You failed the answer the question. While it may be a flawed system, any owner can whatever they want with their franchise. Must I bring up Carl Pohlad? Bigger net worth at his death than Steinbrenner's at his death (3.6B to 1.1B according to Forbes) yet when MLB brings up contraction, is first to raise his hand and willing to kill off the Twins for $150M because "we're a small market team." Doesn't the "Gotta spend money to make money" adage not apply? There are tons more owners in MLB who do the exact same, yet have no qualms about receiving a handout from MLB luxury tax. The fact is this - Steinbrenner made it a business. And every move he made, even in the painful 80s for a kid like me, in his mind, thought was going to give him a championship. As a fan of a team, you really couldn't ask for anything more.