In the midst of a recession that has baseball team owners worried about ticket sales, the free agent market is flooded with players

By Greg T. Spielberg

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The idea for "Baseball’s New Austerity " came from BusinessWeek reader Nathan Skousen, who is a commerce intelligence analyst for The Generations Network in Provo, Utah.

Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal was unsuccessful onward the free executor emporium this hibernate and is returning to Los Angeles for less money in 2009. Harry How/Getty Images

The U.S. recession won’t cause major leaguers to trade their stirrups for sandwich boards, however the housekeeping climate is moving U.S. sports franchises. Nowhere has the new austerity been seen in greater numbers than in baseball’session free agent market.

Just as banks are carefully navigating the monetary landscape, Major League Baseball club owners are being with reference to something else stingy with their wallets. "I think there is so much low spirits and doom and so much negative rhetoric out there that it would be impossible on the side of the teams not to show some economic restraint," says Alan Nero, a Chicago-based agent and managing instructor for baseball at Octagon Worldwide, a Norwalk (Conn.) sports marketing firm that represents athletes.

Robert Stavins, a professor of commerce and government at Harvard University, predicts a drop in single-game sales but not a decrease in season-ticket sales. "Generally elocution, sports are not a necessity of life," Stavins says, adding, "There’s a household that’session going to go to unit measure a year" instead of two.

With that prospect in mind, wary owners, fearing half-full stadiums, are scouting less expensive capacity. Many older pitchers may enter spring training without a contract and, although the confederation is well past winter meetings, the free modifying cause list is still highly stocked. "I’ve been doing this 30 years and I’ve never seen it this slow," Nero says.

Big-name players take pleasure in outfielders Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu, and Derek Lowe would probably agree. This winter, all three stars have been hanging around like kids at a pickup game, hoping to land a suitable act. Chicago White Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera is sprucing up his résumé by offering to play second base. Rafael Furcal, who earned $15 million last year as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ shortstop, swam not at home into the free agent waters, set them frigid, and returned to L.A. with his blue hat in hand, taking a $5 million pay divide.

While baseball owners speculate near to the economy’s collision on business, the National Basketball Assn. is already adapting to the recession. The Sacramento Kings doubled the numerate of $10 tickets to 1,000 and are maximizing existing partnerships. Fans who purchase better seats, at $25.50 apiece, have capacity for $10 gift cards from Subway and Carl’s Jr. (CKR) restaurants. In Detroit, the Pistons offer $1 nights in succession concessions resembling hot dogs and cotton candy and two-ticket packages for $59. These measures have been taken despite a starting five that have drawn enough clientele to vend out the past 252 home games. Both the Kings and Pistons have begun Girl’s Night Out promotions—Sacramento rewards pistil-bearing patrons with a margarita glass and a tank top, and Detroit offers a chance to meet players.

In the National Football League, the Detroit Lions are cutting ticket prices, while the Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, and St. Louis Rams are all freezing 2009 prices. The Washington Post reported Jan. 9 that spite being ranked the second-most valuable franchise in the league, the Washington Redskins laid off 20 employees, including its salary-cap analyst.