Wheeling, dealing and winning.

• Author: Schley, Stewart
• Position: SPORTS biz

THE 19705 "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" character Chico Escuela, played by comedian Garrett Morris, was best known for a signature line delivered in halting English: "Baseball"--or beisbol, as he pronounced it--"has been very, very good to me."

As far as I know, none of the owners of the Colorado Rockies makes a habit of mimicking Morris' exaggerated Dominican accent. But thanks to savvy wheeling and dealing by Major League Baseball, the same expression applies to all of them today.

Led by CEO Richard Monfort, the Rockies' ownership group has benefitted mightily from membership in the exclusive 30-team collective that is Major League Baseball. Independent of win-loss records, pitching ERAs, clever promotions and stirring fireworks displays, the Rockies owners have watched their team values soar as huge TV rights increases, handsome investment returns and the rising success of an advanced media operation have inflated revenues and economic valuations.

The latest "Business of Baseball" report from Forbes magazine reflects the shared contributions of these resources. When the Oakland Athletics sec their market valuation soar by 46 percent in the space of a year, you know somebody's at the top of his economic game. (OK, they made the postseason. but still, I've been to that ballpark, and it's not exactly palatial.)

Here's what's happening. Teams like the Rockies still depend on live ballpark attendance, concession sales, merchandise sales and local media rights deals for most, of their revenue. So to a large extent, they're responsible for their own economic destiny. What's changed are the shared revenue sources that every team gets to enjoy, regardless of whether the bats go silent or the hot dogs go unsold.

At the top of this list is a new national TV right: agreement that kicks in next season. Taking advantage of a compel ii lye market among national television channel, MLB negotiated deals with Fox, ESPN and TBS that will bring in $12.4 billion over the next eight seasons. That's double the amount from a previous rights deal. Most of the proceeds are shared equally by teams.

That's not all. A rising star in baseball is the league's Advanced Media unit, which is way ahead of other major professional sport: leagues in exploiting the new possibilities of digital media. I'm one of the millions of subscribers who pay, $99 or more per season for live online streaming or every...