Free Agency: Why I Stopped Watching Professional Sports
Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart
I was a typical young man in 20th century America.
Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I loved baseball, basketball, and football.
A few years later, I became interested in Hockey, and I played intramural
soccer in high school.
I am writing this because I feel a little sorry for younger
fans today.
I grew up in Los Angeles. One of the greatest times in my
younger years was in 1958. I was 12 years old and the Brooklyn Dodgers had
moved to Los Angeles. I went to my first game the following year. In 1960, I
was even more excited when the Minneapolis Lakers moved to my hometown.
With these teams came two players I admired and emulated:
Sandy Koufax and Jerry West. I was a pitcher on my baseball team, and a point
guard on my basketball team. I loved football, but I was very ‘skinny,’ and chose
not to get broken in half.
My mother was unaware that I listened to the Dodger games,
when I was supposed to be asleep, on my transistor radio. I began to keep score,
under the covers, with the use of a flashlight. I knew every player on the team
and could see the players and their actions as Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett
beautifully described the plays. I was a true fan, and the same was true for
the Lakers, although I seldom had the opportunity to see them on television.
(The Los Angeles Rams were of little interest in those years: their losses
outnumbered their wins.)
When the Dodgers had a ‘no-so-great’ season, we would look
forward to the next season, hoping that our favorite players would have a
better year. One or two players might have retired, or been traded to another
team. But or the most part, the “team” would be intact. This was the true joy
of being a fan: there was always ‘next year.’
Although it began in 1972, free agency officially began in
Major League Baseball in 1976. Within a few years, the ‘team’ concept
disappeared. As many as one-half of all players were playing on different
teams, and replaced by players I did not know.
The problem became worse, and in a few more years it seemed
like the entire team had abandoned the Dodgers and moved on.
As television expanded, and more and more games appeared on
the “boob tube,” players were paid a very small percentage of the team’s
revenue: most of the profits were enjoyed by the owners. With free agency came
larger salaries, and the players deserved what they received. However, greed on
both sides, management and the players, brought us to where we are today.
There are no “teams.” Being a ‘fan’ means nothing today.
Even more unforgivable is the fact that an increase in player salaries resulted
in huge increases in ticket prices.
In 1965, the average pay for a MLB player was $14,000. In
2025, it is over $5,000,000 each year. The average ticket price for one game in
1965 was $2.29. In 2025, varying by cities, is $30-$40 per game. These prices
do not include food and drink, which increased at a much larger percentage than
the tickets themselves.
Although there is no available information revealing exact
World Series pricing in 1965, in 1981, the average was $15. In 2024, the
average was $3,887.
An average ticket price for one NFL game ranges between $81 and
$593, depending on the city and its popularity.
The average price for one NBA game ranges between $50 and
$150. All of this began with the first free agency in MLB in 1972 granted to
Curt Flood.
Last year was the last year I planned to watch NFL games. I
ceased watching both the NFL and NBA decades in the past. Free agency, the lack
of the team concept, eliminated any possibility of becoming a loyal fan, at
least for this old fart.
Op-ed by James Turnage
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