Baseball is not dying. Via the Associated Press:
The average salary when opening-day rosters are finalized Sunday will break the $4 million benchmark for the first time, according to a study of all major league contracts by The Associated Press. Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw tops players at $31 million and Los Angeles projects to open the season with a payroll at about $270 million, easily a record.
That average salary will be $4.25 million, according to the AP’s calculations.
MLB owners are also pulling in more money than ever, so this isn’t some kind of random, lopsided spike.
“MLB’s revenues have grown in recent years, with the increase in national and local broadcast rights fees being a primary contributor,” Dan Halem, Major League Baseball’s chief legal officer, told the Associated Press on Tuesday. “It is expected that player compensation will increase as club revenues increase.”
For context, the average MLB salary in 2001 was $2 million. It hit $3 million in 2008.