[slic1149]

The folks who complain about baseball marketing tend to be the ones who holler the loudest when their favorite player goes to another team because of money, or when the club increases ticket prices. They yell about how expensive the hot dogs are and then complain about how dirty the park is and how surly the ushers are. Next thing you know they vow to never come to the park again because these guys are over paid and the experiece isn't all they thought it should be.

But every day they read the sports page and follow their team. They watch the games mostly for free on TV if they have a big screen talk about having the "best seat in the house". These folks take all the game has for free and then piss and moan over how the team needs better ownership and how money is ruining the game. The bottom line is baseball exists off of the fans dollars and its corporate partnerships. Right now its corporate sponsors and TV revenue pay a larger share of the bills than the fans do. Economic reality says that this Spiderman thing is just the beginning.

But before you scream too loud try to remember Major League Baseball isn't a birthright it's a for profit business and the less the fan contribute to the teams bottom line the less say they will have in its overall direction regarding advertising. This is not to say the owners aren't greedy whores, the point is sometimes the fans aren't much better.