Outside the Box

Yahoo! Sports: The price of excess is about to hit the fan where it counts by Peter Schmuck

Angelos has announced that he will not pay Orioles pitching ace Mike Mussina the $15 million per year he's almost certain to get on the free-agent market. Citing the impact of such huge contracts on ticket prices, he has drawn his economic line in the sand.

No matter how many times somebody says it, salaries do not drive ticket prices. Ticket prices drive salaries. Does anyone believe that the high salaries paid to movie stars causes movie tickets to go up in price? No! The owners pay the players because they put fannies in the seats and when they can get $30 a fanny they will pay more for that player. Why are college tickets going up in price? Teams set ticket prices to maximize revenues not to cover their expenses.

If Mussina were to sign for $1m per year would Angelos lower prices? No, he would just make more money.

If you want to blame someone, call your congressman who allows a tax code that lets businesses write off the cost of season tickets. That is what prices the so-called "average" fan out of the ballpark if that is in fact the case. By the way, more of these non-average fans are going to games than ever before. Attendance is higher than at any point in history.

How can you make a cogent argument that fans are priced out of the game when the Red Sox set a team attendance record and have the highest prices in the league? I saw an awful lot of average fans in the stands when I went to a game there.

I think the upcoming recession will cause a bit of a correction in the ticket prices and hence the salaries as the corporate fount runs a bit dry.

Ticket prices drive salaries not the other way around. Repeat it after me, Ticket prices drive salaries not the other way around.