Walking off the field

In a world where the Saudis have taken over the PGA Golf Tour, money is everything. Even those professional golfers who scoffed when the Saudis set up their own tour last year – and lured away some big names with massive payments – are now on side. Rory McIlroy, my favourite player, refused to join the Saudis despite being offered a reported $300 million. He’s apparently okay with the new arrangement. Word is that he might get that mullah moolah after all. 
The Toronto Blue Jays have decided to join the greed gang. A friend of mine has been a Jays subscriber since that first game in the snow at CNE Stadium in 1977. During all that time, he has been joined by others who split his tickets. After all, few individuals can go to 81 home games a year. As a result, there are about eight of us who share. Some take as many as ten pairs; others as few as four pairs. The seats are excellent, so excellent that the Jays are licking their lips in glee.
About a month ago, we learned that the Jays would be charging about 30 percent more next year for the same seats. That was acceptable. After all, they had just spent $200 million on upgrades to the stadium. They also said the seats would be larger, padded, and would come with free snacks.
But the Jays then had second thoughts and devised a new scheme. They said at the end of this season they would literally take back “our” seats. We would then be offered an opportunity to try and secure a new pair of seats from them with little chance of maintaining the same authentic “in the action” experience as we had previously enjoyed. We were, in effect, put at the back of the line. And even if we did proceed, we had to sign up for a two-year commitment for what would be much more expensive for undoubtedly lesser seats. As you might imagine, my friend, the seat-holder for 46 year, declined.
Michael Douglas starred as Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie, “Wall Street.” You remember the scene, I’m sure, when he famously declared to the audience, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good!” Maybe for some. But not for us little folks at the bottom of the pile.