Hal Steinbrenner Is Apparently Too Cheap To Pay $40,000 a Year For The New York Yankees To Have Free Wi-Fi On Their Team Plane
If you know anything about Hal Steinbrenner then this kind of story should come at no surprise. OF COURSE the Yankees don't shell out the cash to comp their players free-wifi on the team plane. Any time you can be considered as cheap as the Cincinnati Reds you gotta do it. Even as a Yankees fan, the quotes and everything from the article are pretty funny. I mean it's maybe the funniest first world problem I've ever seen. All these guys make tons of money to afford $9 a flight, but on the flip side the Yankees have more money than god to afford this.
Technically, it’s Delta that does the charging, approximately $9 per flight. (Delta also offers free iMessage and WhatsApp.) But the Yankees, whom Forbes estimates are worth $6 billion, do not cover the cost. A person familiar with the prices of such things said an in-flight Wi-Fi plan for one team for one year costs approximately $40,000—or about the price of four Cole pitches.
Could have had plane wifi for decades, but the Yankees had to sign back IKF for $6 million. Now he's getting centerfield reps despite having zero qualifications to play the position while Kyle Higashioka has to pay extra to watch game film. Makes sense.
How big of a fist pump did the folks over at T-Mobile give when they saw this line from Judge, their company spokesman.
“I’ve got T-Mobile,” said right fielder Aaron Judge, who is coincidentally a spokesman for that company. T-Mobile offers customers free Wi-Fi on Delta flights. Judge added that the Wi-Fi question did not factor into his decision to consider switching teams in free agency, because “I’ve got T-Mobile, so I don’t have to worry about it.”
I will say that is always a nice perk I forget about when flying. That and getting free MLB TV for the year. Could have the worst service in the world, but if I get to watch every baseball game then this dumb brain is in. That date is coming up by the way folks, make sure to check your T-Mobile Tuesdays app!
My favorite part of the article was Cashman defending the policy.
Hahahaha what a tremendous asshole. Of course he's defending Hal's cheapness. Not like the team is worth $7 billion or anything. He just inexplicably got a 4 year extension despite doing just about as bad a job as can be with the allotted payroll he's presented. No other GM on the planet for any sport makes the moves he does and gets rewarded for it. Cashman is as much of a Yes Man to Hal as Tommy Smokes is to Dave. That quote from him made me chuckle. And sure it's like $350 a player for the year, but when the only other team to not do this is the Reds just fucking take care of your players.
Boone took shockingly a different route. Maybe the most he's ever stood up against ownership in his tenure with the team.
As for the other flights: Manager Aaron Boone, who pays for and does not expense a monthly Gogo account, said he was unaware many other teams cover the Wi-Fi. He wondered gravely whether the Yankees’ policy might cost them free agents. “We’re gonna have to get on that,” he said.
In all seriousness, Hal hates being viewed in a negative light. He can't stand the perception that he's not his father's son, even if it's very true. I get the feeling with this policy now being public he forks over the cash to appease the players and lower the torches from the fans. Either that, or he executes a mid-season trade and demands their plane wifi paid for. I think I'd do IKF to the Rockies or Dodgers for plane wifi and not think twice.
P.s. Unless I'm flying Jet Blue I just assume plane wifi is a giant myth. Never seen it actually work.