>Don't get me started. When the Bears renovated Soldier Field a few years ago it was largely paid for by public funds, AND the club wound up with a higher percentage of concessions and parking revenue. Amazing.
>
>Society may finally be catching up with me <g>. When the Ricketts family bought the Cubs a year ago they said all the right things, including that they were going to turn the team around. (Whoops). A few months later they were rattling the tin cup, wanting a publicly funded renovation of Wrigley Field. Opinion polls ran about 90% against it and the Illinois legislature shot it down.
>
>That was kind of an unfair shot at the Cubs' performance. They have several of the worst player contracts in major league baseball and until they can shed those they aren't going to get much better.
>
>>Does the club get all of the revenues from beer, food and souvenir sales? Unless I'm missing something your figures suggest they do. If they don't then it's not clear what their annual revenue really is - same for their other expenses, but their player payroll for 2010 is just under $160M. That's a lot of money for just one aspect of their expenses. You do bring up another interesting point though. I wonder how much Halladay and Lee are worth in TV etc. revenues.
>>
>>>>>Counter-question. The average CEO salary in 2009 (salary + other earnings) was 9.5 million. Doc Halladay earned 15.5 million in 2010. Is Halladay earning 300 times the salary average worker? <s>
>>>>
>>>>Let's face it, sports salaries are truly obscene, and I've never seen the stats one way or the other, which leaves me wondering. Does Doc really bring in the sort of value that 15 million deserves? You know I love the Doc, but Philly is sold out whether Doc is on the mound or not, so he's not really bringing in any more fans there. Does he generate enough interest on the road to generate $15 million worth of difference? I don't know. And then, does getting to the playoffs generate the kind of dollars that makes it worth paying out the sorts of salaries accumulated by Doc, Oswalt, Hamels and now Lee? I honestly don't know the answer to that question, but my gut reaction is, no. But I could well be wrong. I'd love to see some stats. Having said that, I am, of course, really looking forward to next season.
>>>
>>>I can't give you numbers, but I can tell that, here in Philly, the sell-out streak started in the 2nd half of the '09 season, after Lee got here the first time, and when it became apparent that the Phils were going to the post-season for the 3rd year in a row. Before that, there were a fair number of sell-outs, but not everyday.
>>>
>>>There's been a lot of talk here this week about the economics of the Lee deal and how they're going to pay for it. I've heard suggestions that one of the silent partners is fronting some of the money. Obviously, though, they think it will be worth it.
>>>
>>>Quick off-the-cuff calculation. A sell-out is about 45,000 tickets. Average ticket price is somewhere in the neighborhood of $30. (I think it's higher, but I'd have to do a bunch of arithmetic to really figure it out. For sure, this doesn't include luxury boxes.) So per sell-out is $1.35M. 81 home games -> $109M just on tickets for regular seats. (Actually, a little higher. They have two preseason home games.)
>>>
>>>How much does each ticket bring in additional revenue? It ranges from folks like us who buy nothing most games (we're allowed to bring in food and non-alcoholic drinks) to people buying 4 or 5 beers at $7.25 (I think) a piece. Feed a family of four at the ballpark and you're spending at least $50. Probably low to say it's $10 average per ticket. So 45,000 x 10 x 81 = $36.45M.
>>>
>>>What about souvenirs? No idea how to estimate that.
>>>
>>>Does the team get any of the parking revenue? I don't know, but it's $15 per car now. (I think the city gets the lion's share of that.)
>>>
>>>Bottom line. Just the regular season ballpark revenue is probably well in excess of $200M. Of course, there are plenty of expenses beyond the players, but you can begin to see how the money works.
>>>
>>>Then you add TV and post-season and licensing.
>>>
>>>Tamar