The Los Angeles Dodgers spared no expense celebrating the club's 8th World Series title, now trailing only the Yankees, Cards, Red Sox, and Athletics for the most MLB championships. They spent so much money, in fact, that they inadvertently made other MLB teams look cheap.
According to a report from TMZ Sports, the Dodgers' parade cost the team $1,738,621.19 on law enforcement and they spent an additional $290,184 on the LAFD. That comes to a grand total of $2,028,805.19 spent across the LAPD and LAFD just to supervise the Dodgers' World Series parade.
To put that in context, there are only 7 players on the current Tampa Bay Rays 2025 roster who make more than that per season and 32 players on my beloved Rays' roster that make less than that per season. Of course, money is no object for the Dodgers...
Looking ahead to 2025, the Dodgers' payroll is insane. They have a total of $248,731,666 in projected allocations. Unlike my Rays, the Dodgers only have 17 players making less next season than the team spent on police and firemen for their 8th World Series parade.
What's wild is the city of Los Angeles was initially slated to foot the bill for the parade and tax payers would've been on the hook for the $2.028M bill but the team swooped in to pick up the tab.
A representative for the Dodgers told TMZ Sports "we have been working closely with the city for some time and will be finalizing the total reimbursement soon. It was a great event for the city, Dodger fans and our team, and we're grateful for the joint support of the Dodgers provided by the city as a whole, especially the Mayor, the City Council, the LAPD, the LAFD and the DOT."
As a curious observer, I would love to see that itemized bill from the LAPD. Seeing the line items of what adds up to $1,738,621.19 for half a day's worth of work would be fascinating, to be sure.
For context, Google says the LAPD spends roughly $3 million each day on total daily payroll. So that amounts to around 58% of the LAPD's total estimated daily payroll just for the cost of a parade. Wild stuff.