Dombroski Article

[wazzu31]

To make money for his bosses. Plan completed.

Ya but didn't he see ownership made more when Safeco was packed than half empty. What's going on now with the Seahawks happened from 95-2002 with the Mariners where fans who barely or who never went to a game was out buying merchandise and fans who went to a few games went to alot of games

 

[NWinAZ]

Ya but didn't he see ownership made more when Safeco was packed than half empty. What's going on now with the Seahawks happened from 95-2002 with the Mariners where fans who barely or who never went to a game was out buying merchandise and fans who went to a few games went to alot of games

Yes but in order to make M's competitive he would have needed to spend another $30-40M in payroll. So does having another $15K at games make up for that? Plus, there is never a given that spending that extra money will bring in that extra money. So M's have fielded a plan that is steady in nature and profitable. I can't argue with Lincoln's business plan because he has proven it works for over a decade so why change? Why doesn't WalMart sell better made products? Simple, they don't need to. Cheap sells at better profit as long as the consumer buys it. We as M's fans continue to buy it.

 

[wazzu31]

Spending the extra money IMO is a big chunk of change in the pockets. Yes its not as big as a televison contract but if gettinv an 81 game gate and all the money from overpriced ticket, beer, food and merchandise revenue than I don't know. Companies buy suites and season tickets they rely on but the people they give those tickets to are the ones just giving the M's $200 dollars. An extra $30 million om the payroll os easily made up for with a full house all year plus better advertisers willing to pay more than NW motorsports

 

[wazzu31]

If you look at the bogus sponsors of some their give aways it should be Boeing? Microsoft or Amazon but it's Chuck's feed store

 

[AceKeptic]

To make money for his bosses. Plan completed.

I dunno...I'm sure there's more to it. You don't let a team go to pot like this without something else in mind.

And you don't need the Major League movie to tell you that. Not around here. I'm still convinced that if we had Lazy Bavasi as GM, this team would have been relocated to Vegas or OKC.

 

[NWinAZ]

I dunno...I'm sure there's more to it. You don't let a team go to pot like this without something else in mind.

And you don't need the Major League movie to tell you that. Not around here. I'm still convinced that if we had Lazy Bavasi as GM, this team would have been relocated to Vegas or OKC.

There really is no mystery to this. It has been documented many times and Lincoln himself has said on record his only job is to make a profit. Winning is secondary...at best.

 

[NWinAZ]

Spending the extra money IMO is a big chunk of change in the pockets. Yes its not as big as a televison contract but if gettinv an 81 game gate and all the money from overpriced ticket, beer, food and merchandise revenue than I don't know. Companies buy suites and season tickets they rely on but the people they give those tickets to are the ones just giving the M's $200 dollars. An extra $30 million om the payroll os easily made up for with a full house all year plus better advertisers willing to pay more than NW motorsports

According to Lincoln, that just isn't the case. You/everyone can complain about his ability to run a baseball team, but nobody can question his business acumen.

 

[wazzu31]

According to Lincoln, that just isn't the case. You/everyone can complain about his ability to run a baseball team, but nobody can question his business acumen.

That's the horse crap part is that you have to be a retard to not turn a profit with running a major sports franchise, just you have to spend money to make more money. It's not like Seattle is Florida where fans don't show up. When a team in Seattle is winning the fans show up and spend more money than any fan base. Sounders, Sonics and Seahawks have all led their leagues in merchandising (not really fair with the M's cause the Yankees and Red Sox) but enough to where you aren't relying on just a television contract. Without basketball, hockey or the Sounders becoming more main stream Root Sports will not be economically stable enough to be the primary profit source.

 

[NWinAZ]

That's the horse crap part is that you have to be a retard to not turn a profit with running a major sports franchise, just you have to spend money to make more money. It's not like Seattle is Florida where fans don't show up. When a team in Seattle is winning the fans show up and spend more money than any fan base. Sounders, Sonics and Seahawks have all led their leagues in merchandising (not really fair with the M's cause the Yankees and Red Sox) but enough to where you aren't relying on just a television contract. Without basketball, hockey or the Sounders becoming more main stream Root Sports will not be economically stable enough to be the primary profit source.

Here is the point. In 2001 we lead the majors in attendance and were second in profit at $14.8M. We are 2 to 3 real players away from being competitive which is what it would take to get back to the top in attendance. 2 to 3 real players would cost $30-$45M.

In 2014 M's made a profit of $11.6M while having way lower attendance and way lower payroll. So is it worth spending $30-40M to try and match your best profit which was only $3.2M more? Risk simply isn't worth the reward.

