Rays Expect Playoff Run To Bring Profits, Look To Build Fan Base
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Rays Hope Postseason Run Will Help Maintain
Fan Excitement, Boost Season-Ticket Base |
Rays President Matt Silverman said with playoff games selling out and revenue-sharing payments coming in, the team “should turn a profit this year,” according to Darren Rovell of CNBC. Silverman said, “The last two years we were cash flow negative and we try to operate on a break-even basis. We want the fans to have the confidence in us that if they invest their money with us, it’s going to go to good uses. ... We’ll take the profits that we have and pour them back into this organization.” Silverman added, "We have a lot of excited fans and we hope the euphoria continues on towards next year, that the season-ticket base rises and we have those recurring revenues. Those are so important to us" (“Street Signs,” CNBC, 10/22). St. Petersburg Times Rays beat writer Marc Topkin said, "It took people a long while to buy in here, and obviously some of them are late-comers and bandwagon jumpers and all that, but I think from the Rays' stand-point they have to look at it, they're finally in the building, they’re finally supporting the team and they’re buying the merchandise.” In regards to the long-term outlook of the team, Topkin said, “You're not going to see a huge increase in payroll here. This is going to be a year-to-year process. They’re going to try to increase it when they can but they have to get some support." He added the club's biggest off-season decision involves marketing and "what they do to get that season-ticket base up, because that is what drives success in baseball” (“Outside The Lines,” ESPN, 10/22).
WILL THE SUCCESS LAST? ESPN.com's Howard Bryant wrote the Rays are "now the Anointed Ones in the hero game, the team that is young and good and from this day forward is experienced both in postseason boom and bust. Their best players are under control, and the Rays are no longer just potential but are now the team to beat" in the AL. But for "every projection of a Rays dynasty, the specter of the Marlins lurks." The Marlins, "reminiscent of the old Montreal Expos, represent everything the Rays should fear: talent-rich, economically challenged, the team that develops winning ballplayers but is unable to keep them." MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said that "he believes the Rays desperately need" a new ballpark, and Bryant noted the "undertone of the commissioner's position is clear: Without a new ballpark, it will be virtually impossible to ensure long-term success in the region" (ESPN.com, 10/22). In Denver, Mark Kiszla writes Selig "wants us to believe the gritty, no-name American League champs and their modest $44[M] payroll are proof positive that competitive balance and fiscal sanity has returned to the game." Kiszla: "Sorry, I ain't buying this fairy tale" (DENVER POST, 10/23).
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Stuart Sternberg Plays A "Solid
Centerfield" For His Softball Team |
HIS OWN MAN: In N.Y., Jon Elsen noted Rays Owner Stuart Sternberg manages a softball team in Rye, New York, called Second Chance, and he is the "anti-Steinbrenner." Sternberg "plays a solid centerfield, but you're just as likely to see him on the bench, keeping score and making sure everybody else gets a chance to play" (NYTIMES.com, 10/22).
YANK-ING MY CHAIN: ABC's Jimmy Kimmel noted Phillies-Rays was "not exactly the dream match-up Fox Sports has been hoping for, but it’s still the World Series and there's a lot riding on it, particularly for the Rays." Kimmel: "No one expected the Rays to be there. They beat out teams with much bigger budgets. That's the good news. The bad news is the Steinbrenner family just bought them and they're now known as the New York Yankees" ("Jimmy Kimmel Live," ABC, 10/22).
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