Okay, Luke...one last one for da boys...
1.) You never said you want the Mets to be the Yankees...okay...I NEVER SAID I didn't think the Mets could compete with the Yankees- I simply said we can't SPEND like them. Lest we all forget, the Mets have been in the top 3 teams in spending since just about the time that "Free-Spending Omar" took over as sheriff in this here town...spending alone doesn't do it anymore. I may start calling you Mack "Al Harazin" Ade...
2.) Your "dream team" may have been an example, but short of Lee and Crawford, there ISN'T anyone else out there in that category who will simply cost $$...there WILL be in 2011 after the season, but not now...
3.) & 4.) In spite of the fact that the Mets have one of, if not THE most loyal fan-base out there (this side of Wrigley and St. Louis, anyway), they're NOT going to add 500,000 fans to the mix right now, with economics being what they are. It's not just that the Mets had a bad team that kept the fans away- it's also the fact that the same $200 smackers per person that's keeping them away. It will probably take 2-3 seasons of success to bring back more of the casual fans, because the hardcore, true fans were already there- maybe not as often as they'd be if the team was performing better, but they're there...200,000 fans added to the mix would result in added revenue, but bringing in the players that you speculated on would also add over 60% of that simply in player costs. Adding in the cost of additional labor, raw costs of food, etc, and you are probably at around 85% of that income heading towards expenses, at least under this plan- which means an uptick of about $15 million in net-net profits. Substantial, but when your team has failed to perform as long as we have, there aren't too many folks, whether in NY, CA or Chicago that are going to lay out the amount of $$ all at once that you are calling for...it's just not realistic, whether or not you are in New York or anywhere, for that matter...
5.) That kind of logic is what has put our nation into the financial mess we are already in. The same factors of economics no longer hold true anymore, sadly. There are too many mitigating factors. It's no longer as simple as a.) lay out a million bucks to build a restaurant b.) run a 30% food cost and a 20% labor, c.) keep rent/controllables & non-controllables to less than 25% and d.) have an EBIDTA (net) of 25%. Baseball, and all sports/entertainment, has changed drastically. Even blockbuster movies have had to rely upon less viewers at jacked up prices, leaving too many fans out in the cold who will wait to see the film on pay television or DVD (which is ALSO a dwindling business.) Sports are more recession-proof then most other businesses, but even the most ardent fans that I know, those who are still flush with extra cash, are not spending on uniforms, memorabilia, extra games, etc anymore. At least not now, and not for the foreseeable future. So while an addition of $100,000,000 sounds GREAT by ANYONE'S standards, at a time when a good, NOT great player like Jayson Werth can command $126 million smackers, it's not looking like such a great return on your investment anymore, sad to say...
If I didn't know better, I'd bet that Mack thinks there's a money-press in the bowels of CitiField somewhere...
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