Beginning in the 2022 season, Major League Baseball will require all 30 teams to provide housing for all minor league players, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports. The owners agreed to the decision via unanimous vote last month, though details of the plan are still being worked out, such as whether the teams will have to directly provide the housing, or if players’ stipends will be increased with more money to be specifically directed towards renting or other accommodations.
Today’s news is both welcome and overdue, considering that the conditions faced by most minor league players has been a subject of controversy in recent years, especially since those conditions worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several reporters (including ESPN’s Joon Lee, Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper, and The Athletic’s Sam Blum) and several past and present minor leaguers have illustrated the meager salaries paid to most players in the minors, which has subsequently forced many of those players into less-than-ideal living situations. This has a snowball effect on a player’s diet, sleep, ability to properly train, and their mental health in general, leaving it difficult for many prospects to even live their lives normally, let alone focus on developing their baseball skills.
Some teams have already taken steps to improve the environments of their minor league players, whether it through increased stipends for food or lodging, improved minor league facilities, or (as the Astros implemented for their prospects this year) fully furnished housing arranged and paid for by the club. The league-wide mandate, however, will put standards in place for all 30 teams to follow.
About freakin’ time.
Yea really. It’s the least they can do.
Get ready for the Oakland A’s owner to cut players after their 2nd arbitration year instead of their 3rd. He’s probably also going to fire about 40 more employees and expect Beane to do their jobs as well with no raise. I’m personally okay with it because it does make sense. If I were an A’s, Indians, Rays or Pirates fan I would be sad though because we all know those teams are going to cut team payroll even more. Well… Maybe not the Pirates. It might not be possible for them to become more sad then they already are. At this point the Pirates fans probably just want MLB and the owner to pile it on so they can prove how much they can take. That way they can tell their grandchildren what real men were like when they were baseball fans walking uphill to the stadium both ways in seventeen feet of snow even though they knew their team was going to lose every single game. Uncle Tommy lost his leg to an alligator and still made the game on time. Cousin Pete died at the age of 4 due to the hypothermia from the snow on the walk to the stadium. Didn’t matter. It was collateral damage. They just left him there.
I think the Oakland Athletics are leaving Oakland for Las Vegas which will be huge for payroll. Oakland is not a place meaning city that I really like to go too so they don’t draw like they should.
You have absolutely zero idea what you are talking about
@Benjamin Nobody cares if you don’t like Oakland. Las Vegas won’t help the A’s. They have refused to spend money on payroll since 1968. They won’t do it in Vegas either. They refuse to keep players that the fans like, so they have no fan base. No fan base means nobody in the seats.
MLB revenue is driven by TV. Advertising on TV is what pays the bills and it is priced based on TV households. The larger the number of possible eyeballs on the TV, the bigger the TV contract. #1 TV market is NY. #2 is LA #3 is Chicago. #4 is Philadelphia. #5 is Dallas-Ft Worth #6 is the SF/Oakland/San Jose. For that reason, and that reason only, Las Vegas at #40 is so far down the list of possible places that no team would relocate there. Portland, Charlotte, Nashville, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Austin and even Columbus Ohio have a bigger TV market than Las Vegas. Nothing against Las Vegas. Love visiting there. Its all about the economics of the game of baseball.
The A’s have incredible fans. If you go see games in that pit they call home you are a dedicated fan. Build it and they will come.
@MissedWar You really sure know how to devolve a positive story into making about you.
@outinleftfield The A’s problem isn’t the stadium. Candlestick was far worse. The problem has always been the ownership. At one point, their radio home was a 10 watt college station.
As a Pirates fan I find this humorous and kinda true as I’ve come to embrace how destitute the franchise has been for the majority of my life. The only problem with the narrative is that PNC Park is right by the river. Logistically you have to walk downhill to get there. The hill to walk home back to my place is a steep one though.
To actual baseball talk though, don’t sleep on the Bucs turning things around in the next couple years. Very solid farm system starting to make their way to the majors and the team can’t really spend any less than they are now. Brighter days ahead.
And Indianapolis has a larger market than just the first two on your list.
Giants74 – How on Earth can you say Oakland “refused to spend money on payroll since 1968”?????
