With it, comes a continuation of the new policy strategy directed by Jeff Wilpon, and being executed by Sandy Alderson. It represents a leaner, more profit friendly approach to operating the New York Mets.
The Mets look like a family operation, but there’s enough revenue there to easily qualify for a place on the New York Stock Exchange. Yes, Fred Wilpon is the chief owner, and one of his sons, Jeff, is the head honcho under his father, but that’s as far as the Wilpon family goes. The family resemblance ends with these two, a father who has taken the time to invest his money that has created a job for one of his children. Period.
And, how does this company thrive? Well, since it’s not a publicly traded, we really don’t know, but we can say:
-the cost of salaries has gone up from approximately $96mil in 2004, to $126mil in 2010.
-at the same time, Mets home attendance has gone from approximately 2.5mil in 2004, to the same flat number, 2.5mil, in 2010.
-the cost of management has to have gone up, with a current five employees in the front office, all with General Manager experience.
-you can imagine the amount of money that had to exchange hands to get the new stadium built by all the power unions in the city
-and you have to throw in your normal increased costs for utilities, repairs, maintenance, etc.
There’s also been a tremendous amount of negative press regarding speculation that the Wilpons lost a considerable amount of money in the Madoff Ponzie scheme, but recent stores by the New York Times have speculated that they might have actually made money on these investments.
If that’s true, and speculated law suits are produced, there’s a good chance these dollars would have to be repaid to the former investors that are represented in this lawsuit, and any payout wouldn’t be the same length as some of the contracts the Mets have handed out to their players. No, the money would have to all be paid back immediately, which would really throw a lug wrench into the operating wheel.
You don’t need the actual numbers in front of you, or an MBA from Harvard, to know when a business has gone in the wrong direction. It helps to have been a past General Manager, which I was for 20 years. Trust me, there’s much more of a reason why Mr. Alderson is operating the way he is today.
Networks like CNN tell you every day that businesses are slowly returning to break even or limited profitability, because they had to cut payroll to have their operating costs more in line with the reality of this new normal.
And now we find out that very few old jobs are returning to these companies simply because it would create an immediate dip in net profits.
No, the future of our economy is a two-fold problem. One, this is how the old businesses have to operate to show a profit… and two, the employee base that no longer is part of this company has to be retrained and seek employment in a new business that fits the economy of the next ten years, not the ten that just ended.
Well, so do the New York Mets.
So. When Mr. Alderson tells you that everything is going in the right direction, he’s correct. But don’t confuse this with a return of payroll to past levels without first generating more revenue, which starts at the gate.
But, that’s just me.
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