Date of Publication

Spring 4-29-2018

Document Type

Undergraduate Project

Professor's Name

Dr. Katherine Burakowski

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine how Minor League Baseball (MiLB) player ability to live on different MiLB salaries change from city to city. This research set out to discover if the salaries made by MiLB player’s during the 2016 season was sufficient enough to cover the cost of living in each MiLB city. An increasing level of disparity between MLB and MiLB salaries has developed, but no research specifically compared MiLB city cost of living to MiLB salaries. The results of this study are valuable for Minor League Baseball players because it allows for individual cost of living analysis on all 60 MiLB cities at the Double-A and Triple-A level. This would allow players to gain knowledge on the difficulty to live in specific MiLB cities before being placed there, ultimately increasing self-awareness of the financial hardships they may endure, while also emphasizing the importance of alternative employment and budgeting practices. Quantitative secondary data was utilized. The entire population (n=60) was studied. Cost of living data were collected from Sperling’s Best Places. The results indicated that the assumption that MiLB players live on poverty (Babb & Castillo, 2016) while in some cases true, in others is false. It was found that MiLB players do, indeed, have a difficult time covering living costs over a 12-month period, and in some cases, cannot cover living costs for their city of employment when living there during the season only (six months). It was also found that while all of the highest paid MiLB players can cover living expenses, the overwhelming majority of the lowest paid players end up living at less than minimum wage level.

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