They had the HIGHEST PAYROLL IN BASEBALL in 1991
They also had the 7th highest in 1995
The 13th highest in 1994
The 12th highest in 1993
The 5th highest in 1992
The 10th highest in 1990
The 12th highest in 1989
The 14th highest in 1988
It wasn’t until 1996 when Oakland got cheap again.
When you make blatantly false statements like that, people will end up muting you. Don’t make things up trying to make yourself look smart, there’s people here who know their stuff and will catch it right away.
@Out… You are thinking of other sports. The Atlanta Braves brought in around $450 million in revenue in 2019 of which $85 million was from TV. Where did the rest of the money come from ? That’s not driven by TV. TV only represents 20% of the total. And no the Braves don’t have a bad TV contract. If you look at other teams the Braves are somewhere in the middle (their contract was reworked). So their balance sheet is typical for a MLB team.
The problem with Vegas and baseball is a lack of fan base. You go outside the city and there’s nothing. The surrounding area is a barren wasteland. By contrast, Charlotte is a similar sized city (metro) but it’s in a state of 10+ million people.
I’m not sure how @outinleftfield is coming up with his rankings. It seems like he might just be taking the number of potential viewers from each actual city and listing them from most populous to least. That would be an inaccurate way of ranking tv viewership though. You can’t just count the cities themselves. You have to consider the entire surrounding area where that team is the most watched team. For instance, Atlanta itself might not have as many people as places like New York, LA or Chicago. The Braves are the most viewed team in 515 counties. Compare that to teams like the A’s, Angels and White Sox who are frequently the most watched team in exactly zero counties.The A’s and Angels occasionally get a few counties every once in a while but the White Sox never do. The Braves are the number 1 viewed team not only in Georgia but also Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and both Carolinas. They also have the most viewers in southern Kentucky, Southern Virginia and even northern Florida. One main part of that is they don’t have to contend with other teams in most of those areas so they are the local broadcast baseball team since most baseball fans root for them there. They also gained a lot of nationwide viewership and fan base from the TBS Superstation days when you could watch every Braves game no matter where you lives in the country. Because of that even fans of other teams frequently consider the Braves their 2nd favorite because they used to be able to watch all the games. I’ve met fans who root for the Braves even though they live all the way out on the west coast just because of TBS.
The actual TV ratings vary wildly each year for different teams. In 2015 the Detroit Tigers had the highest TV ratings. Believe it or not last season the Cleveland Indians had the highest TV ratings. They didn’t spend more money though. They actually cut payroll.
I do believe he’s right that so far this season the Yankees have the highest ratings but it’s not by as much as you would think. There are several teams that are basically tied with them. Part of the Yankees ratings for this season are a misnomer though. The Field Of Dreams game really boosted their ratings more than it should have because it drew in a ton of viewers that weren’t Yankees fans. The Yankees had the most fans as viewers for that game but the vast majority of viewers were not Yankees fans. More than 5.2 million people watched that game and the Yankees got credit for all of them. It provided a huge boost to their ratings they wouldn’t normally get because we all know most people weren’t tuning into that game just because the Yankees were in it. The viewership would have likely stayed the same even if it was a different team.
I’m personally against teams signing all these long term tv contracts. I like what the Yankees and Mets do with YES and SNY. Just keep all the money your team makes from television and stop selling the rights to companies like Fox and Bally’s. I wish Liberty Media would do that with the Braves. They are a media company, right? Better yet, just buy TBS and put all the Braves games on it to bring the Superstation back. They would still get all the money for the Braves games and they would gain more viewers by nationally televising them again like Turner did. Liberty Media already has a relationship with Ted Turner and AOL/Time/Warner from all the stock they own in them and the purchase of the Braves. Go ahead and buy TBS, too. I’m sure they can come up with the money. They also own the entire F-1 racing circuit.
To me, the most accurate way to determine CONSISTENT revenue made by a team is not by tv ratings because they vary wildly so much every year. It’s also not by looking at how many people live in that city or area because that doesn’t consider all of the out of state viewers from a team like the Braves dominating the entire southeast north of Florida. You have to look at the teams viewers from the entire country and not just one place. Attendance really is a good indicator of how teams are doing financially. The Dodgers are #1 in attendance and #1 in payroll. That’s no coincidence. If the Yankees are doing better than them why do the Dodgers outspend the Yankees by almost $80 million a year? I’m hoping the Braves raise payroll now that they are 2nd in attendance. The Braves also make money off the Truist Park/ Battery area all year round from everyone that live and works there as well as the shops and nightlife businesses.
