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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 OPINION 
3

Crazy Sports Salaries Prove Supply and Demand Works

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(Newser) – Sports fans love to grouse about athletes' salaries and bemoan the ever-rising prices of tickets, concessions, and merchandise. But “it isn’t some vague indefinable ‘they’ who pays the players,” writes Allen Barra for the Wall Street Journal. “It’s you, or rather, it’s us.” Owners set prices they think fans will pay, and "if you are willing to pay their prices that means they set the right prices after all."

Barra cites baseball Yoda Bill James, who argues that ballplayers make more than medical researchers because “we are, as a nation, far more interested in having good baseball teams than we are in finding a cure for cancer.” If we donated money to cancer research first, then bought tickets with what was left over, Barra writes, "athletes and rock stars will actually be paid what we pretend they should be paid."

Steven Strasburg is going to make $15 million before he throws a pitch in the majors.
Steven Strasburg is going to make $15 million before he throws a pitch in the majors.   (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez follows through on a two-run single in the third inning against the Florida Marlins, June 21, 2009.
New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez follows through on a two-run single in the third inning against the Florida Marlins, June 21, 2009.   (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Steven Strasburg is going to make $15 million before he throws a pitch in the majors.
Steven Strasburg is going to make $15 million before he throws a pitch in the majors.   (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi, File)
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3 comments
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MarkFL
Jul 1, 09 9:15 AM CDT
This proves that supply and demand exists...but not that it works! Reply
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plstyle
Jul 1, 09 12:06 PM CDT
Supply and demand? If anything what they talk about in this article is actually closer to how communism works. Reply
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TerrifiedCitizen
Jul 2, 09 12:33 AM CDT
This is the same system that determines how much bankers and traders make. Reply
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