Padres Vice Chair & CEO Jeff Moorad yesterday said the team's '12 payroll "will start with a five," with the eventual "resting place" over the next five years being $70M, according to Bill Center of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The Padres' local TV contract expires after this season, and Moorad said the next -- and yet unannounced -- "broadcast agreement will set the tone for the Padres payroll over the next five years." Center notes the team's final payroll this season "will be around $45 million, meaning Moorad is committed to at least an 11 percent increase in 2012." Moorad said that the Padres "won't be a big player in the free agent market" as part of the overall plan for the organization. Moorad also reiterated that his ownership group "will put all revenue generated by the Padres back into the club and Petco Park." He said, "The goal every year is to break even. No profit, no loss. There is a budget every year. That budget will not have a loss. At the same time, no one in the ownership group will be taking any profit out of the club." Center notes the "eventual goal is to operate the Padres without having to service debt." Moorad's ownership group "inherited $206 million in debt, which included a $60 million line of credit," when it agreed in '10 to a "timed purchase of the Padres." The deal "can be completed any time between now and the spring of 2014," though Moorad yesterday denied rumors that his ownership group "will soon complete its purchase" of the Padres from John Moores (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/10).