The Oakland A’s really do need a new stadium. I think it could still work in Oakland if they could still get that stadium they wanted. It seems like the politicians in Oakland just aren’t sports fans though and don’t care enough to get it done. I keep reading that the elected officials in that area are refusing to do it. They won’t admit they don’t care if the A’s leave. They just keep saying “the current stadium is a good stadium. The A’s should just stay there.” That shows you they are either extremely out of touch or they are just lying through their teeth because that stadium is garbage.
Contrary to what some people have said I think Las Vegas could really work for the A’s. It seems to be working very well for the Raiders so I don’t see why that can’t translate to baseball. They wouldn’t just get viewers from Vegas, either. The A’s would have all the viewers in Nevada as well as likely Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. They may not be very populous states but it’s still 4 states all to themselves. That sounds a lot better than splitting up 1 state between 5 teams like they are doing now. The A’s owner still likely won’t become a big spender relative to other teams but it can’t hurt. My guess is he would increase spending by a noticeable margin overall and he would probably increase it with a big payroll bump for his first year in Vegas to draw attention from the new fans. That’s what most owners do when they get a new stadium. I guarantee he’s just going to keep cutting payroll the longer he stays in the terrible stadium they are in now. My guess is Vegas is a good bet. Even if he doesn’t take the team there going somewhere like Portland, OKC, Charlotte or Nashville would be better than staying in the stadium they are in now. My personal preference is they stay out West so the Braves can still hold onto their dominance of southeast viewership. Better yet… Move the A’s to Vegas and move the Rays somewhere like Portland. That will give the Braves more viewers in northern Florida.
TL;DR.
That’s too bad. You would have liked it as a Braves fan. Especially as a Braves fan from Alabama. I even mentioned Alabama in the post because it was mostly about out of state Braves fans like you. I even made sure to have paragraphs and line breaks for people like you.
Beane is part of the group who owns the Athletics, he’s a minority owner but nonetheless owns a part and thus gets benefits from the earnings the team has.
@Mets Missed WAR…
Yeah, thanks for those 1500 words – quiet afternoon for you obviously – which I did read – genuinely thanks for the effort. But you’re not an A’s fan are you?
The Colosseum might be a soulless concrete hole – but the City of Oakland isn’t. I don’t have a town planning masters, but I’m guessing the late 1960s plans for that region were more ambitious than what has become of the area….
That’s a shame.
But do I want my team moved to the giant soulless hole that is Vegas? I’d rather we moved to Atlantic City. Or Reno. Or Alaska.
(BTW I got married in Vegas – we’re still married…. but good Lord…)
The fanbase (all 9 of us) are rooted in Oakland.
Lots of fans seem to enjoy playing monopoly with the A’s & the Rays. Could you maybe play with you’re own team?
Take care….
I have absolutely no dog in this fight other than to say that the A’s minor league team(already in Vegas) has a decent following there already with an excellent stadium. Dont think it would take much to make it major league ready. No one thought the Raiders would succeed there either and I’m pretty sure they are selling more tickets in Vegas than Oakland… but I’m sure someone will do a complete fact check and analysis on this comment as well
Football is 8/9 games a season, plus a handful of preseason and poss. postseason games. Baseball requires 20-40K fans for 81 games a season, coming out in a desert. Think 80+ degrees at night (yes, a dome probably would be a must). I don’t see Vegas as a good bet.
@A’sfaninLondonUK: Thanks for reading. I’m just trying to look for ways the organizations can make more money so they can acquire/keep more players and players as a whole can make more themselves. I’ve never been too Oakland but my my preference is that the A’s stay there in a better situation. Unfortunately it seems the elected officials there really don’t seem to care. They pretended to care about the Raiders and let them leave. It would be better for the Athletics to be in a city where the people who call the shots actually want them. I think the ballpark plan the A’s created looked really nice. The people who run the city were absolutely against it though. They wanted that area to be “a calm, beautiful, nice, relaxing marina with high end retail shops and restaurants.” In other words: Not a place for sports fans because they don’t care about sports and want to spend their time doing what they enjoy there. They don’t care if 40,000 people showing up 81+ nights a year would help the economy. They wouldn’t be one of those 40,000 people and they want that area for things they like. My only dog in the fight is I am a huge MLB fan and I want the league to do as well as possible. I want the owners to make as much as possible. I want the players to make as much as possible. I want the most fans possible attending games. That’s not going to happen with the people running the city of Oakland now. They literally adamantly refuse and are in complete denial about the state of their stadium.
