Why would the Yankees charge up to $2,500 for a seat amid the worst economic downturn since the 1930’s? And faced with scores of embarrassingly visible empty seats, why would they cut prices on less astronomically-prices seats while leaving the $2,500 price point intact? Wishful thinking undoubtedly played a role, but for the primary driver I suspect one need look no further than the tax code.
Great article from an economics professor from NC State on the NCAA as a cartel.
http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2134
Money quote:
Imagine if colleges gave the right to hire their electrical engineering graduates to a group of employers who would, one by one, have exclusive rights to negotiate with each graduate. The graduate would have to accept employment with the employer that “drafted” him, or search for a job outside electrical engineering. No one would think that fair, but the public accepts such a practice for sports.
Saw this on Yahoo.com:
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ys-forbesbadcities082008&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Agreements/disagreements?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080418/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bba_rays_longoria_2
Longoria has sold his potential for $17.5 million guaranteed. As long as he’s not a complete moron with his paychecks, he’s set himself up for a very comfortable life - even if he goes the Baldelli route (injury), or the Brien Taylor route (bust). If he becomes the star many predict, or close to it, then he gets another $27 million - and will still have an opportunity for a FA contract at age 31.
I didn’t see the press conference, or even soundbites from it, but a few different people have told me that in his Eagles press conference, Asante Samuel said he signed with the Eagles so he’d have a chance at winning a championship.
Now, before I rant a tad… did anyone actually hear the soundbite, or know where I can get access to it? (A cursory Google search left me unfulfilled.) Its possible he was misquoted - or more to the point, meant to indicate that of the teams willing him to give him the money he was looking for, the Eagles were a team (or the team) likely to be a championship contender. It’s possible. But if not, then… (more…)
The spreads are out for this coming weekend. I’ve displayed my (lack of) acumen in this arena many times before, most notably this past weekend. So anyone daring enough to lay some Pounders down against me… be heard.
My picks:
Interesting blog post on coaching cost per win.
I’m not sure which aspect of this I find most unsettling - probably the gross misallocation of the resources of academic institutions to athletics (Alabama, for example, could spend 80% less on a perfectly capable coach and use the savings to build, say, one of the best English departments in the country). But the disparity between compensation for coaches and players runs a not-too-distant second.
We were just discussing ways for teams to capture more of the market value of their tickets that is currently captured by scalpers in the secondary market. Doubtless spurred to action by the OGS brain trust, MLB is entering into a partnership with StubHub.com to do just that.
This week’s Barron’s has an article offering prescriptions for healthier sports leagues. Some points aren’t very practical - I don’t see leagues permitting unfettered movement of franchises any time soon, however economically rational it is - but others are interesting. Most intruiging, and probably inevitable at some point, is the use of load management systems to fill stadiums at the highest price possible. It certainly makes sense conceptually - a seat at a sporting event is perishable in the same way a room in a hotel or seat on a flight are, so using a similar pricing mechanism seems rational.
I was listening to Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann on ESPN radio Monday afternoon, and they were talking about beer in baseball given the Josh Hancock tragedy. They talked about a team named the Brewers (but not that they played in Miller Park) - and the fact that the Cardinals play in Busch Stadium.
Olbermann then offered a little history on that, confirmed here:
http://todayinbaseballonline.com/April%204/APRIL_10_19.shtml
According to Olbermann, Auggie Busch then went to his marketing people and told them to come out with a “Busch” beer - to take advantage of all the “free advertising” he’d be getting from the newly-named stadium. So he ended up getting his way, having the stadium named after a beer of his… he just did it backwards (so that he could do it at all).