 

[wazzu31]

Here is the point. In 2001 we lead the majors in attendance and were second in profit at $14.8M. We are 2 to 3 real players away from being competitive which is what it would take to get back to the top in attendance. 2 to 3 real players would cost $30-$45M.

In 2014 M's made a profit of $11.6M while having way lower attendance and way lower payroll. So is it worth spending $30-40M to try and match your best profit which was only $3.2M more? Risk simply isn't worth the reward.

I'm not sure I follow the comparison with 01 and 14 as had the Mariners made that much money with the raise in prices it would've been much higher. What was a ticket, jersey, clothing etc back in 2001 compared to last year. $3.2 on a profit has nothing to do with their payroll as it has more to do with a lack of support. They will always turn a profit with the television contract and their sold out luxury suites. The issue they have is that suites are not full, get excitement with the team (which raising payroll does) and those empty suites that are already paid for are full of guys blowing hundreds of dollars, add in a full house of everyone spending a minimum of $20 dollars ago. It's not just the $30 million to the payroll for players, they can pay top dollars for the front office, coaches and developmental system. IMO it completely pays for itself if you have a legitimate sell out every night gate plus from playoff games, more merchandise sales and most importantly for a professional sports franchise better sponsors and advertisers. I can't remember which company it was that a boat load of money to get their name on the RF wall so everytime Ichiro was on the screen they were shown? It is truly sad that there is no bidding war for the rights to the King's Court.

Economically this fricking franchise is so ass backwards from a successful or profitable professional baseball organization, they aren't cheap enough to make a huge profit off the luxury tax nor do they spend enough to generate fan support and become a WS contender. The organization was given a golden gift of the Sonics leaving where they is a huge segement of the population who had extra money to spend along with a generation of young fans who should easily fall in love with baseball but with the little excitement in baseball all the kids who use to play soccer until they were 7 or 8 then went on to play real sports of basketball and baseball have continued to play soccer.

 

[NWinAZ]

I'm not sure I follow the comparison with 01 and 14 as had the Mariners made that much money with the raise in prices it would've been much higher. What was a ticket, jersey, clothing etc back in 2001 compared to last year. $3.2 on a profit has nothing to do with their payroll as it has more to do with a lack of support. They will always turn a profit with the television contract and their sold out luxury suites. The issue they have is that suites are not full, get excitement with the team (which raising payroll does) and those empty suites that are already paid for are full of guys blowing hundreds of dollars, add in a full house of everyone spending a minimum of $20 dollars ago. It's not just the $30 million to the payroll for players, they can pay top dollars for the front office, coaches and developmental system. IMO it completely pays for itself if you have a legitimate sell out every night gate plus from playoff games, more merchandise sales and most importantly for a professional sports franchise better sponsors and advertisers. I can't remember which company it was that a boat load of money to get their name on the RF wall so everytime Ichiro was on the screen they were shown? It is truly sad that there is no bidding war for the rights to the King's Court.

Economically this fricking franchise is so ass backwards from a successful or profitable professional baseball organization, they aren't cheap enough to make a huge profit off the luxury tax nor do they spend enough to generate fan support and become a WS contender. The organization was given a golden gift of the Sonics leaving where they is a huge segement of the population who had extra money to spend along with a generation of young fans who should easily fall in love with baseball but with the little excitement in baseball all the kids who use to play soccer until they were 7 or 8 then went on to play real sports of basketball and baseball have continued to play soccer.

Not sure how else to explain it. Plus you are over blowing the sales aspect. M's don't make all that money on merchandise sales and concessions. Concession stands are leased out. Merchandise licensing is paid out by retailers and MLB also gets a portion of the license fees. But M's have to pay 100% of revenue to players.

As far as your promotional examples of Ichiro and Felix, it would take a $250M payroll to have enough start powered players to promote on a weekly basis like that. And using those two players as your example, you do realize both combined for 1 playoff appearance right? That was classic business moves and not baseball moves.

So to the part where I am having a difficult time explaining to you, yes tickets and other revenue streams have gone up since 2001, but so have costs and players salaries and I guarantee you the cost percentages have gone up way more than the revenue percentages.

Average MLB Salaries:

$2.26M in 2001
$4.25M in 2015
X 25 Man Roster = $50M more in average salaries.

So are concession leases, ticket increases, and merchandising licenses going to make up that just to break even? That is the gamble. Again, I totally agree with Lincoln business model. It works and no need to change it by spending extra money on more contracts like Cano and Felix.