In the process of defending his unwillingness to spend, Attanasio may have opened up a bigger can of worms
I’m sure many of you have seen Brewers owner Mark Attanasio’s recent interview in USA Today on the challenges of owning a small market team. In the interview, he claims the Brewers “struggle to break even” every year. Then, he offers a somewhat nihilistic-sounding question:
“Is my job to win a World Series, or is my job to provide a summer of entertainment and passion and a way for families to come together?”
How about both, Mark?
Professional sports have, up until now, operated under the premise that every team is trying to set themselves up to win the World Series sometime soon. I can’t think of any examples, at least in my lifetime, where an owner of a sports team openly admitted that they might not be prioritizing championships.
Take, for example, the (egregious) Luka Dončić trade. For those of you who don’t follow basketball, Dončić led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals last year at 24 years old. He’ll be a Hall of Famer when he retires. He’s the kind of player you simply don’t trade. The Mavericks traded him for a lot less than he was worth, probably because they didn’t want to pay his upcoming supermax contract.
However, even the Mavericks would never, ever, ever, ever admit that they would trade their franchise superstar solely to save money. The organization claimed that Anthony Davis (the main piece that the Mavs got back) was less likely to get injured and better defensively — and therefore more likely to win them a championship this year.
Even though it’s a lie, that’s what the Mavericks have to say. They have to at least pretend like they’re trying to win a ring. Professional sports are about winning. Davis, of course, immediately got injured, but the Mavericks organization still continued to say all the right things.
Attanasio hasn’t even given Brewers fans the luxury of lying to them. Instead, he openly questions whether trying to win a World Series is “his job.” Brewers fans deserve better than that.
Milwaukee last appeared in a World Series in 1982. There are Brewers fans who have gone through high school, college, started a family, bought a house, and seen their kids grow up – all without seeing their favorite team make it past the NLCS. Milwaukee is one of five baseball teams who have never won a World Series.
If they’re trying to win but have to lose players because they can’t afford them (like Willy Adames), that’s okay. Sports aren’t fair, life isn’t fair. That’s part of rooting for a small-market team. But Attanasio and Co. need to be operating with the end goal of winning a World Series one day.
It doesn’t appear they are. After the USA Today interview came out, reporter Ken Rosenthal broke another story about Attanasio. Apparently Attanasio “asked his front office to contemplate cost-cutting trades of right-hander Aaron Civale, who is earning $8 million, and reliever Joel Payamps, who is at $2.995 million.”
The Brewers happen to need relievers right now. Milwaukee has had 90-plus wins each of the last two seasons. If management was serious about winning a ring, they wouldn’t be looking at trading bullpen contributors as a “cost-cutting” measure. This is the time when they should be signing free agents and pushing for the World Series. If they don’t win in a couple years, then trade the vets and rebuild around the young guys.
Our big-ticket free agency signing, to bolster a young team who won 93 games and the division last season? Elvin Rodríguez. I actually had to Google who that is. The Brewers didn’t spend over a million dollars on any free agent this year.
Brice Turang is listed as both the starting shortstop and starting second baseman. Spring Training started today. What are we even doing?
It sure seems like Attanasio is content to just lose early in the playoffs. Maybe, if everything falls into place, they’ll make it all the way to the NLDS before losing to the Dodgers. Or the Mets. Or any other team run by people that actually care about making it to the World Series sometime in the next 30 years.
The last point I want to make is that it’s not all Attanasio’s fault either. Attanasio is rich enough to own an MLB team and a professional investor. How many investors would invest in a business that loses money every year? It’s not like nobody’s coming to the games – the Brewers ranked 16th in league attendance. He’s not running the team into the ground – the Brewers are way closer to the Rays than to the A’s. Owning a small market team shouldn’t force him to choose between making money and trying to win a championship.
So, what’s the solution?
One reason the Brewers aren’t as profitable is their TV market, the smallest in the league. They make $35 million a year off of their TV contracts. Compare this to the Dodgers, who received about $330 million in broadcast revenue last year. That’s $15 million more than the Dodgers’ entire payroll.
An idea that helps mitigate this would be an NBA-style revenue sharing agreement, basically a wealth tax. Teams who spend more than a certain amount on their payroll and/or receive a certain amount of revenue would have to pay a “luxury tax.” That tax would then be redistributed to the teams who make less money.
That way, the discrepancy between teams like the Dodgers and teams like the Brewers would be somewhat lessened. The Dodgers can still use the country of Japan as its farm team, and the Brewers (and other small market teams) wouldn’t have to choose between competing and breaking even. The Brewers would still be at a disadvantage financially, but less so.
Baseball, in 2025, is more unequal than it’s ever been in the modern era. The Yankees and Dodgers are both worth more than the entire country of Barbados. Meanwhile, small market teams have to constantly sell their stars for prospects just to stay competitive year after year. Something needs to be done.
In the meantime, maybe I should recalibrate my expectations. Every year, when the Brewers clinch the playoffs, I start to convince myself that this is finally their year. If the owner of the team doesn’t know if his job is to win a World Series, I’m definitely not going to hold my breath.