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SPORTS Saturday 22 december 2018
APNewsBreak: Average MLB salary down for 1st time since '04

By RONALD BLUM 25 to 40. year's drop. Among the were for depressed prices. average at $3,825,967,
AP Baseball Writer After years of strong 166 players who exercised Two years ago, the union down from $3,835,498 in
The average major league growth, salaries have stag- the right to become free calculated the average 2015.
salary dropped this year nated over the last three agents after the World Se- at $3,966,020, a 0.35 per- The union includes a pro-
for the first time since 2004 years. This year's average ries, exactly half of the 140 cent rise from the previous rated share of option buy-
and for only the fourth time is up just 3.6 percent from agreements reached were year's $3,952,252 that was outs that may be earned
since record-keeping start- $3,952,252 in 2015. completed after the start the lowest rate of increase if the option is declined,
ed 50 years ago, accord- An unusually slow free- of spring training workouts since a 2.5 percent drop in while MLB does not take
ing to the players' associa- agent market last offsea- Feb. 14. Many of those 2004. Major League Base- those into account in its
tion. son contributed to this deals involving veterans ball calculated that year's average.q
The union said Friday
its final average was
$4,095,686, down $1,436
from $4,097,122 last year.
Since the union started
keeping track in 1967, the
only previous declines had
been by $66 in 1987, when
owners were found to have
conspired to hold down sal-
aries among free agents; a
4 percent decline in 1995
following a 7½ -month strike
that wiped out the World
Series for the first time since
1904; and by 2.5 percent in
2004.
This year's survey was based
on the 968 players on ma-
jor league rosters and dis-
abled lists on Aug. 31, the
last day before the active
player limit expanded from

FIFA

research

says 3.5B

viewed

some World

Cup action

By GRAHAM DUNBAR
GENEVA (AP) — More than
3.5 billion people viewed
some of the 2018 World
Cup action, with 1.12 bil-
lion watching at least one
minute of France beating
Croatia 4-2 in the final, ac-
cording to FIFA.
A FIFA-commissioned re-
view of World Cup viewing
published Friday said the
television audience for the
final was 516.6 million by
the traditional measure of
"global average in-home
audience." More watched
on digital devices and out-
of-home screenings in pub-
lic spaces, bars and restau-
rants. The second-highest
rating was 327.5 million
for Croatia’s semifinal win
over England in extra time.