"Is $90 Million Enough For a New York Sports Team?"
I think most Met fans have seen that the 2012 estimated payroll for the Mets is around $90 Million Dollars. Thats nearly $90 Million more than I have in my bank account, but at the same time... it seems like nothing.Looking at 2011 Team Payroll Figures: Link
The Mets at or above the level of the other major market teams. Sure... the Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, White Sox and Cubs spent more... but the Mets are at least appearing like they play in a city with lots of people, lots of money, and lots of love for the sport of Baseball. $90 Million puts the Mets well below the rest of the major markets and amongst the ranks of the Milwaukee Brewers. Do the Wilpons think that the City of New York is not capable of supporting a team more expensive than the City of Beer and Cheese?
The Disturbing Trend is Easy to Spot:
2008: #2, $138 Mil
2009: #2, $149 Mil
2010: #5, $134 Mil
2011: #7, $119 Mil
2012: $90 Mil
Brian Costa:
"After today's signings, Mets projected to start 2012 with a payroll somewhere in the range of $90 million, down from $143 million in 2011."So The Question Is:
Should The Wilpons Be Allowed To Own The Mets?
The short answer is no. So is the long answer, but it involves a bit more ranting. Many of you can guess what the next block of text will be about so if it doesn't interest you, just skip the RED text. When we some of you were young your parents may have given in to your demands to get a dog on the condition that you take care of it. You'd need to walk it and feed it and brush it every day. Most kids who duped their parents into this deal would know that their parents would still end up doing most of the work. What the Wilpons are doing is no different than being a snot-nosed kid who wants the puppy... but none of the work. They own a franchise that we, as fans, support. We buy tickets and merchandise, watch games on TV and make them money. In return they are supposed to infuse the team with an appropriate amount of that money so the team we, as fans, are watching is still relevant and good. Instead they are using the team to make money without regarding the fans. Should the Wilpons be allowed to own the Mets? NO!Now that I have that off my chest I need to explain a major issue. The Wilpons WILL lose ownership of the Mets. It's only a matter of time. While the Wilpons own the Mets, it will be like swimming in ski boots. Sure if you are a strong swimmer or naturally buoyant you can keep your head above the water, but it's a pretty dumb thing to do and eventually you're going to drown.
NOTE: Whether the Wilpons needed to pay $1 Billion or $386 Million I never thought they still had the money to pay. Eventually... 2013... 2014... 2021... they WILL lose this team. The longer they hold on, the worse things will get. Bud Selig should step in within the next year and do something or loyal fans will jump ship.
My Two Birds With One Stone:
Governor Christie of New Jersey recently stated that he'd leave politics to help run his New York Mets. Frankly, Christie being a Met fan fills me with a small amount of revulsion but I'll soldier on. Yet, let us say that a new ownership board is formed and that they chose Chris as their President of Operations. Not only would this get the Wilpons out of my baseball team, it would get Christie out of my state's government.While I loathe Christie's policy of attacking education as a vile and cancerous growth on the country. I highly doubt that his hatred of educators would matter much in the baseball world. In fact, his no nonsense swagger that makes him such a popular Republican would probably be welcomed by Met fans (Conservative and Liberal alike). I also would bet that the NJEA would kick in a little money to help get Christie out of Trenton and into Flushing.
P.S.
If the Governor's staffers happen to read this, I'd love it if you could get moving on doing something for the residents of Little Falls, NJ BEFORE the Flood of 2012.
13 comments:
Seriously... I'd love to have something done by NJ before another 3 floods come and go.
I have no problem with a $90mil payroll, especially if the team is bleeding money this badly.
The Madoff mess is, well, messy, but the fact is the team would stil be in the red operationally if there was no lawsuit.
Operate for 2-3 years without any Johan contracts, develop your system, invest in the draft, and come out of this period institutionally sound.
So you believe that the Wilpons are not directly at fault for this team not making money?
No, I didn't say that.
(sounds like a Presidential debate :)
I believe that the Wilpon family is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of this team.
It is an unprofitable business, regardless of any lawsuits or loss of investments to Madoff.
More importantly, they employed the wrong management team for years.
Well then, regardless of the Madoff money. We agree that they should probably not be allowed to own this team.
At this point, the Wilpons own the team. They don't want to leave. The most powerful man in baseball loves Fred and doesn't want them to leave. So what's that mean? Um, they're not leaving. There will not be any forced sale of the Mets until the Wilpons are unable to make their payments. Which isn't going to happen until they are finally denied another loan by Bud Selig. As long as Fred has a percentage left to sell that still allows him to remain in control, they will be kept afloat by the Commish. You'd think, Selig wouldn't allow a top franchise to be torn into pieces and sold off to pay the teams bills, but he's letting them do exactly that. Frankly, if I was McCourt I'd be pissed I wasn't given the same treatment. The Wilpons love the status that comes with this ownership and will be around a minimum of two more seasons. Might as well close the book on it and move on.
@ Charles,
You are right, but what will happen and what should happen don't often meet.
Anyone else believe that the decision to build Citi Field could have been what did the Wilpons in??
Not only did they slash 13,000 money making seats but they also added $40 mil/year in debt related to the stadium as opposed to the $300,000/yr that they currently had at Shea Stadium.
I read somewhere yesterday that last year's average team payroll was just under $95M. I'll assume that this year the average will go, again. So, a NY will have a below average payroll.
I figured the Yankees and Sox may have skewed the average a bit. Looking at the payroll list for each team in 2011, $90M would have been 13th out of 30.
A NY team should have the resources to rebuild the farm system and field a competitive team at the same time. Selig should be forcing a change in ownership, like in LA, but I know that won't happen.
I'm pretty sure if Alderson could, he'd dump Santana and Bay. Would they just pocket the savings and operate at a $50M payroll? I wonder where they need to be to stop the bleeding, and for how long?
Chris:
You can't build a project that big in the city of NY and not pay off the Teamsters... both before and after the project.
God help them if they didn't take care of da boys.
Erik:
You can't "pocket" contracts. They still cnt against your team.
What you can do is limit them during the next three years and try and regroup the operation while completing the lawsuit process.
The Mets have only $8500 committed in 2014, which represents buyouts of both Bay and Santana.
If is Sandy's intention to operate 2014 with the least amount of long term contracts.
You might have one of the top rotatons in baseball with around a $50mil payroll, not a bad place to begin a rebound
Mack,
What I meant regarding Santana and Bay, was somehow Sandy was able to trade both for a PTBNL (or bag of balls, whatever) and the new team picked up the full contract (complete dream, I know, but in this dream, Sandy has compromising photos of some other GM or owner). So in that scenario, we lose $40M for the next two years from the payroll.
And I'd love to have these pitchers all live up to their potential in our rotation. But, we can also wind up with another Generation K, or that 2009 home grown OF we were supposed to have. They have to not only succeed in the big leagues, they need to do it in NY. Pelfrey was once one of those highly touted pitching prospects, and look what we have.
Erik, I haven't smoked any of that shit you're on since Johnny Lowe and I hooked up at Lucy two years ago, guitars in hand.
Feel free to mail some to me.
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