Business of Sports July 9, 2009, 1:52PM EST

St. Louis' All-Star Break Pay Day

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If players have to travel commercial and no first-class tickets are available, teams purchase three seats for every two players in coach. Heaven forbid they have to handle their own luggage.

Hotels are different, too. "You go from Motel 6s to Ritz-Carltons," said minor league veteran Brian Sanches, and the collective bargaining agreement states that no roommates are allowed. Then there's the $85 per diem players get when on the road, a big jump from the $20 per diem in the minors. "Try and eat three good meals on that, plus have some left to tip the clubhouse attendants," said Marlins rookie outfielder Brett Carroll. And don't forget about seemingly endless supplies of food in the clubhouse, drinks, sunflower seeds, and gum in the dugout, and free equipment, sunglasses, and shoes.

For the All-Star game, players are treated to first-class airfare and three days of lodging for the player and one guest. In St. Louis, they'll he housed at the tony Hyatt Regency—the 910-room hotel, which will host both the National League and American League teams, just wrapped up a $63 million renovation.

8. Ballpark Bulletin

While the Cardinals appear comfortably perched in Busch Stadium for the foreseeable future, a handful of other baseball teams are poised to make facilities moves.

In Minneapolis, the Twins are tentatively scheduled to open Target Field next Apr. 12 against the Boston Red Sox, and Twins President David St. Peter told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the ballpark is "a few weeks ahead of schedule." This season, the Twins are on track to draw more than 2.3 million fans to the Metrodome, well ahead of their 2008 attendance totals, and project selling upwards of 20,000 full season tickets at the new ballpark, which would place them in the top 10 MLB teams sales-wise. Naming rights holder Target (TGT) must be doing O.K. despite the economy—the company is reportedly negotiating with the NBA Timberwolves for an extension of its naming rights deal for Target Center, despite the millions it spent in a 25-year deal to name Target Field/Target Plaza.

In Miami, the Marlins began clearing land on their new stadium site last week after agreeing to make up a $6.2 million bond deficit (out of a total $300 million bond sale to fund construction). A ground-breaking grip-n-grin is set for July 18, and the ballpark is slated to open for the 2012 season. Across Florida, only 34% of respondents in a St. Petersburg Times poll support using public funding to build a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium.

9. Extreme Makeover: Stadium Edition

5. Texas Longhorns Godzillatron. Everything is bigger in Texas, even scoreboards. Part of a $15 million renovation to DKR Memorial Stadium, Godzillatron was the largest high-definition video screen in the world when it was introduced in 2006. At least the name sounds better than "Longhornatron."

4. Astrodome AstroTurf. When the Astrodome opened in 1965, it had a grass field that didn't grow well inside the domed stadium. The solution was an artificial playing surface called ChemGrass, which later became known as AstroTurf. While the Astrodome is no longer in use, AstroTurf continues to be used in stadiums throughout the world.

3. Wrigley Field Lights. Part of what made Wrigley Field all the more unique was its strict commitment to day games, and it wasn't until 1988 that the "Friendly Confines" decided to add lights for night baseball. However, fret not, dear Cubbies fans. Per a city ordinance, the Cubs can only play a max of 30 night games a season.

2. Green Monster Seats. The most coveted seats in baseball are the 269 that rest atop the Green Monster at Fenway Park. Added in 2002, the only way to get tickets is by joining the Red Sox fan club and entering a lottery. While face value is $150, good luck finding the seats that cheap on Yawkey Way.

1. Wimbledon Roof. Where were you when the Centre Court roof closed for the first time? The retractable roof, which made its Wimbledon debut during the Safina-Mauresmo match last week, was part of a $146.2 million renovation to the AELTC. When the seven-minute closure ended, fans cheered.

10. Isn't the Last Word Always About Death and/or Taxes?

In the on-deck circle next Tuesday—the tax man.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, most MLB players participating in next Tuesday's All-Star Game "will receive hefty bonuses from their respective teams." St. Louis officials apparently "view those bonuses as fair game for the city's earnings tax."

St. Louis' 1% earnings tax "applies to all individuals who live—or work—in the city," and the tax is "routinely applied on a pro-rated basis to visiting ballplayers and other professional athletes who stop in St. Louis," the newspaper states, and Missouri's Revenue Dept. director of communications says that participating in All-Star events will be taxed as well.

However, cited tax experts said that the city's call could be an error, as it is "unclear if playing in the game is even a condition of receiving the bonus," and University of Georgia associate professor of sports economics Joel Maxcy, added that a player "could make a strong argument against the city's position on taxing bonuses."

"They're not being paid to play in that game explicitly," Maxcy said. "They're given a bonus for being selected."

Rick Horrow is a leading expert in the business of sports. As CEO of Horrow Sports Ventures, he has been the architect of 103 deals worth more than $13 billion in sports and other urban infrastructure projects. He is also the sports business analyst for CNN, Fox Sports, and the Fox Business Channel.