Deadspin.com, the sports blog owned by Gawker Media, has apparently obtained internal financial documents from a number of Major League Baseball teams. As is the Deadspin way, editor Tommy Craggs is posting the documents online for all to see. Craggs says analysis will come later “another set of statements,” but for now it is just the raw data, presuming it is the real deal, of course.
The fina ncials of major sports teams are usually kept very private. Once in a while a big business deal will become public, with some leaked figures, but the amount of data obtained by Deadspin is staggering by comparison.
You can be sure SportsNewser will be combing through the documents and will highlight any major TV or media deals.
Deadspin’s posts are, for all intents and purposes, unprecedented in the sports journalism field. You can call it the “Wikileak-ification” of the media. Rather than let some gatekeepers, in the form of experiences but “inside the clubhouse” sports reporters filter information before it gets to the public, Deadspin is taking it and putting it out there. No analysis (yet) no interviews, just raw information.
How will Major League Baseball respond? Stay tuned.