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benefits vastly underpaid, inexperienced players, except for rookies and second year players, but does not provide nearly as much salary advancement as the free market and negotiating power of veterans in free agency.
Along with younger athletes clearly not being overpaid, all baseball players in the free market receive a justified, if not under deserving, salary because of the willingness of fans to pay to see them perform. "The more fans want to see an athlete perform, the more an athlete is paid" (Geltmeyer). If fans continue to pay the price to watch their favorite player hit homeruns, then salaries will continue to rise. Owners could not make a profit if players did not play for them; however, owners could not make a profit if fans did not pay to see the players play. Therefore, salaries are dependent on the fans providing the flow of cash. Further, better players should make more money because they produce more wins. In 1990, for every point improvement in a team's winning percentage, the revenue of that team increased by $53,070.50 (Grad 6). As shown by this number, winning leads to an increase in revenue. This is due to the willingness of fans to pay increasingly for successful teams. Selling more tickets and food products, attracting more television viewers, and increasing the chance of playoff bonus money occurs with winning (Grabiner). In addition to winning, players contribute to revenue through popularity. With experience, players gain "fan loyalty, historical expectations, and other idiosyncratic attributes," which make these individuals more valuable to the profitability of the team than the contribution to winning (Depken 16). All of these events associated to winning and popularity lead to an increase of revenue by way of fans willing to hand over as much money as requested to watch their favorite teams and players. Like any business, if the consumers are willing to pay, the employees are deserving of the profit.

While fans feed the revenue of the MLB industry, they complain ticket prices are rising so owners can pay the high wages of players. On the contrary, ticket prices are not related to athletes' salaries. As previously mentioned, salaries are related to the willingness of fans to pay. Comparatively, ticket prices are set based on how much spectators are willing to pay. Tickets and salaries exist in two different markets (Hey). Like other products, the owner will continue to raise the price until the consumer refuses to pay for it.

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