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SPORTS Friday 23 december 2022
EXPLAINER: Why are baseball teams spending so much money?

By RONALD BLUM and pushes his team’s payroll to
JAY COHEN near $400 million.
AP Baseball Writers If a more punitive threshold
Aaron Judge, Carlos Cor- system, like a salary cap,
rea and Trea Turner com- had been instituted almost
bined for almost $1 billion certainly a popular con-
in contracts. Xander Bo- cept among some owners
gaerts, Jacob deGrom, the spending likely would
Dansby Swanson, Carlos have been more muted
Rodón, Brandon Nimmo this offseason.
and Willson Contreras add- Labor peace, of course, is
ed up to another billion. good for business in gen-
And that’s just nine play- eral, but MLB also is in the
ers. Just one lucrative slice process of dispersing the
of baseball’s December $900 million it received
spending spree. from The Walt Disney Co.
What a difference a year for its remaining share of a
makes. streaming service technol-
It has been an epic holiday ogy company.
season already for several That money is expected to
teams and players a year go out to clubs before the
after Major League Base- end of the year.
ball locked out its players in MLB had new streaming
an ugly labor dispute that New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, center, speaks while owner Hal Steinbrenner, left, and president network packages on Ap-
delayed spring training. Randy Levine look on during a baseball news conference at Yankee Stadium, Wednesday, Dec. ple TV+ and Peacock last
Judge decided to stay 21, 2022, in New York. season, and it announced
with the New York Yankees Associated Press in October that fans
for baseball’s biggest free point in each of the last five a three-, four- or five-year for owners, and cleared watched more than 11.5
agent deal ever, a $360 years. rebuild, you look up and the way for advertising on billion minutes of game ac-
million, nine-year contract. Through Dec. 20, 2021, that there’s few teams that are uniforms and helmets for tion on MLB.TV during the
Correa has a pending $315 number was $1.9 billion. It taking a step back,” Padres the first time. regular season, a record for

million, 12-year agreement was $187.4 million in 2020 general manager A.J. Prel- Under the five-year agree- the streaming package.
to join the New York Mets, when teams were coming ler said during baseball’s ment, the luxury tax thresh- This year’s World Series had
and Turner signed a $300 off the abbreviated season winter meetings. old rises to $244 million by lackluster TV ratings, and in
million, 11-year contract caused by the coronavirus HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? the final season and tax a cord-cutting era, there
with Philadelphia. pandemic $1.6 billion in The March labor agree- rates remain unchanged are major questions about
Including Wednesday’s 2019, $655.95 million in 2018 ment that set industry rules at the initial, second and the viability of the regional
transactions, big league and $413.25 million in 2017. through 2026 is one fac- third thresholds. A new sports networks that carry
teams have handed out “Whether it’s ownership, tor behind the increased fourth threshold was add- baseball games. Atten-
more than $2.8 billion in whether it’s teams that fell spending, but there are ed supposedly aimed at dance was down 5% from

finalized contracts to ma- short in the playoffs, teams several more forces at play. Mets owner Steve Cohen its pre-pandemic level, but
jor league free agents this that did well in the play- The labor deal included an but it looks as if the billion- the spending indicates at
offseason. That dwarfs the offs, teams that are ready expanded playoff format, aire views that hefty tax bill least some optimism about
winter spending at this to take a step from maybe leading to more TV money more like a nuisance as he baseball’s health.q

U.S. House passes equal pay bill in latest women’s soccer win

By EDDIE PELLS dle oversight. women’s soccer teams
AP National Writer The bill had earlier passed whose roles in international
The House has passed a bill the Senate with unanimous events, such as the World
that ensures equal com- support. It now heads to Cup, resulted in unequal
pensation for U.S. women President Joe Biden’s desk. pay structures and differ-
competing in international The bill stems from a fed- ent oversight that led leg-
events, a piece of legis- eral gender discrimination islators to seek to enshrine
lation that came out of lawsuit the U.S. women filed those standards into law.
the U.S. women’s soccer against U.S. Soccer in 2019. “By sending this legisla-
team’s long battle to be Earlier this year, the women tion to the President, both
paid as much as the men. signed a new collective houses have sent a clear
The Equal Pay for Team USA bargaining agreement message that this is the
Act, passed late Wednes- that included identical standard for all National
day, will require all athletes pay structures for men and Teams in all sports and it
representing the United women and equitable dis- underscores the impor-
States in global competi- tribution of World Cup prize tance of working with our
tion to receive equal pay money.Over the past de- athletes to achieve equal
and benefits in their sport, cade, most Olympic sports pay including equalizing
regardless of gender. It in the U.S. have met USOPC international prize money,”
covers America’s 50-plus standards regarding equal U.S. Soccer President Cin- United States’ Megan Rapinoe lifts up a trophy after winning
national sports and requires compensation. But there dy Parlow Cone said in a the Women’s World Cup final soccer match between U.S. and
The Netherlands at the Stade de Lyon in Decines, outside Lyon,
the U.S. Olympic and Para- remained inequities be- statement announcing the France, July 7, 2019.
lympic Committee to han- tween the men’s and bill’s passage.q Associated Press