Dodger sale

[Valen]

Catfish Hunter earned 100,000 in 1974. 2 year deal worth total of 200,000.
An arbirtrator ruled procedural problems existed with the deal. My memory wants to say it revolved around the day they handed him the tender offer. It was late and when challenged an arbitrator voided the deal and making Catfish a free agent able to sign with anyone he wanted.

For 1975 yankees signed him to a deal worth 3.2M over 5 years. but it included a signing bonus of $1 mil which was a one time up front signing bonus. That million dollar payment is what got emphasized in medai. So technically his annual salary for the 5 years was not 1 mil. The media focused on the bonus and which he got first year and thus in my mind made him the first million dollar pitcher. Bottom line he received checks totalling roughly 1.5 mil in that 75 seasn.

But point no worth arguing with symantics and technicalitys. Limiting to money defined as salary and not complicating it with bonuses it would appear you are right Nolan was the first.

Nolan made a whopping salary os 200,000 his last year with the Angels when reserve clause was limiting salaries. Those old enough to be alive then should remember ownership claiming those salares were crippling them financially. Then the calandar pages was turned to 1980 and Angels trying to maintain the sham they could not afford more let Nolan walk and Astros signed Nolan to a 1.125 mil annually which included a prorated 250K bonus.

Overnight his value jumped more than 5 fold merely because he then had the right to negotiate and play wrere he wantd. Neither Angels nor Astros had to file bankruptcy over this.

[The Godfather]

[quote:05a6ed0eca="PotKettleBlack"]The relative value of the Cubs three years ago and the Dodgers this week is astonishing, even considering that the Cubs are cursed. Easier to get to Cubby-land, so less parking, fewer seats, so less ticket revenue, lower cost of living, so lower ticket, beer and everything revenue (in absolute terms, which are the only meaningful terms for the .1% and up), but more regular attendance, better ownership of the market, better fans (a lot fewer people in Wrigleyville who show up for the 3rd and leave after the stretch... epidemic in Chavez Ravine). So, you'd think the Cubs would be worth more than half of what the Dodgers are worth.[/quote:05a6ed0eca]

Everyone has pride in their own city's team (especially Strat players who are probably more fanatical than regular MLB fans) but I think views of having "better ownership of market" and "better fans" are kind of subjective. I think Dodger (and L.A. sports) fans in general get a bad rep for being only relatively supportive of their teams but I can tell you that's not the case. I won't argue who has the best fans because we all think we are; that's what makes us good fans. ;-)

But I can tell you that even the L.A. Kings get good fan support for having such an abysmal history (I can attest to that as a lifelong Kings fan). The Lakers fan support is pretty stellar and the Dodgers are ALWAYS in the top 3 in fan attendance and easily draw 3+ million fans whether they contend or not. It's an absolute fact. The only reason why that didn't happen last year was because the fans finally got smart and hurt McCourt directly in the wallet, but even then they still finished 11th overall (80,000 fans behind the Cubs for the entire season). That's about 1,000 fans/game difference. And that was [i:05a6ed0eca]with[/i:05a6ed0eca] a fan boycott. (Side note) something people outside of L.A. may not be aware of: the nightmare of trying to get in and out of Dodger Stadium. There really aren't many public transportation options to get a game (L.A. has TERRIBLE public transportation partly because we are so spread out). If people do get there late or leave early, it's normally on a weeknight. I can tell you when I worked in downtown L.A. (a stone's throw from the stadium) I would still get to the games late because of traffic/parking and there were nights where it actually took me over an hour [i:05a6ed0eca]just to get out of the parking lot[/i:05a6ed0eca] if I stayed until the end of the game. So it's not fan indifference, and I can assure you that no one leaves near the end of a close game, lol.

While I agree that the sale price was absolutely insane, I think this new ownership group is going to capitalize on the brand and the new TV deal to make the team relevant again. Even if they increased their total payroll by $30m per year, they would still only rank 5th or 6th in team payroll for MLB so I don't think there's going to be this astronomical amount of spending that people are anticipating. Their current team payroll is $1m more than the Twins and $22m less than the Giants. That tells you where all of the McCourt's, errrr, I mean the team's revenue was going (hint: not into the on-the-field product). They have a good base of young players who are still under team control, but definitely need to add pieces via free agency. An extra $20m could greatly improve this team and still have them behind the Giants in total payroll.

For those who are curious, you can look up attendance figures for different years and team payroll for different years via the links below. There are pulldown tabs on each page to change the year.

MLB Team Attendance Figures Per Year: http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2011

2012 Team Payroll Figures: http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/baseball/mlb/salaries/team

[Valen]

[quote:d20de60f10]If the Dodgers are woth $2Bil, what do you think the Yankees might be worth? Conversely, the Mets are still worth the price of season box seats. [/quote:d20de60f10]
For any Mets fans out there they are sitting 3-0. :D

As have Baltimore, Tampa, Detroit, and Arizona.

As per special request from my east coast friends not going to mention sox/yanks. :lol:

[PotKettleBlack]

MoFo's. I'm not going to suggest that LA Fans don't care, like a lot of east coast people do. But LA Fandom is different than Midwest or East Coast fandom. I know because I grew up in New York, did 5 years in LA after college, and have spent 5 years in St. Louis, before making Chicago my permanent home.

