Dodgers Could Keep Payroll Level While Prices, Revenue Increase

The Dodgers "could seek to keep their player payroll below last year's level through 2018 while the average ticket price and club revenue could nearly double," according to financial documents cited by Bill Shaikin of the L.A. TIMES. The documents, submitted by former CEO Jamie McCourt as part of divorce proceedings against Owner Frank McCourt, "offer a rare glimpse into the finances of a major league club." The papers "show that the Dodgers spent $128[M] in player compensation for their 40-man roster in 2007, then spent $123[M] in 2008." The team spent $132M last season. The projections show the Dodgers "planning to cut it to $107[M] this year, with slight annual increases thereafter." Player compensation is "estimated at $125[M]" in '18. The document "anticipates a significant rise in club revenue," from $295M in '08 to $529M in '18, and in the "average ticket price, from $29.40 in 2007 to $53.50 in 2018." The team "spent 46% of revenue on player compensation in 2007 and 42% in 2008." The projections "call for that percentage to fall to 25% by 2013 and remain at about 25% through 2018." Two MLB execs said that Commissioner Bud Selig "encourages teams to spend about one-half their revenue on player compensation." Frank McCourt, when he took control of the club in '04, said that he "would maintain a player payroll among the top one-quarter of major league teams." An exec said that McCourt "would face 'incredible pressure' to raise the player payroll" in '18, "even if revenue did not rise significantly but especially if it did." Meanwhile, a source was "skeptical that the Dodgers could generate" $500M in annual revenue within eight years, "even with the English and Spanish 'DTV: Dodger Television' channels McCourt has considered launching in 2014." The source said that in the "absence of a new stadium, the Dodgers would need the most lucrative television deal in baseball" to generate that kind of revenue (L.A. TIMES, 2/22).

OWNER INTERFERENCE: In L.A., Steve Dilbeck noted Jamie McCourt in her divorce filing claimed that Frank "doesn't just want to run the team but use it as the centerpiece of a sports empire," and with "all this as a back drop, the Dodgers are emerging from one of their quietest offseasons in years." Dilbeck: "All this lends credence to the suspicion that the ongoing divorce has hamstrung front-office operations. Just logically, it seems an unwise time for Frank McCourt to personally be investing millions in an uncertain future." For fans, there may be "no winner" in the divorce proceedings. Neither of the McCourts "may have the resources to own the team as an individual, though both claim they can." It is "impossible to shake the feeling the organization is trying to tread water while this plays out" (LATIMES.com, 2/19).