Top sportscaster explains Dodgers’ $477,441 full share “means nothing to Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman,” but is vital for support staff (Photo Credit: Imagn)
On Tuesday, Major League Baseball announced the value of the full shares for the 2024 postseason, with the total player pool setting a record at $129,092,159. Being the World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers will receive 36% of the sum for a $46,473,177 bonus, which comes up to $477,441 per share.
Veteran sportscaster Michael Kay feels this cash reward may not really matter much for superstars like Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman, but it’s potentially a life-changing event for the support staff of a team.
Kay, the play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees on YES Network, provided his thoughts on the record postseason bonus the Dodgers collected,
“The full share is $477,441. Now, that means nothing to Freddie Freeman, nothing to Ohtani, nothing to Betts,” he said. “But can you imagine what it means to the support system guys? It’s life-changing.”
Under the current postseason format, the monetary pool for the players is derived out of the gate receipts from the guaranteed length of the four playoff rounds.
Thus, 60% of the collections from the first two games of each Wild Card round, the first three games of every Divisional Series and the first four games of each Championship Series and World Series go into this fund.
Yankees receive $354,572 per full share
The Yankees will receive $354, 572 per share from the 2024 postseason (Photo Credit: Imagn)
The New York Yankees finished as the runners-up to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, but they, too, earned a sizeable bonus at 24% of the total pool. The Yankees voted for 71 shares and therefore received $354,572 per share.
“It’s life-changing, again, for the bullpen catcher, for the guys that work in the clubhouse,” Michael Kay said. “I don’t know if they got full shares, the clubhouse attendants and stuff like that. It changes their life. I know guys that were part of the clubhouse staff when [the Yankees] won in ’96, ’98, ’99 and 2000. They bought homes that they would never have been able to afford. Life changing!
“I’m so happy for all these people,” he added. “I assume the players were generous because [of] the 71 full shares the Yankees voted. You look at the players; there’s only 26 that are on the final roster. Let’s say they count 40 of all the guys that played during the year. I don’t know if they all got full shares. But there were another 31 full shares they voted.”
The World Series between the Yankees and the Dodgers was crucial in generating $19.8 million more to the fund than the previous record mark of $107.8 million that was set last year.
