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evolver115
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Financial records show Pirates win while losing - Yahoo! News
Pirates open books, explain payout to owners
The AP article from Yahoo has a decidedly different slant than the Post-Gazette's.
Here is what I took away from both the PG article, and the AP article:
The PBC is doing nothing wrong from a business standpoint. Other than the somewhat questionable payment made to Seven Springs for a so-called "now closed joint advertising account", and the $20 million dollars paid out to the owners' to cover taxes, which is completely legitimate from a business standpoint, there is no wrong-doing.
My only problem is that it now appears, with the release of this new information, that the club is being run to maximize profit, instead of being run to maximize winning, while also maintaining a profit. There is a difference.
Owning a professional sports team is a business, but it's wholly unique from owning any other business for profit. If the club has any hope of maximizing a greater profit from ticket sales, they need to prove to the fan-base that they have potential to be successful, and subsequently raise ticket prices to earn even greater profit. Otherwise, a greater profit from ticket sales won't happen. Not when the team has experienced this amount of failure.
The alternative to fielding a winner and subsequently earning more from ticket sales is to shrink club spending, earning just enough from ticket sales to cover your cost of operations year to year, and take the revenue sharing dollars from MLB to keep the business in the black. Which is what the PBC from at least 2007, is doing.
Yes, they've invested in minor-league talent, recently. Yes, they've made additions and upgrades to the Bradenton facility, and yes, they've built a new training facility in the D.R. That's well and good. But, it's still more financially sound at this point in time for Nutting and his business partners to operate a losing team at the major league level, instead of raising the major league roster payroll to field a more competitive team, now.
If the PBC was really set out to field a winner, spending would increase both at the major league level, and the minor league(s), as well. Minor league investments on amateurs and prospects are less expensive than professionals at the major league level. Thereby maximizing profits.
Pirates open books, explain payout to owners
The AP article from Yahoo has a decidedly different slant than the Post-Gazette's.
Here is what I took away from both the PG article, and the AP article:
The PBC is doing nothing wrong from a business standpoint. Other than the somewhat questionable payment made to Seven Springs for a so-called "now closed joint advertising account", and the $20 million dollars paid out to the owners' to cover taxes, which is completely legitimate from a business standpoint, there is no wrong-doing.
My only problem is that it now appears, with the release of this new information, that the club is being run to maximize profit, instead of being run to maximize winning, while also maintaining a profit. There is a difference.
Owning a professional sports team is a business, but it's wholly unique from owning any other business for profit. If the club has any hope of maximizing a greater profit from ticket sales, they need to prove to the fan-base that they have potential to be successful, and subsequently raise ticket prices to earn even greater profit. Otherwise, a greater profit from ticket sales won't happen. Not when the team has experienced this amount of failure.
The alternative to fielding a winner and subsequently earning more from ticket sales is to shrink club spending, earning just enough from ticket sales to cover your cost of operations year to year, and take the revenue sharing dollars from MLB to keep the business in the black. Which is what the PBC from at least 2007, is doing.
Yes, they've invested in minor-league talent, recently. Yes, they've made additions and upgrades to the Bradenton facility, and yes, they've built a new training facility in the D.R. That's well and good. But, it's still more financially sound at this point in time for Nutting and his business partners to operate a losing team at the major league level, instead of raising the major league roster payroll to field a more competitive team, now.
If the PBC was really set out to field a winner, spending would increase both at the major league level, and the minor league(s), as well. Minor league investments on amateurs and prospects are less expensive than professionals at the major league level. Thereby maximizing profits.