Also… This isn’t a shot at you or anything. Don’t you live in London? I could definitely see an A’s fan who lives in Oakland not wanting the team to move even if it helps them. I’m not sure why you care through living almost halfway around the world. Wouldn’t you just want the A’s to do whatever they can to improve their team?
Minor league teams with decent followings are that way because they are major league. Major league pricing ruins it for so many, that people gravitate to the minors, so just because people like baseball don’t mean it will succeed. Look at the AAAA Marlins, people there love baseball, but they’re not going to pay the exorbitant prices MLB brings.
Late 1980’s the A’s led baseball in attendance. So there is a fan base.
Oakland is a horribly run city that is getting worse by the day as the local government moves further left. It’s unsafe and a state of the art stadium will never be able to be financially supported. The TV revenue is very small, as is the population to buy tickets. They will be moving– it’s just a matter of where? Vegas would be good for them and attract a lot more fans.
The Oakland A’s are already looking into the housing equivalent of a tomato and cheese sandwich on plain white bread.
Seriously though, as mentioned in the article, this news is indeed welcome and long overdue.
Yeah especially with their AAA team out in Summerlin Nevada just a hop skip and jump from Las Vegas.
What? No concubine? Folks living under a bridge are asking WTH?
I should be hired for the position
I’ll bite. What position?
Janitorial Technician. A lot of OT when it comes to housing for guys just out of high school.
Good idea, you’ll clean up
This is being headed up by new MLB hire: Billy McFarland of Fyre Festival.
They should increase their salaries too
Agreed. This housing news is long overdue and welcome news. Hopefully it’s a start for these young men.
By providing housing, essentially they are getting a raise. I just hope that they don’t take away the measly per diem they get.
Nooo. Housing will be included in compensation. Multi-million dollar campus’ abroad are apples to oranges when it comes to developing domestic talent.
The homeless are puzzled by this
More importantly they should be paid 12 months per year instead of 6 so they can afford to train in the offseason. As much as teams want to use analytics and high tech wizardry to make their players better, why do they all seem to ignore the obvious: focus on the well being and physical/mental health of the player?
Don’t make sense you fool
Maybe a team can buy an existing hotel or motel and use it for all the players coaches etc during the season, and make money off it as a hotel during the off season when the players aren’t around anyway.
That’s actually not a terrible idea
When a new minor league stadium is built they should consider a dorm.
Why not just do what the Blue Jays have with a hotel right there at the ballpark where you can house the minor leaguers and also I am so fans would stay. I would love to go to a stadium where I could drink and then just walk to a hotel room end of night.
I love this idea
Someone needs to put you in the CBA negotiations
Maybe a motel 6 with free cable & a continental breakfast consisting of cold coffee & day old bagels
It sounds good on the surface and there are numerous abandoned hotels spread among every city, but could you imagine getting players to do such a chore of redoing, even minimal time shut down hotels into livable condition for around 1k a month (or less) each would be receiving for room and board on top of that? I don’t see it, especially when there would be some within a system who don’t even live FT in this country, some who are married. Some who want no part etc..
Google abandoned hotels/motels. there are oodles all over. Beside the not so cheap land cost there is material, and other specialists required to get said place back into order beside player labor. you just don’t luck into turn key mega dorms like that for nothing.
I thought about that, at first it would cost a lot to renovate an abandoned hotel/ motel but over the long term it would save money and also can generate money during the off season, can make it the official hotel of the team have the logo all over etc, I believe the players will go for it, you can bet a free room beats 6 people for an apartment and can get privacy with it. As for not many turn key hotels available I also agree that’s rare, but sad to say with Covid and things getting back to normal but not there yet, maybe this would be the best time to get one?
I like the idea
The hard thing is, are you forcing the kids out in off-season? Where are they going? What about the married ones and if they have kids?
Maybe they could make it profitable simply because taking care of your investments allows them to be more profitable.
But I do agree it could be combined with real estate investments to create a profitable business.
With Malala and vaccines
What do you find fun about Polio.
