A weekly notebook on the business of the Braves:
Comparing payrolls: This week's games between the Braves and Red Sox matched teams at distant ends of baseball's spending spectrum.
Boston’s $175 million player payroll ranks third among the 30 MLB teams, according to calculations by the Associated Press, while the Braves’ $97.8 million payroll ranks 23rd.
Even at that, the Braves’ payroll figure is misleadingly high. About one-third of the payroll is going to players not on the field, either released or out for the season on the disabled list. The payroll for the 25 players on the Braves’ active roster is around $66 million, paltry by today’s baseball standards.
Still, you’d certainly have to say the Braves are getting more for their money this season than the Red Sox. Entering Thursday’s game, the reeling Red Sox were 28-39 and the rebuilding Braves 32-34.
From the commish: In an interview with Jim Powell and Don Sutton on the Braves' radio network earlier this week, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was asked about potentially shortening the regular-season schedule. That might be bad business, he indicated.
“I’m not opposed to it, but I’m realistic about how massive an economic issue it is,” Manfred said. Considering revenue from broadcasts and attendance, there’s “huge value in each of the games,” he noted.
“By the same token, people in the game recognize that 162 games in 183 days is one tough schedule,” Manfred said. “I said to the players today, ‘I work a lot, (but) I don’t work 162 in 183.’”
On another issue, Manfred stressed the importance of MLB teams attracting youngsters to the sport.
“If you come to the ballpark as a 7-year old for the first time as opposed to when you’re 12 years old, you are six times as likely to go to a game … as an adult,” Manfred said.
Along those lines, MLB and USA Baseball announced Thursday the launch of “Play Ball,” an initiative aimed at increasing participation in baseball, especially among youth. The program will advocate all forms of baseball-related activity, including playing catch, stickball and Wiffle ball.
