Article I wrote for the YU Commentator about the Financial Crisis and the MLB

The current economic situation in the United States is tragic. Both the wealthy and poor have not been spared from the recent financial carnage. Retailers have had to close thousands of stores due to a lack of revenue, and hundreds of thousands of people nation wide have been laid off. But when people think about the businesses crippled by our economic crisis, companies such as Lehmann Brothers, Circuit City, or General Motors come to mind. But here is one corporation that you may not have thought of as being in financial danger- Major League Baseball.
In any sport, the offseason is a time to reflect on the past season of play, and to make proper transactions to get one step closer to winning it all in the coming season. However, due to the present economy, teams are striking out when it comes to being able to make big signings on key free agents. With the current state of the economy, things are bound to take a dip. Economist Andrew Zimbalist says “Baseball has been growing at 11 percent a year. That's not going to continue, but that doesn't mean that MLB won't be able to level off -- perhaps growth in the neighborhood of 0 to 5 percent or maybe a small drop in revenue." ESPN’s Peter Gammons suggests that the big name players will not be affected, and for the most part they have not. On the contrary, some teams just are not able to give their stars these multi-million dollar deals. Teams such as the Arizona Diamondbacks had to cut back expenses, laying off business employees, and were not able to retain important veterans like pitcher Randy Johnson. The San Diego Padres didn’t have enough to keep a seasoned player like pitcher Trevor Hoffman, who will be racking up saves in Milwaukee this season. It’s not like these teams are used to spending insane amounts of money. Many of the league’s small market teams simply do not have enough in the bank to lock up their prized players.
Yet not all teams are so vehemently strapped for funds most notably the New York Yankees. It’s no secret that the Steinbrenner family is eager to spend cash, and after not making the playoffs for the first time since the lockout in 1994, they’ve spent an obscene amount to ensure that they’ll play some October ball for maybe the next two decades. Already, they snagged C.C. Sabathia, and signed him to a fat 7 year/$161 million contract, gave a 5 year/$82.5 million contract to A.J. Burnett, and a whopping 8 year/$180 million contract to infielder Mark Texiera. But the Bronx bombers weren’t the only ones making big moves inside the New York city limits. After two straight years of getting snubbed from the postseason, New York Mets’ GM Omar Minaya vowed to make some changes. And he did. The Metropolitans were able to entice the best closer on the free agent market, Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez to a 3 year/$37 million deal. But Minaya wasn’t done yet. The day that they signed Rodriguez, they orchestrated a three-team deal with the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians, the meat and potatoes of the trade being the acquisition of relief pitcher J.J. Putz from Seattle. Many other teams in the MLB are making significant moves, while not chucking out so much cash by signing veteran players with hopes of having prosperous seasons such as the Boston Red Sox, Oakland A’s, Barry Bonds-less San Francisco Giants, and Cleveland Indians.
But after all is said and done, what does the “commish” think about the state of baseball economically? In an interview with ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark, MLB Commisioner Bud Selig seems optimistic. At this point, he has no reason to believe that any club is in jeopardy of filing for bankruptcy, even smaller market clubs. But looking around at the financial world today, Selig says baseball will inevitably be affected one way or another. In the mean time, there are many quality players still on the market, that might not have places to play come April. At this point, we can only wait and see.