The Rising Cost of Sports Viewership
Meet Konnor Griffin, the 19-year-old consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball. Not yet old enough to drink, Griffin is already being touted as a future Major League Baseball (MLB) superstar and the phenom who will bring the Pittsburgh Pirates back to glory. Aside from his star potential, there is another factor that has made Griffin stand out not only within the baseball world but also within the sports world as a whole. In April 2026, the Pirates signed Griffin to a historic nine-year, $140 million contract extension. For an athlete of Griffin’s caliber, this may not initially seem all that surprising. However, the contract extension, the largest in the history of the Pirates organization, was given to Griffin less than a week after his MLB debut. Sports fans were once again left saying, “They paid him how much?” Griffin’s contract is becoming more commonplace in American professional sports. From Shohei Ohtani’s $70 million annual salary in MLB for playing w...