The New York Yankees - Who Are Worth 6 Billion Dollars - Are Making Their Players Pay For WiFi

The New York Yankees are one of the richest sports franchise in the world and they are making their players pay for in-flight WiFi.

Yes, that's right... the team that is expected to have a $270+ MILLION payroll this year is nickel-and-diming their players and staff if they want to watch Netflix or scroll thru OutKick.com during their flights.

As a diehard Yankees fan, how the heck am I supposed to defend this?

Especially when you find out that the WiFi is only $9 per person, which the team refuses to cover.

Oh, and the Yankees are worth over $6 billion.

ONLY 2 TEAMS DON'T PAY FOR WIFI FOR THEIR PLAYERS

Honestly, the optics look pathetic here. In this day and age where social media runs rampant and people will criticize everyone over anything... when you have a multi-billion dollar company not including free WiFi on the damn team plane of all things, that's pretty weak.

To make matters even worst, every single other MLB team gives their players free WiFi, except the Cincinnati Reds.

No offense to Cincinnati (actually, all the offense) but the Yankees are not the Reds. They are the 27-time World Series Champion Yankees. If the cheap Marlins and Orioles can afford WiFi, you'd think the Yankees would too.

And sure, many of the players are making a ton of money... but so are the Yankees. It's essentially the "haves" vs. the "haves." Plus, it's the Yankees team Delta jet.

Sports Illustrated's Nicolas Vega was the first to report the story after speaking with former Yankees. Among them was former pitcher Jameson Taillon who said that he always refused to pay for WiFi "out of principle." Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman told Vega that he "thinks the players can afford it" on their own.

I'd like to actually call out Aaron Judge here. Judge should 100% pay for the damn WiFi for everyone. I think he can afford it with his recent nine-year, $360 million contract he signed. He's the new Yankees Captain - least he could do is chip in couple hundred bucks.

Those that aren't from New York may not fully understand what's going on from a Yankees fan's perspective.

The Yankees - Mets rivalry is heating up because the Mets are actually good for once. They also have a multi-billion dollar owner in Steve Cohen who is dropping hundreds of millions of dollars left and right to stack his team up for a World Series run. Meanwhile just a few miles away, you have the Yankees who are being petty over free WiFi.

Just an embarrassment.

Written by
Mike “Gunz” Gunzelman has been involved in the sports and media industry for over a decade. He’s also a risk taker - the first time he ever had sushi was from a Duane Reade in Penn Station in NYC.