While I think it's not the best article, and that the author is severely biased (as shown by declaring himself a bitter Expos fan), I do agree with the basic premise that Loria probably isn't losing any money on the Marlins. It's worth reading.

 

Battered Fishby John Brattain

November 25, 2005

 

So sad.

 

To be a Marlins fan I mean.

 

I?m sorry, a leopard cannot change its spots, or in this case a skunk cannot change it stripes.

 

Why was Jeffrey Loria allowed to buy the Florida Marlins after selling the Expos?

 

Class? Anyone?

 

Simple: Loria was Bud Selig?s kind of owner.

 

Bud?s kind of owner is one who looks to subsidies from the public coffers and big-market major league teams to turn a healthy profit rather than growing a fan base. Now that the taxpayer-funded windfall isn?t coming his way, Loria will do as Loria does, as any good Selig-type small-revenue franchise does: throw a small revenue small-minded hissy fit. The Fish are being gutted again, threats are flying, South Florida fans and politicos alike are being blamed because they won?t throw undeserved millions Loria's way.

 

Yes, the Marlins have (or had) a fine team; they won the World Series in 2003, they played meaningful games in September this year, they had exciting players?Dontrelle Willis, Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Delgado (to name three; there were a lot more)?and were still 15th out of 16th in NL attendance (1,852,608).

 

Naturally the "solution" from Selig?s and Loria?s standpoint is a new shiny, revenue-generating publicly financed luxury box- and club seat-laden ATM-esque ballpark. Kind of like the Pittsburgh Pirates? gorgeous PNC Park.

 

Speaking of which, what was the one club that drew worse than the Marlins?

 

*cough* Pittsburgh *cough*

 

Yeah, but the Marlins were contenders and the Pirates aren?t.

 

Well, it?s not that simple. I?m going to re-print part of an earlier column I did in May on the Marlins and why Loria and Selig?s wet dream won?t be the solution they envision:

 

Let?s take a quick look at how the Marlins have marketed their product:

 

• 1997: Won the World Series after splurging in the free agent market. Won a thrilling seventh game in extra innings against the Cleveland Indians.
  
• 1997-98: Used any accrued goodwill from the World Series title to claim that the club lost over $30 million and held a fire sale for most of their top talent. In the October 18 New York Times Magazine, noted sports economist Andrew Zimbalist took a closer look at the numbers for the team. He discovered that then-owner Wayne Huizenga excluded the revenue from Pro Player Stadium's 195 luxury boxes and 10,000 club seats, all of which were diverted to his separate stadium management company. The club also undervalued its cable contract with Huizenga's Sportschannel Florida and paid Huizenga $5 million in rent on Pro Player Stadium. Zimbalist's estimate of the Marlins' actual bottom line: a $13.8 million profit.
  
• 1999: John Henry purchased the Marlins. Henry initially promised that he would build a park for the team himself, yet shortly thereafter he asked for $300 million in public subsidies for a new stadium. MLB also announced that it was taking the 2000 All-Star Game away from Florida in favor of Turner Field in Atlanta. MLB spokesman Rich Levin said: "We think these events should be in new stadiums?the Marlins have been told they will get an All-Star Game if they get a new stadium." Pro Player, that ancient relic, was 11 years old at the time.
  
• In 2000, rumors leaked out about another "fire sale" of the team's high-priced players following the end of the season if no new stadium deal was approved. Henry addressed questions about a coming fire sale, telling reporters:
   
  "Light is a particle and a wave, but logic would tell you it can't be both. The fact is, it is both. In our situation, it's a dilemma. It's a difficult choice; none works. It's not quite as esoteric as it sounds. It's not talking out of both sides of my mouth."
   
  On June 7, Henry went on the record as saying:
   
  ?[The Marlins are in] a very dark situation. The community has basically given up on the Marlins. The franchise is in jeopardy?it certainly is an option to sell to someone out of state, but I love this organization. If I start thinking in terms of giving up, it's very hard to do what needs to be done.?
  
