Honestly I think I'd get much more annoyed with a logo flashing on the screen while I'm trying to actually watch the game, as opposed to their being an ad-break and getting them all out of the way while the game is on hiatus. I know I get really pissed off when I'm watching something on Fox(like Simpsons or Family Guy) and they'll have the corner of the TV taken up with some advertisemant or another for a new show. I'm like "Helloooo, I WANT to be able to see the whole picture, and not be distracted ya know".

And each time they've tried, there was a strike. 1994 here's looking at ya.

And I can tell you from personal experience that the team that signed Votto to his contract definitely isn't one of the latter 6.



I think the difference in ad breaks is partially (though of course not fully) a difference in opportunity - baseball and American football simply have more breaks as part of how the games are played anyway, stretching back to long before either was televised or even played on radio, while association football and rugby just keep going, so you might as well stick an advertisemant or two in there to fill the empty time. Once other, more continuously run sports (basketball/hockey/auto racing/etc.) started breaking into media relatively recently, they've somewhat adopted the methods of the former two to get their money's worth (though I've noticed that US stations showing "soccer" don't put ad breaks in except before, at the half, and at the end of the match).

And it doesn't help having the Steelers and the penguins in the same city. At that pirates game last night, I think I saw more penguins jerseys, than pirates shirts.

@ Maccabeus - Cincinnati goes crazy for the reds though so we probably don't care. Also on average they fill the stadium with more than half the capacity. If the reds ever got good again though, it would be packed a the time.

Phone, I pressed post once

I do believe that football players do get more money year. And also, if not, you have to consider that the MLB has far more games per season than the NFL does.

It wouldn't be near as bad if they actually spent the time to make a decent team. They proved that last year on that mini run they had. Actually sold out a few games and all looked well until that blown call. Then they rolled over and died. Being at .500 win pct. at the end of the season will be our World Series.

All of the TV money goes to the teams. What would the league do with it?

Oh, the ads. No one's going to say they love commercials, but you do get used to it....most of the time they play them during an appropriate break, like when managers change pitchers, the end of an inning, a time out, etc. At least for baseball. I'm not sure about other sports, don't watch those often. Auto races, for example, get interrupted mid-race.

And I also prefer having them be a separate thing from the show itself. I don't even like the channel logos that they started to plaster all over the screen a while back (they used to not do that), let alone a big art ad that pops up on-screen over the action like a jack in the box (cable TV's Fear network movies do this a lot, which is why I don't watch them). Ad breaks mean I can go to the bathroom, check forums, hug a cat etc.

Why do any of these sports playing jackassws get paid multimillion dollar salaries to play children's games is beyond me. I make sure millions of people are safe everyday, hell soldiers, police officers, firemen should be the ones being paid $200m a month. Not some overgrown child playing football/baseball/basketball/ hockey.

It makes me sick.

Figure out a way to get millions of people to pay to watch you work.

Exactly. These guys are the cream of crop in their sport, millions of people aspire to what they achieve. Not millions of people aspire to be a fat cop sitting on his ass eating Donuts and filling out forms.

We put the money in, they get it. A lot of those athletes were middle-class or lower-class people before they rose to fame, don't disparage them. They donate a lot of it too. And I mean, if those millions of dollars didn't go to the people who made that money, where would it go?

imagine how many people would want to join the army or emergency services...

...yeah I don't think the government could afford it.

You know the people wouldn't want to pay for it via their taxes, either.

Yup, that's pretty much it. Or millions to buy or sell your product/service.

Worship them all you want. I find them useless and not worth the money they are paid. So I think they should be paid? Yup. But not millions upon millions of dollars. But I'm biased. I hate sports and don't see any real point to them and how people get when watching them.

I'd rather pay some soldier a few million dollars to go put his life on the line in some third world [censored] country so that if he takes a bullet and dies his wife and family can survive. I don't give a flying f about Arod or whatever the he'll his name is. Oh, boo hoo he broke a nail and has to sit the next 2 games out. Well Johhny took a bullet to the head in Iraq and his wife has to raise his kids with very little money and all she gets is a flag and a small pittance from the government.

Who said anything about worship? Do you worship the video games you enjoy playing? I like to watch the games because I find it entertaining....I have nothing to personally do with the fact business tycoons like to use something I enjoy watching to make gazillions, or that players (or rather, their agents) use their skills as leverage to gain huge salaries from teams who want those skills to win the l33t titles.

Rogers and Bell is going to aquire MLSE, its pissing me off.

Does anyone have any idea how I can put a stop to it?

The deal is not final yet.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/the-mystery-woman-behind-the-blockbuster-mlse-deal/article2384140/

im very serious, if anyone here has an idea how i can put a stop to it or set sometyhinbg i motion to top the sale, lemme know

Because they are worth the price in the eyes of the business(or the people in charge of it). And the business is around because the customers value the entertainment services/products provided to be worth the money that they have to pay for it. You don't have to contribute to it by spending money on their services/products if you don't want to (unless they are funded by taxes). It's how things work in a free market. And you are free to donate all the money you want to organizations in favor of helping soldiers and other groups. No one is going to stop you.

I wouldnt want to be paid that much a year. I like paying as little taxes as possible.

Make less than $950 dollars a year, you won't even have to file a tax return.

MLB stadiums tend to be large.

MLB plays many games per season.

Despite watching baseball being on the same entertainment level as watching flies [censored] or paint dry, it has somewhat of a cult following.

The market has decided that the value of player salaries are fair based on league revenue, the cut their players association got for the players during their last collective bargaining discussion and agreement, and the fact that fans pay the prices they do to see games and buy merchandise.

Unfortunately those who complain about the pay athletes get don't understand very much about economics. They get that kind of pay due to the revenue the service they provide gets and their cut of it. I see no logical reason to be up in arms. If the athletes didn't get that much the franchise owner(s) would be the ones getting that money instead.