Long overdue!!!!! No let’s address the pay discrepancy that the minors have, pay these players a livable wage so they can spend more time training for the major leagues instead of worrying we’re there next meal is coming from.
that’s great, but let’s not forget this doesnt happen without the streamlining of the systems. no loss of incone for teams, but many jobs lost amongst players and team staff.
Old system was bloated as h-e-double hockey sticks so, while it sucks that a jobs were lost it was inefficient. Don’t need 8 teams of players. Now they really need to work out better pay for the players but that’s largely on the player’s association for excluding them as much as the organizations
maybe it was, but I really doubt these upgrades in compensation happen if the system stays the same as it was.
Astros set the standard by doing this, when minor leaguers are getting payed 22 K a year, talking poverty Level, no wonder many players retire after only a few years many have families, sad this took so long to get done.
A smart organization is certainly going to invest money to take care of the basic economic needs of its players. Most of them are kids away from home for the first time. If they don’t have to stress about having a place to live or enough to eat, they can concentrate on playing baseball.
Actually, the Astros provide fully furnished apartments for all minor leaguers, and i don’t think any other team does this.
Most make less than that. $22k is the average including 40 man roster players and AAA players.
It’s a long overdue pay raise. The details are important. Big difference between providing living arrangements or raising stipend which may not cover all the housing costs. More details will surely come out in the future.
I hope my job follows suit so I can focus more on improving my job performance. In a few years I can get that multi million dollar raise that I desperately need.
I’m so sorry you couldn’t make your JV baseball team in high school. Maybe you should’ve played a bit better, man…
your job must pay you at least a minimum wage. minor league players get paid less than half of minimum wages especially in lower minors.
You work at hard physical labor position that requires you to work out 12 months out of the year to prepare for a job that only pays you minimum wage for the 6 months you are working?
I doubt it. More likely you work at Burger King.
Don’t give them money for housing, many are in late teens and can’t manage their money, must give them a decent place to live.
Even Bernie Sanders chimed in on this issue. It’s high time.
The vast majority of pro players, of course, never make it past the lower minors. Their only purpose is to provide competition for the prospects who have the best chance of becoming big leaguers. Teams have long exploited these guys because they know how much they love the game.
FYI, the only reason Bernie cares is because the Burlington Class A team was eliminated along with the rest of the NyPL. On a side note, i wish every politician over the age of 65 would just go away
@bucsfan There is an easy way to get rid of politicians over 65. Make every single donation to every quasi political organization fully disclosed to the public. Get rid of all tax deductions for political donations. And the employees of all political organizations be fully disclosed to the public.
@Giants74:
There’s already too much canceling and harassment in our society. Your proposal would increase it tenfold.
I’ve read many times about many lifelong relationships being formed between minor leaguers and their host families. Guess MLB wants to destroy those opportunities, too.
This take is everything I love about the MLBTR comment section.
it is a free country and even the worst opinions should be respected. why would host families have to be burdened with taking care of minor leaguers of multi billion industry?
Burdened? Dang, you seriously are clueless. Those families volunteer to do the hosting, and many do it year after year, especially in the lower minors.
They do it out of love. A great example is the relationship Victor Martinez still has with the family that hosted him during short season ball.
Maybe you should have kept your uninformed opinion to yourself?
Host families are a relic. Unless you’re a Jr hockey player in Canada, host families simply do not exist anymore.
You are literally an idiot.
There is no short season ball anymore. The billionaire owners got rid of it to save $1.2 million in salaries for players and coaches.
@bucsfan Of course they still do especially in the rural Midwest. You trade a bed/food for some help on the farm/property and a chance to help improve someone’s life. Good people exist everywhere.
The short season still exists. They just play all their games in Arizona and Florida.
Maybe they want to enhance those opportunities by paying the people a decent amount of money so more families are willing to open their house to young players
Have you not seen the Twitter account who has had to beg for literally dozens, if not hundreds of players over the past few years to find host families? This is long overdue. These teams don’t need to ask for charity when they can afford to look after their own players.
Minor league players only need host families because they can’t afford to live like a normal human. Most minor league players stuff as many players as they can into a small apartment during a season, often 6-8 into a 2 bedroom apartment.
It was Brittany Ghiroli’s article in The Athletic that was the most comprehensive. Surprised she’s not mentioned in the post. Its a great read.
