7050435E5F310 wrote:
I can't figure the ownership out - is the penny pinching really worth it when they lose millions in ticket sales and good will? They get pretty quick feedback - the fans don't appreciate being jerked around.
For the people like us, the millions they lose in ticket sales seems massive. But in the grand scheme of things, the ticket sales is just gravy.
The value of the franchise increased over $50 million and is now worth over one billion dollars. That's the entire end game for Nutting. It's not championships and it's not ticket sales.
Of course, Nutting would prefer to sell out every night and take the extra millions from those sales. But he'd have to put more millions into the team and he doesn't want to do that.
A lot of times when something seems really difficult to figure out, the obvious answer is the right one.
Why do you think the payroll is what it is? Because Nutting is hungry for a World Series ring? Why was nothing done after Kang and Marte were certain to not be around for at least half the season? It's because Nutting is quite content with the team's performance, regardless of the record and decreasing ticket sales. Business is booming despite the team sucking.
I think these are two important points.
Tickets represent only a part of the team's revenue. There's also TV revenue, revenue sharing etc. Last year Disney paid a billion dollars for a stake in the MLB internet technology group, MLBAM. I'm sure the owners got a cut of that. What did Nutting do with his cut? Did he dedicate it to "financial flexibility" or pocket it?
And if it's such an onerous burden to own a team, then why not sell? Because you have an asset that has appreciated a large amount (in part because the taxpayers paid for your new facility) and you are making money.
While they may be at a relative disadvantage compared to other owners, none of them can claim poverty.
Big Market Reality, maybe Nutting isn't cheap, the fans are
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