Quote Originally Posted by M.Vonok View Post
In the following sentence, why does "неизбежным следствием" appear in the instrumental case.

На фоне сегодняшних зарплат они выглядят копейками: неизбежным следствием симбиоза футбола и большого бизнеса явилось то, что контракты растут в геометрической прогрессии, обновляя рекорды едва ли не каждый сезон.

I searched through my Russian grammar book and couldn't find the answer. It lists the following as uses of the instrumental case:

1. To express the instrument or means by which an action is performed
2. To denote the agent of action in a passive sentence
3. To denote the force responsible for an action in impersonal sentences
4. To express the manner or way an action is performed
5. To denote similarity
6. To express means of travel
7. To denote a route taken
8. To denote the time when something occurs

Appreciate the help, thank you!
The instrumental case is used because of the verb явилось. You've probably seen similar sentences before: москва является столицей российской федерации - Moscow is the capital of Russia.

in your example it's a more convoluted sentence and it's complicated by the fact that the word order is mixed up as well.

"the fact that player salaries rise in a geometrical progression arose as an unavoidable consequence of..."

If you write it out this way in Russian using является, it's obvious that неизбежное следствие needs to be in the instrumental.