MLB Giants Managing General Partner Peter Magowan said
in a Q&A session on Friday that the team "will make a small
profit" this year "after years of hemorrhaging red ink,"
while the A's "have no chance to prosper" at Network
Associates Coliseum, according to Henry Schulman of the S.F.
CHRONICLE. Magowan said that the Giants' annual revenue
"will double to" $120M due to income from the new Pac Bell
Park, and "some of that might go to boost the payroll in
midseason." Magowan: "I think we'll be able to consistently
put a competitive team on the field, eliminate our operating
losses and eke out a small profit, which I think we're
entitled to given the risk we've taken on in building the
new ballpark." But Magowan said that the A's "can never
remain competitive" at Network Associates Coliseum because
there are too many seats and said that the Giants "would
have no problem with the A's building a South Bay stadium"
north of the Santa Clara-Alameda County line. Magowan, on
the A's: "I wish them well, but I think the problem they are
going to have is ever selling many season tickets in a
stadium where there is so much excess capacity." Magowan
also said that MLB "must at least consider weeding out some
of the weakest franchises." Magowan, on dissolving small-
market teams: "I don't think anybody really wants to
consolidate. Shrinking is not something you're ever too
enthusiastic about, but frankly this is something
organizations need to do in order to grow" (S.F. CHRONICLE,
3/11). ESPN.com's Peter Gammons wrote that Pac Bell Park
does have a "drawback," as Giants GM Brian Sabean "has to
tell all" teams looking to make a trade with the Giants
"that he cannot take on any salary for the first year or two
of the park because the Giants paid for it themselves and
the debt service is staggering" (ESPN.com, 3/11).