Visions of 10 minor leaguers sharing a one bedroom apartment……
This is overdue.
Out of all professional sports leagues this is the only sport the disparity is so bad.
Obviously most players won’t make to majors but they should be able to live normally as they give it their shot.
Build some dorms. Frat house. Something near their facilities.
Let’s see what implementation means, but the direction is a good one. Minor League players are undeniably exploited and if this means a little better food and housing, it could even be a good investment for MLB
some teams started providing stipends for minor leaguers. this change is all due to the cheapness of arte moreno and a angels minor leaguer pitcher who decided to speak about horrendous living conditions and food(?) they were forced to consume.
Scared to see what the A’s give to their minor leaguers.
A flop house is still a house, say the owners. When michael jordan became a baron, he bought the team a bus due the busses previously dilpatated condition.
This ought to give that cheap billionaire John Fisher another reason to seek the team to Dave Stewart’s group
This is a big step in the positive direction . Minor league players shouldn’t be eating Wonder bread with a Kraft cheese single on it , and sleeping in a bathtub . I also this forces the sale of the A’s from The Gap to owners who will get the Vegas move done .
Owners are gonna start dropping minor league teams
“Owners are gonna start dropping minor league teams”
They already have.
The league forced that.
So employers are responsible for housing??? What communist thought up this? I’d rather have the players be given a higher salary, enough to cover this expense.
They cover housing during every road game. This simply fills the gap for the other 2.5 months.
This is cheaper for the owners or they would pay a higher wage. This is actually a tax DEDUCTIBLE expense for the owners. Its the most capitalistic thing they could do.
Communist? More like a smart accountant for a capitalist. Providing housing for the players probably can be done much cheaper than paying players enough so that they can afford decent housing.
I bet you voted for the failed sports team owner Donald J Trump.
TDS never dies.
Baseball players are in a unique situation. They oftentimes get traded/promoted/demoted. Giving them the responsibility of finding a place that rents month-to-month would be very stressful. It would be much more cost-effective and efficient for a team to contract the living arrangements and put the players up.
If ever there was the perfect time to be a tent salesman in Pittsburgh, this has to be it.
Great news! And all new ballparks should be paid for by the owners of the team.
Yeah because cities and taxpayers don’t ever get any benefits from having a pro team. It just boggles the mind how some people want cities to get all the perks from having a team without having to pay for it.
@hiflew Hate to burst your bubble. Sports teams are private enterprise. With the exception of the Green Bay Packers, the public does not own a single sports team. Cities derive little, if any benefit, from building stadiums for private enterprises.
The Braves had over two million come to their park this year. Some of those people stayed at hotels, ate at restaurants, bought gas, etc. To say that the Atlanta area didn’t benefit from that is silly.
What about tax dollars? What about tourism? What about jobs? What about entertainment? Without those stadiums, there would never be a reason to even visit some cities. Would anyone ever go to Green Bay in the winter if not for the Packers? Seems like a little bit more than “little, if any benefit.”
By your logic, Atlanta should pay for the buildings of the HQ of CNN, Coke, Home Depot…etc. The employees of those companies probably spend way more in Atlanta than the limited number of days the Braves play. The Giants paid for there stadium and went to 4 World Series. So, it would hardly be a burden on the Braves to build there own stadium.
Sports teams don’t play everyday. The jobs are either temporary, or low paying. Not a huge tax benefit. The Giants paid for their stadium, and went to 4 World Series at the same time. So, it is not a huge burden on a sports team to build their own stadium.
The Braves actually paid for 55% of the cost of construction, and then turned the whole thing over to Cobb County and Marietta. The Braves lease the ballpark. I just took issue with your contention that the community doesn’t benefit.
They DO pay for those buildings through tax credits and plenty of other corporate benefits.
Plus the HQ of those corporations do not offer the same tourism opportunities for a city as a baseball stadium. It’s not JUST the job and not JUST the tourist dollars and not JUST the entertainment for the locals. It’s all of those things combined.
Working 81 days out of 365 a year is better than working 0 out of 365. And a low paying job is better than a no paying job.
I thought the Yankees provided housing for their MiLB players.
