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CNN Today

A Merry Christmas for 25-Year-Old All-Star Alex Rodriguez

Aired December 12, 2000 - 1:54 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, here's one and we hope that you are sitting down for this one. The Texas Rangers have agreed to pay free agent shortstop Alex Rodriguez $250 million to hit a ball for the next 10 years.

LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: Is this a great country or what?

ALLEN: I'll tell you what.

WATERS: And why not? Rodriguez hit .316 last season, with 41 home runs, and 132 RBIs. That is worth a quarter of a billion, don't you think?

ALLEN: Absolutely.

WATERS: Here is CNN/Sports Illustrated Mark Viviano.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK VIVIANO, CNNSI CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Merry Christmas, 25-year-old Alex Rodriguez. You are a very, very rich man. The four- time all-star shortstop will reportedly earn $21 million a season until 2007, which breaks down to $129,629 per game, or if he duplicates his statistics from last year, it works out to roughly $37,906 per at-bat, an even $120,000 a hit, and $512,195 per home run. In fact, at $21 million a year, A-Rod will make more than the Twins or Marlins paid their entire teams last season.

Just how much can $252 million buy these days? Well, A-Rod could buy nine F-16s, or one for the entire starting lineup of the Texas Rangers, or he could buy the first 11,000 people who show up at the Ballpark in Arlington next season, a brand new P.T. Cruiser, or he could treat 33,600,000 people to a $7.50 showing of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," which is probably what Commissioner Bud Selig is calling Rodriguez's agent Scott Boras right now.

But while Rodriguez and Boras took flack for reportedly demanding such perks, as a jet, PR staff, and offices during contract negotiations, maybe he does deserve it. After all, if you compare Rodriguez's $252 million contract to the latest estimated values of sports franchises by "Forbes" magazine, Rodriguez is now worth more than every NHL team, except the N.Y. Rangers. Rodriguez ties for fifth in value in the NBA with Phoenix, and he is now worth more than the Milwaukee Bucks and Vancouver Grizzlies combined. And when you put A-Rod by himself on a list of baseball franchises, he ranks 13, ahead of 18 others.

Of course, A-Rod is still $50 million short of being worth as mush as the least valuable NFL franchise, the Arizona Cardinals, something for him to consider when his quarter-billion-dollar contract runs out 10 years from now.

I'm Mark Viviano.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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