Two new ballparks are opening for our beloved baseball teams this spring, but to Joe fan the prices will be more out of reach than ever. The Yankees have the most bloated payroll in baseball yet with stars like Derek Jeter and A-Rod and new contracts for free agents C.C. Sabathia (161 million), Mark Teixeira (180 million), and A.J. Burnett (82.5 million) the Yankees are spending more than any team in baseball as usual. However they have no problem asking the city for 326 million dollars to help finance their new home. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15thu3.html
Meanwhile, the city is facing budget cuts and is raising taxes while we go through the worst economic times that most of us have ever lived through. This is great news for the real fan who will have to dig even deeper into an already depleted pocket just to attend a game with the family so he or she can blow off some steam from killing themselves to pay for all this.
My Mets aren't exempt from this either. They too have one of the highest payrolls in baseball (plus two consecutive September collapses to go with it) and have just signed K-Rod to a 37 million dollar contract. While K-Rod is much needed by the Mets to replace Billy Wagner as their closer, and his contract pales in comparison to what the Yankees have been paying out , the Mets are a team filled with big contracts and little to show for it except for the huge increase in ticket prices at Citi Field this year.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080812/SPORTS/808120356
I think I might just stay at home and watch them on TV this year. But wait!!!!! I forgot that I have to pay the outrageous cable bill for the honor of watching SNY and the YES network. I guess we're all screwed.
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