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Some interesting reads from Forbes Magazine:
Baseball's Most Valuable Teams
Michael K. Ozanian and Kurt Badenhausen, 04.22.09, 06:00 PM EDT
New stadiums pushed up team values overall, but one-third of the league saw values drop over the past year.
| ]The aggregate results of Forbes' 12th annual take on the finances of Major League Baseball show the national pastime has never been stronger.
Team values increased an average of 1% over the past year to $482 million, an all-time high. Fueled by more ticket sales and television money, league revenue increased 5.5% to $5.8 billion (our figures are net of revenue used to finance stadium debt). Operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) rose 1.8% to $501 million--another record.
But dig deeper and you'll find the overall results are skewed by a handful of teams with great stadiums and cable television deals. Business is tough: Ten franchises saw their values decline during the past year, the most since 2004, and many teams are having a more difficult time selling premium seating, sponsorships and meeting debt obligations because of the bad economy. The net result is a widening gap between the teams at the top and the ones at the bottom.
No one is getting richer faster than the No. 1-ranked New York Yankees, whose value shot up 15% this year to $1.5 billion. The Bronx Bombers pulled in $80 million--by far the most in baseball--from their rights fee with the YES Network in 2008 and moved into the most lucrative stadium in baseball this season. (Full disclosure: Forbes has a show on the YES Network.) The new stadium also means the Yankees will have to hand over a lower percentage of their revenue to rivals.
Yes, the team's stadium revenue--tickets, suites, advertising, concessions--is likely to go up by more than $100 million this season. But MLB permits teams to deduct stadium-operating and debt expenses from revenue before calculating the amount the league will take from them to subsidize other teams. Last season the Yankees had to hand over $95 million to the league so it could be distributed to teams like the Florida Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays. In the new stadium the Yankees' deductible expenses will be around $100 million, enough to wipe out the windfall in revenue.
No. 2-ranked New York Mets rose 11% and are now worth $912 million. The team is in a sense a mini version of its cross-town rival. The Mets also moved into a new stadium, Citi Field, this year, and the team will get an average of $20 million a year in naming rights and related advertising from the bank. And a great cable deal brought in $52 million last season.
The next three most valuable teams--the Boston Red Sox ($833 million), Los Angeles Dodgers ($722 million) and Chicago Cubs ($700 million)--own their stadiums and generate a lot of money from tickets, concessions and sponsorships. And each of these teams generates a pile of cash from cable television.
But several teams are falling further behind the firepower of the leading franchises. The San Francisco Giants fell 5% in value, to $471 million. The team's attendance is down since not resigning Barry Bonds after the 2007 season, and the value of its personal seat licenses have decreased 60% to 80% over the past three years.
With unemployment in the Motor City at a 25-year high the Detroit Tigers are bleeding money. The value of the Tigers dropped 9%, to $371 million. The Cleveland Indians, victims of declining manufacturing in the Rust Belt, were also whacked by lower attendance and have slashed ticket prices this season to get fans out to the Jake. The value of the Indians slipped 4%, to $399 million.
And then there are the Texas Rangers, off 2% in value to $405 million. As part of an effort to renegotiate $525 million in loans related to the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, Hicks Sports Group, owned by Dallas billionaire Tom Hicks, did not make a quarterly interest-only payment that was due last month. Hicks said he has been in talks with lenders, not to ask for additional funding for the teams but to restructure the debt or to possibly pay it off if he finds investors willing to buy minority stakes in either team.
Even with credit markets tight, recent transactions show that investors believe baseball's prospects are bright. Publisher Tribune is in the process of unloading the Cubs, Wrigley Field and its 25% stake in a regional sports channel in a deal that will value the Cubs at $700 million, including value of the revenue that the team generates from Wrigley Field.
The San Diego Padres, along with the operating rights to Petco Park, are being sold for $500 million over five years, giving the deal a present value, net of tax considerations in the transaction, between $400 and $425 million. |
follow link to article (below), for sub-articles, charts, etc.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/22/yankee ... portsmoney
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Baseball's Best Relief Pitchers For The Buck
Peter J. Schwartz, 04.22.09, 06:00 PM EDT
Winning teams have good bullpens. Here are the best relievers for the money.
| ]The New York Mets stumbled down the stretch for a second straight season in 2008 as their bullpen blew 29 saves (the third-worst in baseball) and lost seven games when leading after eight innings. The Phillies, who overtook the Mets to win the division and eventually captured the World Series, were a perfect 79-0 when leading after eight innings.
So the Mets opened their checkbook this winter and signed closer Francisco Rodriguez, who set a record with 62 saves in 2008 as a member of the Los Angeles Angels, to a three-year, $37 million contract. Is K-Rod worth the money?
In Pictures: Baseball's Best Relief Pitchers For The Buck
Probably. That is, if he maintains his recent level of performance. Rodriguez, 27, posted a 2.24 earned run average (ERA) last year (almost half that of the average American League pitcher) and was so effective down the stretch of games that he ranked as baseball’s ninth-best-bargain reliever on our first ever list, despite receiving a $10 million paycheck. So far this season, he has yet to surrender a run in six appearances with his new team.
To determine baseball’s best relievers for the buck, we looked at the 58 pitchers who accumulated at least 20 combined holds (when a pitcher inherits a lead in a close game that he does not relinquish before being removed) and saves (when he maintains that lead through the completion of the game) last season. Pitchers were ranked based on saves and holds as well as ERA+, a stat that indexes a pitcher’s earned run average against the league average, while accounting for the differences in ball parks that make some more "pitcher-friendly" than others. Lastly, we compared each pitcher’s pay in 2008 to the median salary of relievers with similar longevity in the league. Veteran players with enough tenure to qualify for salary arbitration or free agency command larger paychecks than younger players, who typically make close to the league minimum.
The best bargain in the bullpen is Oakland Athletics reliever Brad Ziegler, who established an American League record for consecutive scoreless innings to start a career with 39 in 2008. Ziegler appeared in 47 games and was named the team’s closer in August, just three months after being called up from the minor leagues. His microscopic ERA of 1.06 was more than three runs better than the American League average, while he earned the league minimum salary of $390,000.
One of the most critical roles relievers play is to protect starting pitchers who are closely monitored, held to strict pitch counts and given plenty of rest between games. Reason: their ballooning paychecks, which averaged $4.4 million last year, compared with $3.2 million for the average big-leaguer.
Not all pitchers on our list were closers last year. San Diego’s Heath Bell was so efficient as the team’s set-up man that he was promoted to replace all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman as his team’s closer during the off-season and was selected for Team USA in last month’s World Baseball Classic. His $420,000 salary was less than half that of relief pitchers with similar experience in the league, making him the sixth best value in any bullpen last year.
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http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/22/best-r ... chers.html
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