Kansas City Zephyrs Baseball, Inc

Kansas City(KC) Zephyrs Baseball, Inc.

Bill Ahern had a difficult judgment he had to make being an arbitrator in a dispute between the Owner-Player Committee and the Professional Baseball Players Association. The main issue Bill had to arbitrate was to resolve the profitability of the major league baseball teams. The players did scrutinize the owners' statements and felt that the owners were hiding profits through "accounting tricks" and these statements did not precisely reflect the economic reality. Bill was to focus on the finances of the KC Zephyrs Baseball, Inc within the finance of the organization per the OPC and the PBPA representatives. The corporation was publicly owned and no private financial data would have been revealed. Bill was asked to listen to the owners and players arguments, review and ask questions pertaining to the financial statements and to reach a decision for the profitability.

The annual revenues were $20-$30 million with the team operated as an independent economic unit. Approximately 40 players make up a team at any time. An amount of a certain portion of the teams operating expenses and players salaries were to be paid by the major league teams.

Meeting with the Owners