Reasonable People can Still Disagree
Another reason they would accept this is that they would be guaranteed to have the first twelve picks in the draft, without having to tank. They can win as many games as they want and still be assured a top pick.
And their travel will go down, but their revenue will increase. Remember those three regular season games we took away? Those would have been road games against upper-level teams. That means the Yankees still go to their stadiums, but the lower tier teams make one fewer trip each to the Bronx.
That keeps the gate strong for the one without dragging down the other.
Plus, there would likely be some schedule rejiggering. We all want more games against the teams in direct competition with our own for our particular playoffs. So teams in both tiers would play just a few more games against each other, and a few less out of the level.
That should make more competitive and meaningful games for all teams, and that sounds good for TV revenue.
Playoff revenue, though, is of paramount importance. I would think baseball would go with the top eight teams and follow any one of two or three standard formats. That means that two-thirds of this tier would continue to play in October, at a somewhat higher revenue rate than the regular season but not what they could get in the upper-tier.
The incentives just keep on coming for the New York Yankees.