83 years combined without a World Series title has left the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros ripe for this year’s baseball showdown.
To give you a little history, in 1903, the first Major League Baseball World Series was played between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Americans. The teams sold 100,000 tickets for the eight games at a grand total of $75,000.
Now, Dodger’s pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the highest paid player in the MLB makes nearly triple that amount for one inning of work, ($203,000 for three outs) spread out over a yearly salary of $35.57 million.
The Dodgers’s organization does not have trouble paying him or the rest of their roster that received $152.81 million total this year, since the franchise is worth $2.75 billion. After all, they’ve been the MLB’s most watched sports team in recent years.
The cycle of money continues through broadcasting. Three networks paid the League a total of $12.4 billion for the rights to broadcast the World Series and its preceding playoff games for seven years. In turn, a network like Fox receives $565,000 for a 30-second commercial that airs during the best-of-seven series.
The fans are paying for it all, of course, with an average Dodger’s World Series ticket going for $3,332, and in Houston the median ticket prices is $2,144.
One of these teams will win outrageous, high-priced bling when they get to four wins. The Commissioner’s Trophy is made from $7,600 worth of gold and silver with an overall cost of 15 grand, and each individual 113th World Series ring will cost more. The Cubs’ winning rings from last year were rounded out with 108 diamonds for a price of $70,000.
Quite a difference from that game in 1903 when winning players received hearty smiles and solid pats on the back for a job well done.