If the Mets get past the Cubs and into the World Series, the franchise "could be looking at" about $45M in "added revenue," according to a source cited by Josh Kosman of the N.Y. POST. That figure includes about $25M in "revenue from an expected 500,000 rise" in '16 attendance. Roughly $20M will "come from tickets sales to a minimum of six postseason home games -- at least two each" in the NLDS, NLCS and the World Series. It is "not known if the team is ready to use the added cash as part of an offer or offers to free agents -- but it will certainly make life easier." A source said that before the Mets' playoff hopes "took root," the team was "set to lose a little less" than $10M in '15. The Mets "drew nearly 2.6 million fans to Citi Field" this year and '16 attendance is "expected to tip past 3 million." Lifting attendance to 3 million "means the Mets would need to contribute more to MLB revenue sharing, perhaps one-third of added revenue, so the boost might be closer" to $18M. Mets co-Owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz "control Sterling Equity," which owns 65% of SNY, the team's RSN, and 60% of the Mets. The Mets presently have a $112M payroll, "roughly average" for an MLB team (N.Y. POST, 10/17).
A HAPPY ACCIDENT: NEW YORK magazine's Will Leitch writes the Mets
"might be the best story going in sports right now, but it is important
to remember that this glorious Mets season has been an accident." The
Mets were "not a division-winning-caliber team for two thirds of the
season for the same reason the Mets haven’t been a
division-winning-caliber team for seven years now: Bernie Madoff." As
much as Wilpon and the Mets have "attempted to claim otherwise, the
money woes that befell the team starting in December 2008 were just as
restrictive this season as they’ve been for any other since then." Then
two things happened that "changed everything, things entirely out of the
Mets’ control, things that, in any other context, would be considered
awful." The first was the injury to 3B David Wright, as the Mets "were
able to collect" 75% insurance on his $20M contract because he missed
the first 60 days of the season. Also, they saved $2.39M more when P
Jenrry Mejia was "suspended twice for PED use." The Mets "could not
increase payroll, but they could use the funds that fell in their lap"
for this specific '15 season (NEW YORK, 10/19 issue).
GETTING WITH THE PROGRAM: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Brian Costa wrote the resurgence of the Cubs has "less to do with mythology than with how they transformed themselves into a modern sports business." Previously, the entire operation "was a relic, and not in a charming way." When Cubs Chair Tom Ricketts "led a family bid to purchase the team," he "set out to change that in a couple of ways." The "most visible was in the renovation of Wrigley, which began late last year." But the "most dramatic overhaul had more to do with how the team operates than its surroundings." While "slashing the major-league payroll," the Cubs spent nearly $6M "on technology upgrades." Those have "enabled executives to collect and carve up data on prospective customers and prospective sluggers alike" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/17).
