I arrive at this conclusion? Take a look at the title of the article: “Cities with MLB baseball teams have a lower divorce rate!”  So what this is really saying is, Cities with Major League Baseball Baseball teams have a lower divorce rate!  I guess they didn’t understand that MLB stands for Major League Baseball.  To note this is not a common mistake made by people who frequent baseball games (which according to this article do so to save their marriage).  Who edits this crap?

The University of Denver Center for Marital and Family Studies has conducted a new study looking at divorce rates before and after cities got Major League Baseball teams. The study showed that cities with major league baseball teams had a 28 percent lower divorce rate than cities that wanted major league baseball teams.

My “evidence” shows that baseball has NOTHING to do with people staying together or not.  If anything I have evidence to the contrary.

In 1990, a year before Denver was awarded a major league baseball franchise, the city’s divorce rate stood at six divorces per 1,000 people. Ten years later, and seven years after the Colorado Rockies played their first game, the divorce rate had declined 20 percent to 4.2 divorces per 1,000 people. In contrast, the overall U.S. divorce rate dropped 15 percent. University of Denver (DU) director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies, psychology professor Howard Markman also studied divorce rates in other cities that welcomed a major league team and found a 30 percent decline in divorces in Phoenix, a 30 percent drop in Miami and a 17 percent drop in Tampa Bay area. While there could be many explanations for this significant difference, Markman stresses the importance of fun and friendship in a healthy marriage. Going to baseball games is one way couples can have fun together and talk as friends.  

Seriously? Have you ever seen the attendance at a Tampa Bay Devil Rays game? It’s one of, if not thee, worst in the MLB.  To think that the few thousand couples, (which is a stretch), that show up at a handful of games a year are an accurate sampling of the relative happiness and divorce rate of millions living in the surrounding Tampa Bay area is pretty heavy on the crazy sauce.  This is statistical malpractice.

True it is nice to go with your significant to a baseball game it’s by no means saving marriages like these ass clowns are postulating. “Going to a baseball game and not talking about relationship issues, but rather having fun and talking as friends is one of the ways to protect and preserve love,” Markman says.  I think this study is missing the basic fact that just spending time is ONE of the ways to “protect and preserve love” (although I don’t see how it’s possible to protect love with Baseball but that’s just me).  Also I typically associate going to baseball games with drinking beer and eating hot dogs, not a terribly romantic endeavor unless you’re this guy.

One last point to make here:  Professional sports aren’t saving marriages, their not bringing couples together, they are forms of entertainment and when people try to make these sporting events romantic interludes, that involve thousands of strangers, the consequences can be disasterous and hilarious.

The baseball players’ union says it has found evidence teams acted in concert against signing Barry Bonds but it reached an agreement with the commissioner’s office to delay the filing of any grievance.

That makes sense seeing as how not one offer has been put on the table for the prolific scorer.

In Major League Baseball, does a heavy investment in team payroll translate into success?  How do teams measure “success,” for that matter?   If the beancounters are consulted, success = high attendance.  If fans are consulted, success = a winning team, or at least exciting baseball games to attend, with a hope of contending.  Owners undoubtedly measure success by high revenues collected through a combination of ticket sales (where shared gate revenue can add up when your team has a loyal following around the country like the Red Sox Nation or fans are simply clamoring to see a once-in-a-generation talent like Barry Bonds), TV contracts (like the lucrative YES network for the Yankees), corporate sponsors, revenue sharing costs, stadium rent, and club standing in the league all figure in.

Major League Baseball is currently enjoying NFL like monetary success with team owners, “getting rich like never before. During 2007, revenue for MLB’s 30 teams went up 7.7%, to $5.5 billion. The average team is now worth $472 million, 9.5% higher than last year and 143% more than when Forbes first calculated team values in 1998. Again the Bronx Bombers sit atop baseball with a value of $1.3 billion. George Steinbrenner, who paid $10 million for the team in 1973, could probably teach Warren Buffett a thing or two about investing.”

So, the question remains, does significant monetary investment via payroll translate into a winning season?  Below is a breakdown of current league standings with, compared with player payroll and average attendance. (Current Standings and Average Attendance are ytd 2008 - half hearted apologies for the uneven alignment of the numbers I blame wordpress.)

AL East                             Payroll                    Rank      Ave. Attendance
Boston RedSox               $133,440,037                1                    37,594
Tampa Bay Devil Rays    $43,820,598                  2                    18,445
Baltimore Orioles           $67,196,248                   3                     22,933
Toronto Blue Jays           $98,641,957                  4                     25,485
New York Yankees         $209,081,579               5                     50,981

AL Central
Chicago WhiteSox          $121,152,667                  1                      25,789
Minnesota Twins           $62,182,767                     2                      24,677
Cleveland Indians          $78,970,067                     3                      23,109
Kansas City Royals        $58,245,500                    4                       18,616
Detroit Tigers                $138,685,197                   5                       37,726

AL West
Los Angeles Angels      $119,216,333                  1                        39,438
Oakland Athletics         $47,967,126                    2                        19,954
Texas Rangers              $68,239,551                    3                        22,880
Seattle Mariners            $117,993,982                  4                        26,472

NL East
Florida Marlins               $21,836,500                 1                         14,973
Atlanta Braves                $102,424,018               2                         29,648
Philadelphia Phillies       $98,269,881                 3                         38,864
New York Mets               $138,293,378              4                         49,625
Washington Nationals    $54,961,000                 5                         29,154

NL Central
Chicago Cubs                $118,595,833               1                         40,035
St. Louis Cardinals        $100,624,450               2                          40,846
Houston Astros             $88,930,415                  3                          33,793
Milwaukee Brewers        $81,004,167                4                          33,822
Pittsburg Pirates            $49,365,283                  5                         16,283
Cincinnati Reds             $74,277,695                 6                          21,169

NL West
Arizona DiamondBacks $66,202,713                1                          28,047
Los Angeles Dodgers    $118,536,038              2                          46,533
Colorado Rockies          $68,655,500                3                          32,276
San Francisco Giants     $76,904,500                4                          33,544
San Diego Padres          $73,677,617                5                          30,852

The Diamondbacks, Marlins, A’s, Twins and Devil Rays (all small market teams) are all at the top of their divisions and with the lowest (or 2^nd lowest) respective payrolls in their divisions.  However, most of these teams also draw low attendance even though they’re at the top of their respective divisions, so winning doesn’t necessarily translate into larger crowds and more money for the owner(s). Conversely, the WhiteSox, RedSox, Angels and Cubbies all have large payrolls, are ranked number #1 in their division, and enjoy solid attendance numbers. 

Therefore, it seems that success has more to do with the market in which the team is located, the stadium, a loyal fan base, big names on the roster and a glimmer of hope in the standings than it does with winning on a shoe string budget.  Fans, who today pay a lot to go to these games, like to see familiar faces and big names in nice parks.  Winning is still important to fans, but a loyal base and big market (see the Yankees) will keep the stadium packed even if they suck.     

It bears noting that all of these numbers are reflective of an early season.  With the NBA and NHL playoffs in full swing, baseball is taking a back seat to these sports until the All Star Break.  Let’s look at the numbers again in the fall and see where the teams stand then.