The what-if game is hard to play well.
If they had taken the 50% of revenue part of the deal, revenue might have been diverted through other entities not strictly part of the club.
And it is also possible that steroid testing may have been unacceptably implemented, and a destructive legal battle ensued?
But thanks for the summary of those times. I wasn't paying too close attention when it all went down. A friend played a podcast for me recently about the Hormel strike in the 80s. Yeah, being in elementary school and roughly an hour away, i heard of it, but didn't notice any effects directly in my situation.