TAMPA — Gerrit Cole had dreamed of playing for the Yankees since he was a kid, and in so many ways the experience has been exactly what children envision: the crisp pinstripes, the retired numbers, the Bleacher Creatures.
But one thing surprised him when he got to New York after signing a nine-year, $324 million deal before the 2020 season: The fourth-most valuable franchise in sports charges players for internet access on the team plane.
“It’s your fault,” longtime center fielder Brett Gardner told him. “Your contract is too big, so they can’t pay for the Wi-Fi.”
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.
A very serious and embarrassingly exhaustive survey of the 30 MLB teams could identify only one other team that regularly makes its players pay: the Reds. (Some teams provide free Wi-Fi on their usual jet but do not cover the cost when they fly a different plane.)
Of the world’s problems, this ranks, obviously, near the top. A couple dozen millionaires have to scrape together some $350 annually if they want full connectivity in the air. So you can understand why many of them have tried to work around the issue.
“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.”
John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY Sports
So does reliever Michael King—and crucially, so do his parents, whose family plan he still uses. Last season, reliever Lucas Luetge, now with Atlanta, sat next to him on the plane and realized King was blessed with the luxury of Googling anything he wanted for nothing.
“So I gave him my sister’s phone number,” said King. “My sister got a text saying, ‘Are you authorizing this?’ ‘Yep!’ I got the code for my sister's number to give to Lucas.”
The New York Yankees, brought to you by Michele and Jim King.
Unfortunately, the Kings have only the two children, so the other players have to make their own decisions. (The team does allow coaches and other staffers to expense the cost.)
“I didn’t pay for it, on principle,” said righty Jameson Taillon, who spent two years with the Yankees before signing with the Cubs this winter—not, he said, because of the Wi-Fi issue. He added, “I will say, also, the Yankees fly on a pretty cool custom plane with poker tables and stuff. So I would take that over free Wi-Fi, if I’m being honest.”
Still, their peers across the league cannot believe the Yankees suffer such indignity. “Who told you that?” asked Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, who said he had never heard of such a thing. “I think they’re messing with you.”
Fellow Phillie Brandon Marsh, the team’s hirsute center fielder, just shook his head sadly. “That sucks,” he said. “And they have to shave their face.”
Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm burst out laughing when he heard what the Yankees endure; when he boarded his first team flight, in 2020, he dutifully entered his credit card information in the Wi-Fi portal, then lamented aloud, “Bro, the Wi-Fi didn’t even fricking work and I paid 10 bucks!” His teammates laughed and explained that the Marlins provide players a code; in his next paycheck, he found that $10 reimbursed.
Players from one other team, though, can relate to the Yankees’ plight. In 2019, shortstop Kyle Farmer, who had just been traded from the Dodgers, had a drink or two at a club party and asked Dick Williams, then the Reds’ president of baseball operations, why the team would not spring for the Wi-Fi. “He said, ‘Too short of flights,” Farmer, now a Twin, remembered. Farmer did not follow the logic; he responded by declining to pay for Wi-Fi until he hit arbitration and had a little more money.
Reliever Lou Trivino, who was traded at last year’s deadline from the famously frugal A’s, was surprised to learn that his old team had one up on his new one. (He added, though, that although the Wi-Fi was free in Oakland, it often didn’t work.)
“You know Zack Greinke, when he talks about guacamole?” Trivino said, referring to Greinke’s outrage that his favorite burrito place had increased its prices. “It went up 25 cents, and he won’t pay for it. [I’m the same.] On principle, I’m not paying the 25 cents for guacamole.” (Greinke would surely point out here that the guacamole price actually increased 30 cents.)
So Trivino instead uses the flights to engage in an almost anachronistic pursuit: He reads. Last year he tore through Thomas Sowell’s 704-page tome, Basic Economics. He recently turned his attention to a book about Christianity. He appreciates the break from his phone. “Sometimes I sit there and I just scroll,” he said. “I delete my Instagram every week and I get it back in a week and my screen time shoots up two hours and I’m like, This is ridiculous!”
Reliever Clay Holmes said he too enjoys the opportunity to spend an hour or two unplugged. He does sign up for the free iMessage, though, because, he said, “My wife sees other wives getting texts and she’s like, ‘You must have Wi-Fi!’”
But some players need the Wi-Fi for more than poisoning their minds with social media. Catcher Kyle Higashioka buys the Wi-Fi on most flights so he can study for the next opponent. He considered purchasing a monthly pass but calculated that because he tends not to bother on short trips, it was cheaper for him to pay each time. He has never investigated the possibility of expensing the cost.
“To be honest, I’ve never had a real job, so I don’t even know how that works,” he said. He added that he was not offended that the team made him pay. “I mean, who says that’s required as a job perk, you know?” he said.
General manager Brian Cashman agreed.
“I think most of our players can afford it,” he said.
This is a fair point. But the job of the press is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, so Sports Illustrated continued to pursue this important story. (In this case, the comfortable are afflicted.)
And there is good news coming to the Bronx: Delta recently introduced free Wi-Fi on some flights for fliers who subscribe to its rewards program. (“I’m a SkyMiles member!” Higashioka said brightly when informed of this development.) 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. Journalism changes lives.
