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World Series may be capitalism lesson
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Stacey Vanek-Smith: CNBC reports this morning the New York Yankees are on track to turn a profit for the first time in years. That thanks to higher ticket prices and packed games.
Should be another full house tonight as the Philadelphia Phillies take on the Yankees. And as Marketplace's Jeremy Hobson reports, this particular match-up may have something to do with free-market capitalism.
Jeremy Hobson: The Yankees pay more in player salaries than any other team in Major League Baseball -- $208 million this year alone. Philadelphia comes in 8th at $111 million. Why do they pay so much? Because they make it all back and then some in TV rights in two of the biggest media markets in the country.
PAUL SWANGARD: More times than not, the small-market fans are going to have to realize that small market means small chances to be cheering for your team come October.
Paul Swangard is managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. He says the system may not be fair -- but baseball's a regional game, and the regions with the most people are worth the most to advertisers.
SWANGARD: If you have more money at your disposal, oftentimes you're going to consistently have a competitive team each and every year.
There will be one money-saving aspect to this year's series. Fans will be able to buy a bus ticket between the two host cities for under 15 bucks for the first time in a decade.
In New York, and just under 100 miles from Philadelphia, I'm Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.
About the author
Jeremy Hobson is host of Marketplace Morning Report, where he looks at business news from a global perspective to prepare listeners for the day ahead. Follow Jeremy on Twitter @jeremyhobson
Dear Ms. Vanek-Smith and Mr. Hobson: One could argue that the match-up between the Phillies and the Yankees has as much to do with monopoly as with "free-market capitalism." "TV rights" for sports contests, as well as for all other programs telecast or broadcast via the public air waves, exist in the absence of the federal government's collecting the economic rent that accrues to monopolizers of those air waves. If the federal government charged market value for the use of the broadcast spectrum, tax payers would see their taxes decrease as all spectrum monopolizers, including major league baseball franchises, saw their monopoly-dependent incomes decrease.
