Cardboard Fans in the Stands: COVID and Compensation in Major League Baseball
The pandemic’s impact on Major League Baseball (MLB) was especially dire. In 2020, a single player testing positive was enough to cancel the entire game, with a few teams sidelined for weeks. This paper looks at all free-agent contracts signed during the 2017–2023 off-season signing periods. Since t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Scientific Publishing
2024-12-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Empirical Economics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S2810943024500100 |
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| Summary: | The pandemic’s impact on Major League Baseball (MLB) was especially dire. In 2020, a single player testing positive was enough to cancel the entire game, with a few teams sidelined for weeks. This paper looks at all free-agent contracts signed during the 2017–2023 off-season signing periods. Since this horizon spanned the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic seasons, we can examine the degree to which contract negotiations were affected by the pandemic. Using a sample of 643 free-agent signings, we found that contract compensation fell by as much as 20% during the pandemic. By 2022, however, player compensation had rebounded to pre-pandemic trends. |
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| ISSN: | 2810-9430 2810-9449 |