Rockies' Monfort Willing To Bump Payroll, But Doesn't See Windfall From MLB TV Deal

Rockies Owner Dick Monfort "isn't about to make drastic changes" to the team's business model this offseason, but he is "willing to stretch the payroll" to about $95M from $84M at the start of last season, according to Troy Renck of the DENVER POST. The $84M ranked 24th in MLB and amounted to 49.4% of the team's $170M in revenue. Monfort "framed those figures in context with his business model, saying it's his rule of thumb to spend '50 percent of revenue on the players' salaries.'" He said that he is "attempting to add an impact bat, a starting pitcher and another reliever." But Renck wrote given that MLB's new eight-year, $12.4B TV deal begins next season, the $95M payroll "seems low," so Monfort provided a "line-by-line" budget to explain his thinking. He said that he is "planning to receive" $8M less than the originally slated $27M, believing that a "chunk will be kept for baseball's central fund to compensate for last season." Monfort explained that the team's share of the TV deal is "additionally siphoned" to pay $5.5M to MLB's credit line for past loans, $5M for player raises and $3.5M to "cover projected revenue loss from not having the Yankees and the Red Sox play at Coors Field." He said that this "leaves approximately" $4-5M in new money, and the ability to add about $11M to the payroll. The Rockies have "finished in last place in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history, a performance many fans trace to their payroll" (DENVER POST, 12/1).