I will not argue the passion of Lakers fans. But you cannot be someone who attends Dodger games and not notice the number of late arrivals and early departures. And while that happens at Wrigley, it's not the mass exodus after the 7th Inning Stretch than it is at Dodger stadium. So, while attendance numbers are roughly equal, I think it's not an equal spread, as the Dodgers don't reap as full a benefit of their 3+Mil visitors as Wrigley does.

Another thing to consider: Wrigley: 41159 seats for baseball.
Dodger Stadium: 56000 (by law), the largest capacity stadium in MLB (with the shrinking of Yankee Stadium and the closing of Shea).
Even on your link: Cubs 90.5% utilization, Dodgers 64.7%.

So, Since Los Angeles (and associated non-LA holdings like Santa Monica), is ~2.5 times as big as Chicago... I would say the Cubs are doing a lot more to maximize return of the fandom, without even a glimmer of hope for the present.
http://deadspin.com/5899758/0-of-cubs-fans-polled-expect-their-team-to-make-the-playoffs

That's not to say anything about Dodger fans not bleeding Dodger blue. I know a lot, they do, though from Christmas to May it looks Laker Purple. Kings fans... that's a whole other discussion. As I look at the numbers, The Dodgers should be worth more than the Cubs. They don't have that losing tradition. They have a bigger stadium. They can do what they want, but they have to keep it <56001 seats, so there's tons of room for revenue improvement and attendance gains. Not so with the Cubs. If they put a winning team on, they maximize the last 9.5% of attendance. They can't mess with the park that much (landmark and all), they can't increase night games (It would be easier to alter the park given the local nonsense). Yeah, maybe the Cubs should be at ~50% of the dodger value.

[Valen]

Hey Pot since you have lived in both areas what about Mofo's contention transportation hurdles keep people from being able to get off work and arrive on time?

I tend to discount the opposite of having to leave early due to transportation. Once I am at a game I am there as long as there is any doubt as to the outcome. Will note that ballpark at Arlington does not have obvious public transportation to it. There is the DART bus service that might get you within walking distance. But the rail system does not come anywhere close as far as I am aware. It does go right by the AAC where the Mavericks play. But they do a great job of routing traffic so it is rare to have a lot of trouble getting out even with sellouts.

[Valen]

[quote:62e69d213d]I know because I grew up in New York, did 5 years in LA after college, and have spent 5 years in St. Louis, before making Chicago my permanent home. [/quote:62e69d213d]
If you could plan the best life plan for catching the best of baseball could you do any better than this?

[The Godfather]

I'm not saying that some Dodger fan don't leave early out of indifference to the rest of the game, but I think it gets overblown. On a scale of 1 to 10 (5 being the average MLB fan), I think it's probably a 6 while it gets described as a 8 1/2.

Additional note to the transportation issue: You can compare it to Staples Center since it's actually in downtown L.A. MUCH more easily accessible via public transportation. Part of that was because they knew they had to add capacity/planning for the Nokia Center and L.A. Live. I have to admit, I thought Staples Center was a terrible idea before it was built due to lack of parking but they do a great job managing multiple parking lots/directing post-game traffic surrounding the area and it's much easier to get out/get on the freeway. Dodger Stadium seems to try a different traffic plan every year but it always ends up with the entire parking lot trying to get out through two exits. DISASTER. From the final buzzer of a Lakers or Kings game, I can walk 2 blocks to my car and be on the freeway within 15 minutes. Staying until the final out of a Dodger game, it would take triple that amount of time to get to my car, get out of the parking lot and get to the freeway!

[Valen]

That does make one a little more understanding. I can think of a half dozen different ways I can escape the Ranger parking lots depending on which one I parked in.

[PotKettleBlack]

[quote:56c8e729e3="MoFo's of Mayhem"]Additional note to the transportation issue: You can compare it to Staples Center since it's actually in downtown L.A. MUCH more easily accessible via public transportation. Part of that was because they knew they had to add capacity/planning for the Nokia Center and L.A. Live. I have to admit, I thought Staples Center was a terrible idea before it was built due to lack of parking but they do a great job managing multiple parking lots/directing post-game traffic surrounding the area and it's much easier to get out/get on the freeway. Dodger Stadium seems to try a different traffic plan every year but it always ends up with the entire parking lot trying to get out through two exits. DISASTER. From the final buzzer of a Lakers or Kings game, I can walk 2 blocks to my car and be on the freeway within 15 minutes. Staying until the final out of a Dodger game, it would take triple that amount of time to get to my car, get out of the parking lot and get to the freeway![/quote:56c8e729e3]

Yeah, I remember that people thought Staples would be a disaster, but really, it's worked out great and should be a model for other big city development. And that's LA where there is light rail but not too many people use it.

In addition to previously mentioned stops, I stopped in DC for a couple years and saw a game or two at the new park (imho, Meh) and some time in Austin, which was some great college ball at Disch Falk.

[The Godfather]

Besides Dodger Stadium and Anaheim Stadium, I've only been able to attend a game at one other MLB stadium: Chase Field. It was a couple of years ago, I went to see a Dodger road game. I was very impressed by their park and the fans we sat with seemed pretty friendly even after they figured out we were out-of-towners (none of us wore Dodger gear). Years ago, I got to see the New Comiskey but it wasn't completed yet. It looked gigantic next to the old park. I bought a couple of tickets to the last game at Old Comiskey as a souvenir from the trip. I tried to make it to Wrigley too but it was a family trip and Dad overruled the teenager. Plus the rental car was in his name. ;-)