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The Florida Marlins have been singled out by Major League Baseball and the players' union over allegations the club hasn't been channeling the revenue sharing money it receives each year into player salaries.
While team officials say they have done no wrong, they indicated in a joint agreement released Tuesday that payroll would be increased as the team heads toward the opening of its new ballpark in 2012.
``In response to our concerns that revenue sharing proceeds have not been used as required, the Marlins have assured the Union and the Commissioner's Office that they plan to use such proceeds to increase player payroll annually as they move toward the opening of their new ballpark,'' Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, said in a prepared statement.
The announcement was made Tuesday following ``extensive discussions'' among the three parties.
The union has raised concerns that some teams, including the Marlins, have not been spending proceeds from revenue sharing on payroll as required in the Basic Agreement. But the Marlins were the only team mentioned in the joint statement released by the league, the union and the team.
The carefully worded announcement states that an agreement has been reached on the Marlins' ``continued compliance'' with the agreement.
There have been unconfirmed reports that a handful of teams, including the Marlins, are raking in as much as $90 million each season through revenue sharing and other sources of income, such as TV-radio rights, merchandising and sponsorships. Of that amount, some have speculated that $35 million of it comes from revenue sharing.
Financial records for major league teams are kept confidential. However, as part of the Basic Agreement, the union is permitted to see those records to make sure clubs are adhering to the rules.
Revenue sharing, adopted in 1997, was created to spread the wealth generated from large-market teams to small-market teams. But there has been increased grumbling that teams such as the Marlins aren't putting the money back into the on-field product.
The Marlins have had the lowest total player payroll in the majors three of the past four seasons. The World Series champion New York Yankees had a higher payroll last season -- about $200 million -- than the Marlins have had in the past five seasons put together. Last season, total payroll for the Marlins was about $36 million -- lowest among all 30 major-league teams.
Super agent Scott Boras has complained openly about the lack of spending by clubs receiving large sums of money through revenue sharing. And in December, Red Sox owner John Henry said in an e-mail to the Boston Globe that the current system for revenue sharing needed to be overhauled.
``Change is needed, and that is reflected by the fact that over a billion dollars has been paid to seven chronically uncompetitive teams, five of whom have had baseball's highest operating profits,'' The Globe quoted Henry as saying. ``Who, except these teams, can think this is a good idea?''
Henry once owned the Marlins.
The Marlins have been successful on the field despite their low payrolls, producing winning teams -- as well as a World Series title -- in five of the past seven seasons. Yet they have done so by largely ignoring big-ticket players on the free agent market.
In terms of salary, the largest free agent signing the Marlins have made over the past four years has been the one-year, $2 million deal given to Luis Gonzalez in 2008 -- a small amount compared to the multi-year, nine-figure deals some players are getting from other clubs.
But team officials say they have not violated the agreement.
``The Marlins have consistently made every effort to put the best product on the field and our record supports the fact that we have been successful in that regard,'' Marlins president David Samson said in a statement. ``Throughout the discussions, the Marlins maintained that there had been no violation of the Basic Agreement at any time. While we know that the Marlins will always comply with the Basic Agreement, we were happy to work cooperatively with the Union and the Commissioner's Office on this matter.''
The Marlins, in the process of building a new ballpark in Little Havana, have long contended they are unable to generate as much revenue as other clubs because they are tenants in their current stadium. The Marlins have said that when they move into the new ballpark in 2012, they will raise payroll to the league average.
And even though they've won more games than the New York Mets since Jeffrey Loria took over as the Marlins' owner in 2002, they have done poorly at gate, ranking at or near the bottom in attendance most years.
``Next season's payroll is expected to be slightly higher -- in the neighborhood of $40 million -- than last season's figure.
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