It’s rare that something is so valuable that everyone should have it. Baseball is one of those rare somethings.

If there’s anything beneficial about the recession, it’s showing the true value of products.

House prices dropped in most areas because they weren’t worth the money they sold for. But they’ve remained fairly steady in places like Tempe, where houses are actually worth the asking price.

This economy will force Americans to re-evaluate their spending habits. If sports teams want to remain a part of that, their prices should reflect their value.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have made several strides toward affordability. They have the lowest average ticket prices in Major League Baseball, they sell caps and T-shirts for less than $10, and they even have seats with access to an all-you-can-eat buffet for as little as $25.

In a news release, Arizona Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall said, “Keeping our experience at the ballpark affordable for families to be able to enjoy D-Backs games at Chase Field is essential during these challenging economic times.”

While pundits may go on TV and talk about how Cubans had mansions before their economic shift, the Diamondbacks have not forgotten who the economy really is: everybody.

Everybody should be able to afford to go to a baseball game. It’s not like purchasing art, where one individual can make something valuable. Professional sports require thousands of fans in order to make money.

But it has to be affordable to everybody. If I can buy a decent hot dog at Costco for $1.50 (with a drink), a disgusting hot dog at US Airways Center should not be $5.75.

While I realize that Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal cost a lot of money, they’re not worth a $5.75 hot dog. Not even $4.75.

Hopefully, the recession will reveal the inflated values of professional athletes.

Say all professional sports leagues colluded to cap player salaries at $5 million per year. Would there be hell to pay from player unions? For a little while, yes.

But in a few years, nobody would care. Even if the lowest salary was $100,000, that’s still $100,000 playing a game. 

It would bring down prices, cut costs and bring in more fans. It would make most of the teams better, because it would allow all teams to afford superstar players, giving an incentive for fans in less successful markets to go to the games consistently.

Making every team a yearly contender would increase season-ticket sales as well, granted that they were within a reasonable amount.

We would look back on the days when Alex Rodriguez-types were paid $20 million a year and laugh, realizing that home runs weren’t the only numbers that were inflated.

The time a player spends with a team is often only a few years, a few months or so injured. Players are expendable. Fans are not.

Christopher thinks Eric Byrnes is like cleaning, in that nobody likes either of them. Change his mind about cleaning at cogino@asu.edu.