The sad thing is down here in south Florida the fans only support winners. If you aren't winning then you aren't selling tickets but prices go up anyways. The Canes football program is the only one that sells a majority of its tickets but compared to the late '80s and early '90s it is falling too.

under $10 million is low, but the Marlins have won 2 world series in the past decade. They unloaded everyone after the first one, rebuilt and won another. The team has a history of doing this with positive results. The Marlins are now absolutely loaded with young talent. In a few years, they will be back.

Now, if it were the Royals or Brewers that shrunk this low I would be concerned. But I don't think you can mandate a minimum salary number. The Marlins weren't going to be able to pay Cabrera or Willis what the Yankees or Red Sox could if they hit free agency. Why blame them for getting two of the best prospects in the game? So now they have tons of talent in their system. Would you rather them spend $55 million on Gil Meche and have a $30 million pay roll?  They have a system and it works.

Would you not be happy winning a world series every 5 years? Now, the Marlins have no fan base, which is why no one goes to games. But I remember in the spring of 2004 fans were going to Indians games to see Sizemore, Sabathia, Peralta, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner when they were "up and coming" players. In a good market, the fans would appreciate the young players and still go to the games. Seriously, one world series every 5 years. That's not bad.

Well then in your scenario they should win the WS again this year with a $10 million salary. Highly doubt that. I used to go to at least 15 to 20 games a year until  their fire sale and I watched the rest on TV. Now I am disgusted to watch them. Simply because of greedy ownership. 

To show you how bad Wayne Huizenga is(owner of the ballpark). The Florida Marlins get nothing from the concessions sold during games or from parking. They have to give a % of merchandise sales to him also. That is a hit to any owner.

Either way here in south Florida the fans won't come out. Look at the two World Series years. The fans didn't start coming out or watching on TV(or buying merchandise) until they were in the playoff hunt. South Florida is a crazy place to live. Over half the people I talk to at my job don't know anything about Florida sports (except the Dolphins are 0-12). Some are sports fans but from different areas of the U.S. and world.

Loria is a business man he knows what the market is like down here. The Miami Heat won the title 2 seasons ago and now the radio stations can't even give away the tickets to the game.

So why would you go out and build a team if you know its title or bust. I think Loria is just making some money until he can sell the team or move it. I think it will be the latter of the two. Because fan base is the key to any successful sports city. New York teams suck from time to time and the fans still come out. Boston, Chicago, and Detroit are just a few others that fans love their sports in their town. South Florida won't ever be like that. Which equals no money spent if not needed.

I grew up in the Midwest and to see an area like this that doesn't care about its sports programs........SUCKS and I have been witnessing it for 16 years.

It has nothing to do with how loyal the fans are either.  Its called being a small market.  The only way to fix it is a salary cap/revenue sharing.  Theres no Green Bay Packers without a salary cap and revenue sharing in the NFL.  Milwaukee had the 12 best attendance this year in what is one the smallest markets in all of baseball.  Boston was 11th (granted, in a bigger park Boston would be higher).  Its all about markets.  The Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers etc will always rake in more money than the Brewers, Royals, Pirates, Twins etc regardless of how sucessful or loyal their fans are.  It all has to do with market.