We've always been obsessed in Oakland with not being the cute small-market
story that came and went.
—Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland Athletics
MLB has long had wide differences across their teams in revenues. Exhibit 2 presents the year-
by-year revenue rankings of the 30 MLB clubs and the average rank since 1998—1998 was the
first year for Beane as the A's GM. The ratio of the highest club to the lowest club on estimated
revenues (actual values) varies from a low of 2.4 in 2005 to a high of 4.2 in 1999. The Oakland
Athletics has had estimated revenues of less than 50 percent or even lower than the New York
Yankees each and every year since 1998. Since 1998, they have always ranked in the bottom
third and more recently in the bottom quarter of all MLB clubs on revenue.