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Dodgers want $12 million per year for naming rights to their field

Chris Cwik
Staff writer

Good news: For the cost of roughly the eighth highest-paid player on the Los Angeles Dodgers, you can name the field at Dodger Stadium. Bad News: On the Dodgers, the eighth highest-paid player makes about $12 million.

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The team has reportedly had the naming rights to the field on the market since spring, according to Sports Business Journal. They are asking for $12 million per year, and are still in the process of finding a buyer.

It’s important to note that whoever buys these rights will not be able to re-name Dodger Stadium. They are only buying the rights to name the actual field. Remember how the Oakland Athletics named their field after Rickey Henderson, but still play in the Oakland Coliseum? It’s like that.

So, if we here at The Stew ponied up the cash and made our offer, that would result in Big League Stew Field at Dodger Stadium. That’s what you’re looking at when it comes to the language involved in this scenario.

Spoiler alert: Big League Stew probably isn’t buying the naming rights to the field. We can dream, though.

For $12 million, you can name the field at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo)
For $12 million, you can name the field at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo)

Because it’s always fun to talk about huge contracts in baseball, you’re probably wondering which players on the Dodgers’ roster make more per year than the naming rights to the field. Don’t worry, we are here to help.

Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir, Andre Ethier, Justin Turner and Rich Hill all make more than $12 million this season. Kershaw makes the most at $35.5 million. Hill makes $12.6 million in 2017.

Ah, but keen readers will note that we only mentioned six players above. Our first sentence implies the Dodgers will pay seven players more. That’s still true. The seventh player isn’t actually on the team anymore, though. It’s former outfielder Carl Crawford. The club cut him last year, but still owe him a whopping $21.8 million in 2017.

For comparison’s sake, the eighth highest-paid player on the Boston Red Sox is Chris Young, who is making $6.5 million this season. That figure varies by team, obviously. The Baltimore Orioles’ eighth highest-paid player makes $10 million. Still, $12 million seems to be on the higher end.

It’s a big chunk of change, though it’s not unexpected. Dodger Stadium is one of the oldest parks around. Its iconic status should draw a number of bidding who should have no problem meeting, or possibly driving up, the $12 million price tag.

Maybe it’s just us, but we would love to see one of the celebrities involved in the Miami Marlins bidding drop out and allocate their cash to this cause. Derek Jeter Field would be weird, as would Michael Jordan Field.

Pitbull Field at Dodger Stadium, though? Now that has a nice ring to it.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik