Below is yet another article submitted to newspapers and subsequently ignored. Apparently I don't have the proper black frame glasses and the "I worked all month on this beard" stubble to get published. Whatever, thats why I have my own website repository for articles.






Signing onto Facebook in the early hours of November 5, 2009 was a little strange. The overwhelming joy of Yankees fans combined with the for the most part, respectful disdain of Phillies fans made me think I had stumbled upon some bizarre interactive version of SportsCenter. Scattered among the jubilation and disappointment were grumblings about the Yankees being nothing more than hired hitmen, mercenaries, and overpaid. All I can say is welcome to sports in the 21st century.

For over a hundred years baseball has been touted as America’s Pastime. A game that families could go to and enjoy together. A game that many kids learned at a young age and then continued to watch in stadiums and on television sets as they got older. A game that was about the love of playing. Above all else, it was a game.

But the game is and always has been a business. While the business aspect was in the background for many decades (not counting the strike of 1994), the results of the 2009 World Series have brought it out into the open. The price of new stadiums and players is not cheap and fans who attend the games are the first to recognize this. New stadiums cost hundreds of millions of dollars and often require corporate sponsorship from business entities who’s connection with sports is tenuous at best. The new Yankees Stadium which cost $1.5 billion was financed through tax exempt bonds which, combined with the Yankees organization’s marketing power is probably why there was no outside sponsor involved with the construction. The Philadelphia Phillies play at Citizens Bank Park which cost just over $450 million to construct. Safeco Field in Seattle cost over $500 million in 1999. Jumping sports to football, recently opened Cowboys Stadium cost a reported $1.8 billion. And these numbers are not likely to get smaller but bigger and bigger as new stadiums are built. An interesting note is that many of the newer facilities have fewer seats than their predecessors, something to remember when considering ticket prices.

Armed with a new stadium and a reputation to live up to, the 2009 Yankees had no choice but to secure the most effective combination of players possible (there very well may have been a full scale riot had they lost the World Series…not from sports fans but from taxpayers). They signed A.J. Burnett, Mark Teixeria and C.C. Sabathia for a combined $423 million payable over up to 8 years. And while many may point fingers at the salaries, it should be noted that one of Mark Teixeria’s former teams, The Texas Rangers offered him $140 million over 8 years in mid 2007. About a year later, he accepted a $180 million/8 year deal from the Yankees. While how valuable a skill it is to be able to hit, throw or catch a ball between painted lines is completely subjective depending on who you ask, there is no doubt that the massive contract is just another part of the business.

So to the Phillies fans who complain that the Yankees bought talent, you are right. Every team buys talent at some price, the Yankees just paid a lot more for theirs. And to the complaints that the Phillies fans are just angry because their team didn’t win, that might be true, but it might be a little bit of the innocence being ripped away as they and many other baseball fans across America realize that this game is serious business.