Its probably not really a big issue even if they didn’t. The minor league pay, which is around $400-$600/wk can cover housing expenses where the Yankees affiliates play – Scranton, Hudson Valley, etc. The real problem is these leagues and minor league teams out west, where the rent is beyond ridiculous and is more than the players even make. For every team like Houston and San Diego, who take care of housing, there were teams like the Angels who didn’t. When the rent for some place in California is $2350/mo and a minor leaguer only makes $2k, the system is broken
If you are Minor Leaguer out West, you are obviously not playing in a town where rents are $2350 a month. You can easily find places that are much cheaper than that.
The San Jose Giants beg to differ, but don’t feel bad the Brooklyn Cyclones have the same problem, rents in Brooklyn are $1,000+ a month for a single ROOM.
Fresno, Inland Empire, etc
@bucsfan Fresno is poverty stricken. So, you aren’t going to find many high rents. Inland Empire is huge. You can easily find rents below 2350 a month, unless you are looking in Palm Springs.
@mlbfan San Jose is an exception. Most Western Minor League teams aren’t in major cities.
Is $1850/mo reasonable then for a short term lease? I honestly don’t know rental prices from region to region in CA. But its not in the midwest or southeast or even northeast where the players have to sleep in their cars. Its California
They still can’t pay for much with the $600 a week. The real issue is the constant moving and areas to live temporarily. If you start A ball in X city and manage to somehow get a short lease then what happens when you get called up to AA? Then what if they don’t like the move and you go back to A? Or you do fantastic and they send you to AAA. Three moves in a couple months with half of it on the road? Most of these guys say the big issue is all their money goes to hotels. Then remember that $600 a week (if they even get that which most A and AA clubs don’t) you still get taxed and it’s only half the year at most. Some A clubs pay $250-400.
Realistically yes someone on their own or with someone else in the same position can find a place to live if they made $600 a week but this is not the case with the minor league players. Just search for the images of 7 players sharing a two bedroom.
The low hanging fruit was always providing (adequate) housing and (better) food for the players.
Unless you long for the days of children losing fingers in meat packing plants, not sure why anyone would mind this.
It’s good for the teams, too. Buy a condo building near the ballpark and hire some chefs. Teams get to monitor player’s nutrition and sleep (i.e. partying) and protect their investments.
Not only that, the teams get to write it all off as an expense as opposed to adding it to payroll which would increase the teams taxes since they would have to pay matching FICA and other payroll taxes.
Soon employees will want McDonald’s to pay for their housing too. Live within your means and you’ll be fine. If you want more then apply yourself in a field that will pay you more.
This can’t be a real take
I kind of want McDonald’s to pay for my housing. I know my purchases put some exec’s children through college in my teens and 20s.
Now that’s a real take
So MLB will mandate many of the small businesses remaining to provide housing for the players of their MLB overlords. IOW MLB teams will soon own all MILB teams, pushing away the SMB from ownership.
Why did you bother with such a moronic statement? Minor League players are under contract to the Major League teams. Minor League team owners aren’t poverty stricken.
I remember how it was back in the 90’s and surprised the same standards existed 25 years later. However, I was lucky to be with a great host family. Not everyone was so lucky.
So you are actually a former draft pick?
I thought your screenname was ironic or something. I think all of the professional innings played by guys on the board are yours.
I ran the bases once as a kid
Yes. I know there are a few guys who have played in the minors and majors who follow ‘traderumors. They do a great job reporting. Unfortunately, there have been a few who found out they were traded or released by reading an article here first.
That’s a problem with the team. Shameful.
My nephew has never complained about his living situation in the Angels system, almost exclusively in Arizona. But, he has had two TJ surgeries and barely pitched two innings in rookie ball since getting drafted out of high school. So, I don’t know how it is if you get a little higher in their system. Maybe next year he will try again at pitching professionally. What a lousy road he has been on but he’s a gamer. He decided he would train for an Ironman triathlon since swimming doesn’t hurt his arm. He’s already running some serious miles. He goes to school and works at the baseball facility that trained him growing up. Lives at home.
whyhayzee – Well, if he makes it to the big leagues, the payoff is tremendous, He’s doing what is necessary to get there. It is never easy for most minor league players who do not gwt injured. Thousands are fighting for just hundreds of MLB jobs. Just like real life jobs. I wish him the best.
