The S.F. Giants fell 5 percent in value to $471 million. Why?

[cboy4]

The team’s attendance is down since not re-signing Barry Bonds after the 2007 season, and the value of its personal seat licenses have decreased 60 percent to 80 percent over the past three years.

Barry is sure missed by baseball. Nobody can deny that.



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Baseball’s most valuable teams

By Michael K. Ozanian and Kurt Badenhausen, Forbes.com Apr 23, 12:25 pm EDT

The top five:

1. New York Yankees ($1.5 billion)
2. New York Mets ($912 million)
3. Boston Red Sox ($833 million)
4. Los Angeles Dodgers ($722 million)
5. Chicago Cubs ($700 million)

The aggregate results of Forbes’ 12th annual take on the finances of Major League Baseball show the national pastime has never been stronger.

Team values increased an average of 1 percent over the past year to $482 million, an all-time high. Fueled by more ticket sales and television money, league revenue increased 5.5 percent to $5.8 billion (our figures are net of revenue used to finance stadium debt). Operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) rose 1.8 percent to $501 million – another record.

But dig deeper and you’ll find the overall results are skewed by a handful of teams with great stadiums and cable television deals. Business is tough: Ten franchises saw their values decline during the past year, the most since 2004, and many teams are having a more difficult time selling premium seating, sponsorships and meeting debt obligations because of the bad economy. The net result is a widening gap between the teams at the top and the ones at the bottom.

No one is getting richer faster than the No. 1-ranked New York Yankees, whose value shot up 15 percent this year to $1.5 billion. The Bronx Bombers pulled in $80 million – by far the most in baseball – from their rights fee with the YES Network in 2008 and moved into the most lucrative stadium in baseball this season. (Full disclosure: Forbes has a show on the YES Network.) The new stadium also means the Yankees will have to hand over a lower percentage of their revenue to rivals.

Yes, the team’s stadium revenue – tickets, suites, advertising, concessions – is likely to go up by more than $100 million this season. But MLB permits teams to deduct stadium-operating and debt expenses from revenue before calculating the amount the league will take from them to subsidize other teams. Last season the Yankees had to hand over $95 million to the league so it could be distributed to teams like the Florida Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays. In the new stadium the Yankees’ deductible expenses will be around $100 million, enough to wipe out the windfall in revenue.

No. 2-ranked New York Mets rose 11 percent and are now worth $912 million. The team is in a sense a mini version of its cross-town rival. The Mets also moved into a new stadium, Citi Field, this year, and the team will get an average of $20 million a year in naming rights and related advertising from the bank. And a great cable deal brought in $52 million last season.

The next three most valuable teams – the Boston Red Sox ($833 million), Los Angeles Dodgers ($722 million) and Chicago Cubs ($700 million) – own their stadiums and generate a lot of money from tickets, concessions and sponsorships. And each of these teams generates a pile of cash from cable television.

But several teams are falling further behind the firepower of the leading franchises. The San Francisco Giants fell 5 percent in value, to $471 million. The team’s attendance is down since not re-signing Barry Bonds after the 2007 season, and the value of its personal seat licenses have decreased 60 percent to 80 percent over the past three years.

With unemployment in the Motor City at a 25-year high the Detroit Tigers are bleeding money. The value of the Tigers dropped 9 percent, to $371 million. The Cleveland Indians, victims of declining manufacturing in the Rust Belt, were also whacked by lower attendance and have slashed ticket prices this season to get fans out to the Jake. The value of the Indians slipped 4 percent, to $399 million.

And then there are the Texas Rangers, off 2 percent in value to $405 million. As part of an effort to renegotiate $525 million in loans related to the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, Hicks Sports Group, owned by Dallas billionaire Tom Hicks, did not make a quarterly interest-only payment that was due last month. Hicks said he has been in talks with lenders, not to ask for additional funding for the teams but to restructure the debt or to possibly pay it off if he finds investors willing to buy minority stakes in either team.

Even with credit markets tight, recent transactions show that investors believe baseball’s prospects are bright. Publisher Tribune is in the process of unloading the Cubs, Wrigley Field and its 25 percent stake in a regional sports channel in a deal that will value the Cubs at $700 million, including value of the revenue that the team generates from Wrigley Field.

