Professional Sports - Free Agency is Causing the Slow Death of Baseball

The American economy took a turn for the worst in 2007. Known as the “Great Recession,” the American economic recession entered into a recession in December 2007. The recession came after a large expansion in housing construction, home prices, and housing credit which began in the 1990s (Weinberg, 2013). The recession was large enough to impact all aspects of the American economy. The United States’ GDP dropped by 4.3% and the unemployment rate rose to 10% (Weinberg, 2013). Like most industries during the “Great Recession,” the sport business industry was affected. However, the effects on the sport business industry are far less severe than the effects on the other industries.

There are five major sports leagues in the United States; Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association (which has what is known as a “soft salary cap), the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. Of these five, only baseball lacks what is known as a salary cap. A salary cap is the upper limit of the combined salaries for a team’s players. In the other four sports I mentioned, having to work within the boundaries of a salary cap is a balancing act, to gain an advantage at one position requires you to be at a disadvantage at another position. For example, to have a top tier quarterback in the NFL like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers and the large salary they command, a team might lack the funds to sign a top tier linebacker or cornerback. With Major League Baseball lacking a salary cap, this balancing act vanishes and teams could sign anyone and everyone they wished. This causes a competitive imbalance that is hurting the sport. Too often we see the same teams making the playoffs and winning championships like the San

Anyone who has been involved in an organized sport, whether it is backyard football or a high school sports team, knows that these sports all have organizations that are responsible for setting rules, determining conditions of play, and penalizing individuals who infringe the rules. Some of the organizations like the National Football league and the MLB are familiar to most people, the rules they follow are not generally understood by anyone who is not closely associated with the sport. Most fans and sport critics assume that what is happening inside these organizations are of little concern to them. However, this is not the case. In the MLB, the New York Yankees spend an excessive amount of money every year to obtain big name players. A

Jayson Stark, ESPN columnist, presents an interesting argument of the downfall of baseball after free agency. He uses sarcasm and slight humor to introduce the reader to the topic of free agency and uses the argument style of comparison and contrast to predict what today might have held had there been no free agency. But within his column, player agent Tom Reich states, “The people who criticize free agency to easily today don’t realize how bad baseball was twenty-five years ago” (Stark). It is Stark who realizes that the talent of the game has improved, but the overall passion in each player may have decreased.

There’s always some people hating on the fact that MLB players are paid millions of dollars, but never have anything to back up how they are overpaid besides saying that it is ridiculous how much their paycheck is. Little do they know, that some of the money comes from fans, ticket sales, endorsements, and how well they perform. There is a lot more that goes into how they EARN that money.

It may not be how Boston visioned it playing out, but the Red Sox are in the World Series. Former Red Sox players were all over ALCS and NLCS playoff rosters in the run-up to the big game. Various front office staff, managers, and players have graced the grass at Fenway. Hello there Theo Epstein, David Roberts, and Terry Francona, I’m talking about you. Meanwhile, former players are all over a number of diamonds. David Ross, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Coco Crisp, and even the oft-forgotten Anthony Rizzo are just a few players whom were under contract with Boston at some point in the last five years (Rizzo was traded to San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez in 2010…and yup you guessed it, he’s on the post season roster too for Los Angeles) How painful? How did this happen?

Every year, it becomes more obvious that many sports in America have problems. For years, Hockey has been criticized for its excessive violence. The National Football League has also been scrutinized for this reason as well as the fact that many of the top players have constantly been in trouble with the law. Major League Baseball is no different. The situation with baseball is more complicated, and is not only ruining the game itself, but also drawing millions of fans away from the sport. The biggest problem is with the high salaries paid to athletes. These salaries are taking the competitiveness out of several sports, especially baseball, where there is no salary cap. Action must be taken

Any sports one looks at can be classified as a money-making pit. Scouts looking at young talent ready to sign them for a quick buck and then once they stop producing, move on to the next potential talent. Baseball is the sport that is an industry dominated by trying to gain a profit from a region’s juvenile talent (Ruck). Since 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, there has been an increase in Latin American countries represented in MLB. More than a quarter of major league players are from Latin American, with about half of the minor league players being Latino (Ruck). On the opening day of the 2011 season, eighty-six players represented the Dominican Republic alone. That is more than a tenth of major leaguers (Ruck). One would

It’s even more frustrating since the Orioles show they understand that free agency isn’t where they’re going to find excellent talent. DD has noted that signing pitchers to four year deals hasn’t worked out for the Orioles and doesn’t really work out for other teams either. The Orioles understand that trying to build their team with free agents is simply going

Collective bargaining and unions have had a considerable effect on fans through professional sports. Because of these contract negotiations, athletes in recent years have benefited from an increasing share of ticket and television profits. Collective bargaining has resulted in strikes and lockouts and has disrupted several seasons through cancellation of games or even ending a season. The televising of sporting events has become the largest source of revenue

For prospects that are forced into the minor leagues for development, the road to the majors has proven a grueling process and the majority of players never make it to the major leagues. Extremely low salaries and bonuses in the minor leagues has become an ongoing, controversial topic between MLB commissioner Bud Selig and minor league players 17. A fast food worker makes between $15,000 and $18,000 a year, which is two or three times as large as minor league players’ average salary, so minor league players are forced to have multiple jobs throughout the year 18. The majority of minor league players lie below the federal poverty level and while MLB salaries are rapidly increasing, minor leagues salaries remain constant. The MLB receives exemptions

In Major League Baseball the general belief is that the more a team spends on their payroll the more games they will win. With the absence of a salary cap baseball may seam unfair to the smaller market teams who can't bare the salary costs that the larger market teams can. In Michael Lewis' Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Lewis depicts just how the Oakland Athletics have been winning in an unfair game for almost a decade. The A's are a small market team that doesn't have nearly the amount of money at their disposal that their competitors in the American League do. However this past season the A's won their fourth American League West championship in the last seven years while having the lowest payroll in their division. In

In each of the major sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA), free agency is usually a period of big spending, crazy contracts and fresh looks to some teams. With the drastic rise in the salary cap, NBA free agency has been no different this summer. The contracts NBA players have received, compared to those given to some of the star players in other major sports, have been amazing.

     The second factor was the development of competing leagues. “Competing leagues such as the American Football League, the American Baseball Association, the World Hockey Association, and the United States Football League offered an alternative to athletes (Masteralexis, 246).” These leagues offered higher salaries to induce players to move from their original teams. When players left a team to for more money, it also increased the salaries of players who stayed on the team. Agents played a crucial role in determining what was best for athletes, and which league they should choose.

In the world of major league baseball, the Oakland A’s defied the laws of baseball economics. The team spent only $34 million (the 2nd lowest payroll) had won 102 games and lost only 60 in 2001. On top of this, they finished first in their division and made the playoffs. Major baseball teams would hire high school players rather than college players. This made high school players costly. The Oakland A’s strategy is to hire college players to save on resources. They argued that college players have already gained substantial exposure and