NPB Broke

A great deal of the money is apparently going to rent their offices in the Ginza District. In fact, the main criticism I've heard of Katoh-Commissioner has been his unwillingness to move to where they can have cheaper rent.

Then there's the issue of NPB-BIS, the baseball information system that Dentsu is contracted to maintain. My understanding is that the system is a money pit for the NPB clubs, many of whom don't even use it because it's such an antique. There was once a study made to re-evaluate the current system and look into building a more modern and flexible system. The overall cost/benefit analysis showed that a new system would be better in the not too distant future, but one of the members of the committee hijacked the conclusion, stating that it would be best to change nothing. So good money continues to be thrown after bad with no benefits to the fans or the teams.

If my understanding is correct, then it would seem that the NPB governing body is responsible for many of the costs of running the league (umpires, pension plans, official scorers, administrative and office duties, etc.), but does not have many avenues of revenue (other than the club fees, All Star games, Nippon Series, and NPB logo licensing).

The club owners each control their own merchandising and TV rights with an iron fist, and will not give that up easily. (The Pacific League owners did managed a type of sharing via Pacific League Marketing, but I haven't heard anything recently as to how that's working out for them.)

I'd heard that revenue sharing in MLB was strongly fought against for the longest time, but once everybody came under a single, coherent marking umbrella, all kinds of new markets started opening up. Some teams still grumble, but MLB overall has been strengthened.

I just doubt that NPB has the leadership to do something similar.

Interesting article in the Japan Times about this topic.