The San Diego Padres, along with the operating rights to Petco Park, are being sold for $500 million over five years, giving the deal a present value, net of tax considerations in the transaction, between $400 and $425 million.

[trumad]

1. Snarf---

71-91 in 2007 and 5th in the division.

72-90 in 2008 and 4th in the division.

Maybe---just maybe---the fans are tired of watching losers?

Oh---and I'm pretty certain that a "steroid free" 45 year old Bonds wouldn't increase revenue....

[cboy4]

8. I'm not saying he should be playing .. I'm saying his absence

has hurt attendance, not only in San Francisco but in away cities where all of the assholes flocked to boo Bonds.

And there's absolutely no denying he singlehandedly made baseball bags of money.

[trumad]

11. So did Mark McGuire---

[Forkboy]

2. Barry is missed by Giants fans.

And besides, people en masse aren't going to shell out big bucks to see an average team. Every team has a hardcore group of fans that will attend no matter what, but the casual fans (i.e. fair weather fans) aren't going to bother with teams that are struggling, especially in a lousy economy. There's only a handful of cities that have a rabid enough fan base to keep the teams in the plus financially through tough times.

[cboy4]

7. There's no bad team among the handful of cities you say

have a rabid enough fan base to flock to the games.

And apparently, the average to poor teams who draw small crowds are making money through revenue sharing and television.

[madinmaryland]

3. Gee Sparky. Did you miss the fact that we are in the midst of the worst

recession in nearly 80 years?? Where have you been?

Even the Skankees are not selling out their games.

[cboy4]

6. That has nothing to do with the Giants reduction in value.

Barry Bonds is irreplaceable.

He brought the Giants owners a fortune along with thousands of extra fans per game.

[Onceuponalife]

4. It's because they suck

It's pretty sad when a team hinges on the popularity/talent of just one player. Unlike the Dodgers lineup which has no weak spots.

All kidding aside, I think one of the reasons is that the "glow" of the new stadium must be wearing off. Every time a new stadium is unveiled, the fans sell out every game. But after a few years, if your team is no good, the fair weather fans lose interest and only the die-hards remain. That's a good way to judge how many loyal fans a team has. The same thing happened in Toronto after the Skydome opened. But now they're doing good again and the bandwagon jumpers are coming back.

*ahem* The Dodgers attendance is up and they haven't lost at home yet.:evilgrin:

[cboy4]

5. The Dodgers have no weak spots?

COLORADO 10
L.A. SUCKS 4

C. Kershaw (L, 0-2) 4.2 innings, 8 earned runs, 9 hits, 4 walks, 7.29 ERA

[Onceuponalife]

9. I said their starting lineup chucklehead

I know reading comprehension isn't your strong point. Steroids can mess with learning. The batting lineup has no weaknesses, yes. That's why they could rest 3 starters including Manny today and the loss doesn't bother them, they still won the series.

I know their pitching roation and relievers need work. They are not perfect. Far from it. But I'm confident the management will make the appropriate moves to bolster their pitching by season's end. Meanwhile, their numbers speak for themselves....

(through games of April 25)

batting average:

Dodgers .293 second in the league
midgets .242 fourth worst in the leaugue

runs:

Dodgers 106 second in the league
midgets 56 dead last in the majors

hits:

Dodgers 181 second in the league
midgets 125 third worst in the league

stolen bases:

Dodgers 15 best in the league
midgets 10 sixth in the league (one thing that they're almost good at)

OBP:

Dodgers .386 best in the majors
midgets .304 (pathetic) second worst in the league

slugging:

Dodgers .453 second in the league
midgets .364 (WTF? is it even possible to be that bad?) second worst in the league

in pitching stats the teams are a lot closer (a big turnaround from the midgets awful start) but the Dodgers league all of baseball in the telling WHIP (walks+hits per inning) stat with a 1.17.

And I wouldn't make cracks about the Dodgers pitching....which team blew a 3-run lead in the 9th inning today? Hmmmmmmm lemme see...oh yah it was the midgets!

[cboy4]

10. Yea I know we have an undependable closer, and a poor

offense.

But I also know the Dodgers are playing wayyyyyy over their head.

We'll see what happens when they start playing real teams out of the West.