Happy Opening Day! (even though MLB hates it's fans)

[molenick]

I can understand not watching today's game because of the pace, rule changes, the emphasis on analytics, etc. The one thing I don't understand is not watching because of how much money the players make.

They make what they make for the same reason baseball cards cost what they do...supply and demand. The players provide a skill that is in short supply and the owners acquire that skill to help them make money through attendance, concessions, sale of merchandise, viewership, etc. They bid in a free market system for the players services. Maybe they are not always smart about what they are paying so some contracts seem silly. But they are the ones offering to pay the players the money (the same way we are the ones bidding on/buying baseball cards and thus setting a price for them).

I also don't understand why, when we consume other forms of entertainment like movies, TV, music, etc. we don't say "I won't watch that movie, they paid the star too much." We just decide whether we think it will entertain us and then watch or not watch based on that. Not to mention drive cars, use computers and phones, and buy things online from companies owned by billionaires.

I would never tell anyone what to watch or not watch, and I am certainly not as invested in the current game as I was when I was twelve (I am much more likely to know who won the World Series 60 years ago as opposed to six years ago). But when I do see a game, I see some amazing athletes competing at a high level in a sport I enjoy watching.

And a card...

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by molenick

But they are the ones offering to pay the players the money (the same way we are the ones bidding on/buying baseball cards and thus setting a price for them).

Except when the owners decided not to, it was classified as collusion. Just shutting the whole enterprise down and walking away became their only alternative to anteing up again in bidding wars. They chose the latter.