Rockies co-Owners Jerry McMorris and Dick and Charlie
Monfort spoke to the Denver press about their relationship
and the state of the organization. The ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS'
Etkin & Ringolsby wrote that their partnership "is
harmonious, based on a cooperative spirit and not leading to
McMorris being nudged aside by the Monforts." Charlie
Monfort, who, along with Dick, carries the title of Rockies
Vice Chair: "Jerry's going to be where he is as long as he
wants to be because it's working well. I think we all form
a pretty good team, and I don't see that changing."
McMorris, who holds the titles of Rockies Chair, President &
CEO, on his relationship with the Monforts: "Our
relationship is excellent. ... There's no major decisions
being made here that the three of us aren't in agreement
on." Due to last season's last place finish in the NL West
and recent ticket increases, the Rockies are faced with
season ticket renewals that "could fall off" by 3,500, or
10% from last year. McMorris: "We've had some backlash
trading some very popular players in Vinny [Castilla], Dante
[Bichette] and Jamey Wright. But very frankly that hasn't
been as big a backlash as we were prepared for. Certainly,
there's always a discomfort that goes along with increasing
ticket prices. That wasn't easy, but we felt we had to do
[it]" (ROCKY MTN NEWS, 1/9). Charlie Monfort said that there
are "no plans" to sell the team: "The plan is to keep this
family-owned as long as that's possible" (DENVER POST, 1/9).
WHO'S THE MAN? In Denver, Mike Klis wrote that
documents gathered by the Denver Post show that Charlie
Monfort "holds the largest stake in the team" of the ten-
member ownership group, with an $18.5M investment.
Including Dick's share, the Monfort's entire stake is $29M,
"giving them" 39% ownership of the team, which is "nearly" 3
1/2 times more than McMorris's $8.5M investment. But all of
McMorris' stake is on the general partnership side, giving
him power to "make the major decisions" and making him
"equal to" Charlie Monfort (DENVER POST, 1/9).
ROCKIES RAKING IN DOUGH? McMorris, on reports that the
franchise is near the top of MLB in revenue: "No. 1, that's
wrong. No. 2, while we lead baseball in attendance, our
seat revenue is going to be about No. 6. Our prices are
considerably less than the other strong franchises. In
overall revenue, we haven't seen the final numbers in 1999,
but we're going to finish somewhere between eighth and
10th." While Klis wrote that "privately ... the Rockies
admit to generating about" $120M in annual revenues, after
team expenses, "it's not unrealistic to believe the combined
annual profit for the Rockies' 10 investors is less than $10
million" (DENVER POST, 1/9).
