Anybody want to talk revenues?

by Eric in Madison on Nov 20, 2009 12:04 PM EST

Jayson Stark wrote an interesting article for ESPN about baseball revenue, sharing, and payroll. It renewed my curiosity about Twins revenue, so I thought I would open it up for discussion. Below the fold, I'll make some guesses, but what I really want is for people who know more than I do to chime in on this.

According to Stark, after mandatory reductions for pension and MLB operations, each team receives something over $30 million from the central fund--that's national TV, merchandising, etc.

Local TV and radio money obviously varies a ton, but no team makes less than $15 million, and obviously the big market teams make many times this amount. Here's my first question: what are the Twins local TV and radio contracts worth? I would conservatively assume it's at least $25 million.

Revenue sharing: Stark suggests that after the poorest 5 teams get theirs (Twins not in this group), there is still $200 million to distribute to other payees. Here's my second question: how much of that goes to the Twins? I really have no idea how this works.

Gate: here's the big one. With Target Field opening, and the Twins collecting more of the money spent, how much are we talking for 2010? Not including advertising signage, naming rights, etc,. just dollars collected from fans by the Twins? How much will each person who enters leave behind? Tickets, parking, concessions (Twins share)? It's not entirely clear how many of each priced seat there is in Target Field, but I can't imagine the average customer will get out for less than $30, and that is very, very conservative. You could make reasonable assumptions that push that number past $50. If they get to 3 million fans, that's at least $90 million.

How much for other revenue sources? In stadium advertising? What else? How much is Target paying for naming rights? $10 million total for this sort of revenue?

Basically, is there a way we can reasonably figure out how much the Twins will take in? It seems to me that the number is probably somewhere between $170 and $250 million, but first of all, that's based on a lot of guessing, and second, that's a pretty wide range. Any way we can narrow that down?

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If payroll is going to be around 90 to 95M,

then the team is probably expecting revenues of about 180M…

by diehardtwinsfan on Nov 20, 2009 1:37 PM EST reply actions

Yeah

but that’s doing it backwards. And I don’t believe one word any of these owners say, so the idea that payroll is a particular percentage of revenue…well, it could be true.

by Eric in Madison on Nov 20, 2009 1:48 PM EST up reply actions

Not me, numbers make my head spin,

However, this Rosenthal article while not really clarifying the muddy situation does shed more light on the overall financial situation: Boras-Manfred war of words an unsettling omen

by montanatwinsfan on Nov 20, 2009 2:15 PM EST reply actions

Another link of interest is this one from the AP:

Selig: Some teams lost money in ’09

by montanatwinsfan on Nov 20, 2009 2:32 PM EST up reply actions

Yes.....

You could say upwards of $200 million. The Twins, if they sell 3 million tickets, will be able to get more advertising revenue than ever for programs, yearbooks, signage, co-sponsorships and the ilk.

Expect to see most everything labeled.

Not sure the number of giveaways, but no need to use these ticket sellers if the tickets are already sold.

For those who can’t get tickets, the ad revenue might increase on radio and TV. If the Twins ahd managed to set up their own network a few years back, they would be making big bucks…but they needed a channel bae for that and a split with the cable companies.

And, if the team spent, say, $50 million on operations, there is no way they are spending $100 million on operations. So, they COULD spend more on payroll, depending on where that other $50 million would go…debt reduction, bonus salaries, draft picks, improve minor league facilities.

Plus, with the new stadium, the team is worth significantly more, they can borrow more than twice the money they could before against the worth of the team…mortgage themselves up to 75-80% I believe is the MLB cap. Would you tie up all your money in a baseball team if you had the ability to tie up someone elses?

Visit www.TwinsCards.com and check out "rosters" to see my collection!

by rosterman on Nov 20, 2009 2:20 PM EST reply actions

I can help.

I found this.

Twins Revenue By Season:

2000: $48 million
2001: $58 million
2002: $75 million
2003: $87 million
2004: $99 million
2005: $102 million
2006: $114 million
2007: $131 million
2008: $149 million
2009: $158 million

This is from Forbes as well.

by Jesse on Nov 20, 2009 2:49 PM EST reply actions