• In 2001 owners voted 28-2 to contract two major league franchises. The Florida Marlins made the short list of contraction candidates. On April 25, Selig told the Florida state legislature that the stadium plan under consideration represented the ?final opportunity for the Marlins to remain in South Florida.? Adding to the hilarity was Florida State Senator Alex Villalobos (the prime sponsor of a bill to help publicly finance a new $385 million stadium), who said he'd asked Selig to blackmail the legislature. "A lot of people have said it's a threat. I wanted it in writing. I didn't want it to be subject to interpretation," Villalobos said.
  Capping off the year was Henry?s claim that the Marlins lost $9 million in 2001, $4 million of that from lobbying expenses for a new stadium.
  
• In 2002 the Marlins were sold to Jeffrey Loria, who was fresh off successfully killing the Montreal Expos.
  
• In 2003 the Marlins won their second World Series in seven years and claimed to have lost $20 million. When asked to open their books to provide proof thereby justifying public subsidies, Marlins president David Samson replied: ?Many private companies ask for public help?in tax abatements, incentives to move firms to new areas and other kinds of government help. And you don't see those companies releasing their figures.?
  
• In April 2004, the Las Vegas threat was first unveiled. Samson set multiple final deadlines for a stadium deal. Deadlines came, deadlines went, and the Marlins stayed. Then came Opening Day, a time for rejoicing. The birds were singing, everybody was in first place, fresh hopes abounded. Loria announced the start of this joyous time with:
  ?We need a new stadium. Everyone has to get this damn thing done in the next 30 days. Miami is a major city. They got it done in Seattle and San Diego and Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and Colorado and Philadelphia and Milwaukee. They all have new stadiums, and we're not going to consider ourselves a major league city until we get it done.?
   
  Nothing like insulting an entire city to get the baseball season off to a good start. Samson continued to bluster like a member of the Lollipop Guild with PMS. The Marlins finished the year with the laughable notion that Huizenga doesn?t like money and will evict the Marlins so that he can host cricket matches and God knows what else.
   
  On top of all of this, especially between 1998-2002, all we heard is that the Marlins couldn?t compete in the current environment and that Pro Player was a place where you?d get damp and miserable while you watched your team get saddled with the inevitable loss. Then the idiot ungrateful fans would be blasted for not showing up to watch a lousy team in a cesspool of a ballpark.
  

Now you can add another relocation threat, another fire sale and another extortion attempt to this list.

 

You can also add this to the litany of lies Marlins fans have been forced to endure: the Marlins claim to have lost $20 million. Here?s a little tidbit you might want to know: the Marlins were purchased by Loria for about $150 million. Over the first five years of ownership a club can amortize 50% of that. In other words, the Marlins can make a book entry in the loss column in years 1-5 of ownership for $15 million. Loria and Samson?s salary is also included as an expense?hence in the ?loss? column. The Marlins received about $27 from revenue sharing this year and almost $20 million from ESPN and FOX, and they receive at a minimum $3 million from MLB licensing revenues and had a payroll of about $60 million. So they have $50 million from those three sources. Toss in local television and radio, Internet revenues (remember Wall Street firms offered $3 billion for MLB.com or $100 million per team) and road receipts and?well, you get the idea. They get all of this before they sell a single ticket or hot dog.

 

Besides, Loria is most likely in a 33% tax bracket, which means his $20 million ?loss? translates into $6.6 million he can write off against his income from other sources. In other words he can make over $6 million in profits from his art business before he has to worry about paying tax on it.

 

By the way, Forbes listed the value of the Marlins franchise at $206 million for 2005, so Loria is looking, at this moment, at about a $50 million gain in the value of his investment.

 

Still believe he lost his shirt this year?

