Sociological Perspectives on Sport by David Karen Robert E. Washington

Author:David Karen, Robert E. Washington [David Karen, Robert E. Washington]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415718417
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2015-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

PROFITS: ARE CUBAN PLAYERS EXPLOITED?

With a single employer, Cuban baseball players have no bargaining power in the setting of player salaries. The government is free to pay all players (and citizens because it has a virtual monopoly on the labor market) a reservation wage—which is approximately what it does by paying everyone about $15 a month.8

Are players exploited, though? In this case, the exploiter would be the government because it is the residual claimant on any revenue generated by government workers (players). Jamail (2000), a critic of the Cuban government’s restrictions on baseball players, thinks players are exploited. Commenting on why the government bans from baseball any player who it thinks is considering defecting, he writes, “bannings were a reminder that making money off baseball was still an activity reserved for the state” (p. 89).

The main way that Cuban baseball generates money is through ticket sales. In MLB, ticket sales are only one of many sources of revenue. In Cuba, there is no commercial advertising in stadiums, nor is there any advertising on television or radio. Very little food is sold at the stadium, and for those who drive (few do), parking is free. Items such as baseball caps, jerseys, and baseball cards are almost nonexistent. In short, very little money is made on baseball other than through ticket sales.

Before 1994, baseball games in Cuba were free. In 1994, economic hardship led the government to start charging admission. The price charged in 1994 is the same price charged throughout the country today: one peso (about 4 cents), or three pesos for box seats behind home plate. However, complimentary seats are frequently distributed in large quantities to select groups. If, in the most generous approximation of ticket revenue, 10,000 people pay 1 peso for each game played, ticket sales in the Cuban League would raise about 7.2 million pesos per year.

An equally rough approximation can be made of the Cuban League’s expenses. If each player makes 300 pesos a month, and there are 24 players on each team, then player salaries in the Cuban League would be approximately 1.4 million pesos a year. Assume all other expenses—staff, travel, equipment, stadium upkeep—roughly equals the players’ salary (which is true in MLB; Fort, 2003, p. 275). Then, in the best-case scenario of baseball revenue, players receive only about 24% of the net revenue that they generate, with the balance going to the government.9 If, on the other hand, revenue estimates were reduced by 50% and nonsalary expenses doubled—both of which may be more reasonable approximations—then the government loses money on baseball. Certainly, it lost money before it began selling tickets in 1994.

In sum, it is possible that Cuban baseball players are exploited by their government, but if so, probably not by much, at least in terms of what a free internal market would provide them. The exception to this is in foreign contracts, where the government’s share of 80% (or more) of player pay is a clear case of exploitation. Indeed, the profits

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