Two things here that most people don't think about. By the time the deal is over, $55M per year might not look that bad. Go back 15 years to the big deals and they look small in comparison now. His final years probably won't stand out as much.
The other thing is that I hate seeing these deals. I already can't afford to go to games, nor would I pay the prices if I could. The quality of play in baseball is awful now in my opinion. I can't tolerate nine innings of strikeouts and solo homers most nights. So they aren't losing me by raising prices, but you know this contract will have a domino effect. Everyone will cost more now, which will be paid by the fans, not the owners going into debt.
As a side note I was just talking to a relative about this subject earlier today. I noticed how few photos I saw of relatives at games this year on Facebook. I have a large family with many baseball fans who used to go to games. I mean I probably saw 100 games total each year between various cousins and such. Now I go to none. My dad goes to none. We went with cousins to games for years and they don't go. I think I saw photos from no more than five games this year. I checked some family pages and saw just two games. My brother used to do 20 games a year. He went to three this year and two were gifts. The other one was a playoff game.
I know MLB claims higher attendances the last two years, even though that is tickets sold/comped and not actual fans in the seats, but I dread where stadium prices are going in the very near future for people. I don't get the appeal to leave the house, while investing the extra time, once it reaches a certain price. You could buy a great TV, saves thousands and thousands and watch from home with surround sound and all the snacks you want at a fraction of the cost.
These free agent deals this year are scary for the sport's future.
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