Japan's Baseball Economic Analysis

“ Japan has the largest pro baseball league outside the U.S.” ( Lehnardt). But, does this mean Japanese baseball excels over United States? Or does it mean that other factors outside of the number have a significant impact. For example, the economy of the United States and Japan have tremendous effects on baseball in both these countries. The economy affects the money each venue has to spend, which directly affects the caliber of players each can afford. The economy affects the quality and size of the stadiums. Lastly, the economy affects whether baseball players decide to remain in their home countries to play, or find the need to travel and look elsewhere to live the dream of playing the game. Through analysis of the governance of

Thankfully, teams with small markets or baseball communities can still be successful, and competitive as well, because of loans from Major League Baseball, or because of revenue sharing. Revenue Sharing is certainly a primary resource many baseball clubs rely on. “Under this plan, all 30 MLB teams put a certain percentage of their net revenues into a pool. That pool is then split evenly between the teams.” (Baseball’s Bottom Line) The teams use this for recruiting, and maintaining what is needed for maintenance of a power heavy roster. Revenue sharing is a source of income that obviously is more beneficial for smaller teams, because it results in smaller teams getting more money than they put in. Bigger teams end up having access to a sum drastically lower than they contributed. However, when teams suffer financially, Major League Baseball has been know to step in and grant an emergency loan. The bottom line in the money discussion is that without a steady source of revenue, teams that have less money will not get the big draw, big name recruits they need to have a successful baseball team. The availability of revenue sharing is a definite advantage in American

Through analysis of the governance of baseball in these countries, it has shown that Japanese players often start, and perhaps stay, at substantially lower salary ranges than their American counterparts. However, the most talented players that choose to stay in Japan, clearly make up any deficit, as is seen in the maximum salaries for Japanese players. It still remains that lower salaries no doubt affect the quality of the recruiting, and encourage the most elite to leave the home country of Japan to play in America.
The market for baseball in America, which exceeds that of Japan, also means that players in the United States have greater financial support from the communities they represent. There is more opportunity for marketing, ticket sales, concessions, and broadcasting rights. The money these items generate goes directly to making the baseball organizations profitable in both geographic locations, but in Japan, excessive rental fees for stadiums where teams can play eats up any profit and destroys the bottom