You guys are right. Owners have such an incredible and endless supply of money. They should pay all minor leaguers the MLB minimum salary, buy homes, cars, and food as well, for everyone.. Also pay all medical and dental bills, Overall, only a small percentage will make it to the big leagues, so let’s make them comfortable so they can play baseball all summer long without a care in the world. Make sure the owners overpay for their investment in their team’s future. I love how fans can easily spend other people’s money. Owners have their teams strictly to entertain us, not make a profit. They don’t need any more money than they already have. So, by all means, give minor leaguers everything they desire.
Here’s an idea. Why don’t all of us pay for our extended families needs. Kind of the same thing, don’t you think?
That would make it like college football. It’s that way because a bunch of insecure rich people need to have their alma mater win big football games so they can feel a sense of self worth. If there’s money in something, that money will slowly work it’s way down to the people who actually provide that something. But it’s a long road with a lot of outstretched hands along the way. Minor league baseball is kind of stuck. College baseball just isn’t that popular either. It doesn’t spark the male ego chest pounding of the rich self-centered types. And so it goes.
I am hopeful, but really want to see the details of what is exactly required and how each team will carry this out. While it is hard to image this cold be worse, we are talking about MLB which just carried out it’s hatchet job on the MiLB system. So yes, just a bit skeptical at this juncture.
and now prices will go up yay
Who thehell care about the A’s now??? This is a very positive history ! Welcome new live to minor league baseball !!
So, the kids signed for a multi-million dollar signing bonus should be required to stay with the team. Build some character and how to relate and be accountable to his teammates and to other people. We need to avoid more Matt Bush scenarios, don’t we?
Yes, we definitely need to avoid more of that garbage.
good an increase of meal stipends too
I believe the Pirates are one of the teams that helped minor league players out as part of all the MiLB facilities improvement ” a few” years back. but not sure what that help is/was, if im totally misaken
Arte Moreno just crapped himself.
In related news, MLB announced a new sponsorship contract with the Wenzel Tent Company, who will be providing the new housing.
In 2019 a player signed to a 7 year minor league contract (7 years non-negotiable) got
$ 300. a week at high A, $369 at AA. They play 6 days a week, which for a 40 hour week (unusual to be only 40 hours) that is an hourly rate of $7.50an hour. AA it would be $9.22 an hour.
Even if that is true, although I doubt your numbers since 6 games a week would be around 20 hours, the upside potential salary is far greater for a minor league player than for any other $7.50/hr job. Lower minor leagues is an entry position, you can’t expect to make a lot of money as an entry level worker. If you go to work for Microsoft as an entry level worker, you aren’t be making anywhere close to the salary of an executive VP. It called paying your dues and weeding out the guys that are just not good enough. Minor league baseball is not really meant to be a career, it’s a stepping stone to the majors.
Where do you get 20 hours a week? For a 6pm game most players report before 2 pm. In MLB 7 pm games players must be in the clubhouse by 4 p.m. Minor leaguers often report at noon so they can work on defending the sac bunt, run downs double steals ect. Then they play the game which starts at 6 or 7p.m. Travel day is on their off day. How do you pay rent, eat, clean your clothes and have a cell phone? The point was how they are poorly paid, not that they should be getting major league money.
How do you pay rent? Get a roommate or two, like most people in their late teens/early 20s. How do you eat? Fast food and pizza. Like most other young adults. Clean your clothes? Go to a laundromat or buy a washer/dryer. Just like everyone else.
You are acting like these are adults with many responsibilities. They are not. For the most part, these are college-aged kids. Mom and dad probably still pay their car insurance and cell phone bills. Most don’t have a spouse or children to pay for. They don’t have a mortgage to pay. They don’t have property taxes. They haven’t even accumulated that much “stuff” in their young lives. It does not take much money for a healthy 19 year old to survive. If it gets to the point where you can’t survive, then it is time to give up the dream and get a real job.
“Give up your dream and get a real job.” They are not quitters. They gross $1200. a month. Where do you get the idea they are 19? Most are 19 after their freshman year in college. Who are you to say they do not have responsibilities, they are not adults? In spring training they do not even draw a salary. What other occupations can do that? You seem to be offended that they should get a living wage.
One could argue that those players should seek higher paying employment, which is pretty much anything. That’s what the rest of us have to do, why should these guys be different, because they play baseball? I don’t think so.
Do you have to sign a 7 year contract to go to work? No you don’t.