 

That?s a lot of bad faith, a lot of abusing a fan base. Do you think this will all disappear if South Florida coughs up a few hundred million dollars in extorted corporate welfare to house the team?

 

If they do, the value of the franchise jumps considerably and Loria gets the lion?s share of revenues from the new park. In short, this isn?t about the viability of the franchise; this is about padding profits (yes, profits) and making Loria a lot more wealthy without him having to actually work for it.

 

Loria has two choices: One, rebuild the fan base remembering that the damage has been done over the course of years and it?s going to take an investment of money and time (read: years) to reverse it. Or as option two, he can throw a temper tantrum, blame the consumer and try to find a region that?s willing to make him a lot more wealthy.

 

Guess which choice he has made? He?s told South Florida to go to hell and is whoring himself out to any region willing to whip out the public teat and allow him to nurse until he?s gorged.

 

He?s said this is his intention repeatedly since 2004.

 

And he wonders why folks still stay away? He?s shown no loyalty to South Florida. He expects fans to come out regardless of the quality of the team and expects local politicians to place a higher priority on fattening his wallet than providing hurricane relief. And if all that happens, then he?ll pledge fealty to the region.

 

His approach is about as subtle as a double-fisted schoolyard salute.

 

Take heart Marlins fans; relocation is a longshot at best despite the nice words from Portland, Las Vegas and Puerto Rico. It?s really easy to promise a ballpark, quite the opposite to actually build it?just look at the seven levels of hell they?re going through in Washington, D.C. Despite the fire sale, general manager Admin Beinfest has done his usual outstanding job in the Delgado/Beckett/Lowell deals and gotten some nice young talent. Remember, he got you a year?s worth of Carlos Delgado for just $4 million (plus what he sent to the Mets), and as long as he is charge the team will always have a bright future.

 

As long as Loria and Samson are in charge however, expect the headaches to continue. As a bitter Montreal Expos fan I speak from experience.

 

You have been warned?again.

 

John Brattain's work has been featured at About.com, MLBtalk, Yankees.com, Replacement Level Yankee Weblog, TOTK.com, Bootleg Sports, and Baseball Prospectus. He welcomes comments, questions and suggestions via e-mail.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/battered-fish/

There are holes in this article but there are also valid points. I don't see the current situation as a black and white issue -- meaning you either blame the Marlin's front office or the politicians or fans or MLB. I think there is blame to go around although not necessarily in equal parts.

You can also add this to the litany of lies Marlins fans have been forced to endure: the Marlins claim to have lost $20 million. Here?s a little tidbit you might want to know: the Marlins were purchased by Loria for about $150 million. Over the first five years of ownership a club can amortize 50% of that. In other words, the Marlins can make a book entry in the loss column in years 1-5 of ownership for $15 million. Loria and Samson?s salary is also included as an expense?hence in the ?loss? column. The Marlins received about $27 from revenue sharing this year and almost $20 million from ESPN and FOX, and they receive at a minimum $3 million from MLB licensing revenues and had a payroll of about $60 million. So they have $50 million from those three sources. Toss in local television and radio, Internet revenues (remember Wall Street firms offered $3 billion for MLB.com or $100 million per team) and road receipts and?well, you get the idea. They get all of this before they sell a single ticket or hot dog.

 

Besides, Loria is most likely in a 33% tax bracket, which means his $20 million ?loss? translates into $6.6 million he can write off against his income from other sources. In other words he can make over $6 million in profits from his art business before he has to worry about paying tax on it.

 

By the way, Forbes listed the value of the Marlins franchise at $206 million for 2005, so Loria is looking, at this moment, at about a $50 million gain in the value of his investment.

 

Wow.

 

That's all I can say. Wow.

Someone should send this article in to LeBetard's show and all of the other Radio shows. It might be interesting to hear their reactions.

 

Might wanna send maddog some bifocals to go with it though.

About time somebody stands up for the fans!

 

I've always believe there is NO way Loria lost money in 2003.

