The Economic Downturn Finally Hits Major League Baseball
1-liner, Baseball December 19th. 2008, 11:30amMLB: “In order to deal with the current economic environment, [Major League Baseball will be] undergoing a hiring freeze, freezing salaries and taking 20 percent of employees’ vacation time for 2009.” Vacation time? That’s a new one. So all the folks with 10 days now only get eight. At least they’re still employed. (CNBC)
12 Responses to “The Economic Downturn Finally Hits Major League Baseball”
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December 19th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Couldn’t Sabathia spot them $10 million until the economy recovers?
December 19th, 2008 at 11:37 am
I bet ticket prices are not going to be frozen though.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Speaking of vacation, I won a free flight to LA last night by participating in one of those competitions that are played at halftime of a basketball game.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:41 am
LanceBriggs
- Go eat at the Apple Pan when you’re there. Best burger anywhere.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Do I need to bring a gun?
December 19th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Haha, no it’s in a decent part of West LA. Here’s some background.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Bud should be forced to work for $1. And fly commercial. Coach.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Va-cation? Wish I knew what that was.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Nice: I wanted to plan the trip around a sporting event, but nothing is lining up so far. But I’ll figure something out.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Lance, was this at the UT game? DId you hit a bunch of free throws, or a half court shot?
December 19th, 2008 at 11:56 am
@ Benji: It was the women’s game last night, and it was the JetBlue giveaway, where you just stand on the court, hold a sign, and watch a cartoon plane race on the jumbotron, and hope your plane wins.
December 19th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
wtf? Taking vacation time? That is bordering on the ridiculous… Let’s say that the average person at MLB gets 20 days of vacation. They lose 4 days each… There are approximately 240 working days in a year. They get a whole 1 FTE of extra time for every 60 people working at MLB… That’s as ridiculous as most of the decisions that come out of the MLB office…
It will take 1-2 years, but the owners for the majority of sports franchises will be feeling major effects due to the economy. Ticket prices are generally too high for the normal person to afford in these times. Discretionary spending will dry up, and so will the fans in the seats. Corporate spending will dry up, and so will the advertising dollars and the luxury suite dollars.
Hockey will be the first to go down this slope since they have no TV contract to support them. Not sure how the league will survive, save for 10-14 franchises that live and breathe it… The other sports will hurt, but will truly suffer when their next TV contracts are for a substantially smaller number than they have now.