Struggling Economy: What Changes Will Baseball See?

For this weeks post, I chose to explore the blogosphere in search of relevant information tying together our struggling economy with the business of baseball. Like I thought, finding good quality information on this subject was not extremely difficult. However, I wanted to make sure that it involved two of the biggest money spending and revenue generating teams in baseball. The first blog that I commented on is titled "The Biz of Baseball". The best feature of this blog is that it is strictly dedicated to baseball as a business. A lot of the time when you are searching for baseball information online, you are side tracked to an amateur site that it is irrelevant. The Biz of Baseball offers a very in depth look at certain aspects of baseball as a business. The article that I posted on, discusses the struggles of Citigroup as a company and whether or not this will affect the naming rights deal that they have with the Mets. The author of this post is Maury Brown, who is the founder of the Business of Sports Network. The next post that I commented on is regarding the Yankees, new stadium with high priced seating and the struggling economy. The blog is titled "The LoHud Yankees Blog" and this post in particular discusses the Yankees currently on the free agency market. What I chose to comment on is how the Yankees and owner George Steinbrenner will deal with the fact that 7 luxury boxes priced at anywhere between $600,000-$850,000, have yet to be sold. That is a lot of money, and with the struggling economy several of the big companies that used to purchase these seats are now unable to afford them. I ask the question of how will Steinbrenner be affected during this upcoming season, because we have seen no slowing down by the Yankees in this year's free agency hunt. Below are both of the comments that I posted on the blogs that I just discussed.


Citi Field Name Safe, According to Mets
Comment

Maury:
Thanks for your interesting post. I have been very curious as to what the implications of our struggling economy will be towards the new Citi field. Our country is at a point right now where it feels like every single day our economy is turning for the worse. It does not look like we are going to see change any time soon in this regard. 53,000 employees laid off, and yet there is no problem with the naming rights deal. For some reason I find this information very hard to believe. When a company goes ahead and fires nearly 20% of their work force, it is very clear that it is struggling as a whole. I am curious whether this is the whole truth, or there is information being held up. The $400 Million deal is one of the most lucrative naming rights deals of all time. With Citigroup struggling so much as a whole, I would think that the $20 Million annually that they will have to pay for the next 20 years may be difficult. Where were you able to pull these sources from? I'm sure that in the end Citigroup will retain there naming rights, but as the company is walking on thin ice, I would guess that this deal could collapse at any moment in time.

What are your opinions on the matter? Do you think that there is truth to what Jay Horowitz has said in response to the questioning? I don't see how a company that is locked in to such an expensive deal cannot feel any stress regarding the situation right now. When a company has to let that many employees go they are clearly facing difficult times. It probably came down to a decision of what was more important, and the deal with the Mets was the correct choice. Thanks for keeping me updated on what's going on.

Hal: We're Ready For Free Agency
Comment
Peter:

Thanks for giving such up to date information regarding the Yankees. What I would like to address is the affects that our struggling economy will have on the Yankees, and the Steinbrenner's. I believe you said that seven of the luxury boxes have remained unsold. I read somewhere else that they are all down the foul lines, and priced at somewhere between $600,000-$850,000 a piece. Clearly these boxes are being purchased by large companies who can afford this type of season box. With our economy in such dire straits and companies facing such economic struggles, it is very possible that these boxes will not be purchased all year long for those prices. My question is how will this struggling economy affect Mr. Steinbrenner's pocket with such a hefty payroll. I'm sure all of the seats that the Yankees were intending on selling for $2000 a ticket behind home plate will not be sold out either, at least for that price. I feel like this could end up being a real shock, with a $200 Million payroll and possibly a stadium that is not sold out, the big boss could end up losing some money. What do you think? I know the T.V deal is always a big money maker, but it may not be as profitable this year.

While we are on the subject which big time free agents do you think the Yankees will end up signing? I am fairly confident that C.C will end up in pinstripes, but which of the other big name pitchers do you think they will get. To be honest with you, I personally think that Peavy is the best of all. He had a down year, but the morale in San Diego was so low. He has some of the most electrifying stuff in the league, and I know that he would be a huge asset to the Yankees rotation. Even more of an asset than C.C would be. Burnett has always been a head case, yes he has a live fastball and a deadly curve ball, but you can count on him to get inside his own head and start causing some problems.