But I guess its easy to spend money when you're taking plane trips to Vegas to scout out locations, or flying back and forth to Puerto Rico trying to get Delgado to sign, only to whore him out a year later. Samson should stop getting all these steak and lobster dinners with the corporate Amex if he is so interested in cutting costs so they don't have to dismantle the team and freeze salaries for current employees.

About time somebody stands up for the fans!

 

I've always believe there is NO way Loria lost money in 2003.

But I guess its easy to spend money when you're taking plane trips to Vegas to scout out locations, or flying back and forth to Puerto Rico trying to get Delgado to sign, only to whore him out a year later. Samson should stop getting all these steak and lobster dinners with the corporate Amex if he is so interested in cutting costs so they don't have to dismantle the team and freeze salaries for current employees.

 

 

Damn Straight!!!

Ah, HBT's resident Marlins hater. Time to shoot off yet another email to Mr. Brattain to fill him on what's happening in the real world.

In terms of making money vs what they've spent on payroll, I still trust what the FO is telling us. If it was as cut and dry as this, everyone would be able to make financial decisions. With so much money going to Huizenga still, I have no doubt in my mind the Marlins are losing money. This guy is full of sh**. As he said, he's biased, being a former Expos fan.

No one believed Loria has lost money, atleast not a significant amount. But that the Marlins are running operating losses that are beyond his control and not a good sign when and if other sources of revenue (such as revenue sharing) dry up or weaken or should they want to leverage against the franchise.

Well, anyone that knows business knows that people don't make it as financially strong as the Loria family by being 100% honest through the generations of their family. So where's the surprise? Also, there are certainly holes in the article. If it was designed to bash the ownership of the Marlins, there was 1 very important tidbit not pointed out. It is in refernce to John Henry's ownership. Remember, he often said that he needed public tax money, etc. in order to fund a ballpark. However, when this whole Red Sox, Marlins, and Expos ownership change thing happened, in buying the Red Sox, Henry went and coughed up enough money to own the Marlins and build a stadium without any or little public funding. How many people remember that?

 

In related to this whole issue, I really agree that fans as a whole should not be blamed. I personally have issues with being blamed when I'm one of the few that actually goes to games without making excuses. There should at least be specific mentions to the fans that don't go, but I can't blame them either because I persoanlly know that it is difficult for may people to get out there, especially if you live south of West Flagler. Also, the media is definitely wrong in comparing the Marlins with the other local teams because the Marlins aren't in the same situations. The Dolphins have a rooted fan base and can basically do anything because they spent many years being the only attraction in town. However, their lack of playoff appearances the last couple years has affected their fan base too. As for the Heat; they have always been in the commute-friendly section of Miami over there in downtown. Throughout their team history, you can always get to their games without the use of your own transportation or dealing with all of the hassles involved. In worse-case scenarios, you're just a few bus transfers and a metrorail away. This just happens to take about the same amount of time to get their as driving when you consider the time in traffic and spent looking for parking downtown. It takes far less time for northbound drivers headed to watch a Marlins' game. So, the Heat has had it nice. So, I won't blame Marlins fans that don't go to the games for this reason either. I'm one that believes that you put a baseball stadium downtown, the Marlins organization can act as a lower-end big market team. You would draw an extended fan base from Coral Gables, Gables by the Sea, Miami Beach, and Kendall. Last I checked, these are the areas that have most of the financial means to support a team. The current situation does not favor the fan base in these areas. Especially when you consider that on most week nights and weekends, a large number of them are watching kids (their own and others) play sports at nearby recreational parks and high schools. If the commute to the Marlins were easier, alot of this fan base would be at the games along with these other activities. In closing, also consider that all of the activities on the Miami Beach are closer than the Marlins. They draw more than the Marlins. Just a thought.

I still trust what the FO is telling us.

 

You mean like how they gave Delgado their word he would not be traded back in September?