Something to reference while watching half a dozen former Rays get World Series rings. Cheap owners lose talent to owners willing to invest in their teams.

8 comments

  3. Absolutely. Some owners are chasing championships, others are chasing a good deal (and lining their own pockets along the way)… hopefully, the new guys are interested in winning.

  4. Stu doesn’t need me to defend him, but I’m tired of seeing financially illiterate people repeat these incorrect talking points.

    * Stu owned 48% of the team. He didn’t even have full control of the team

    * Stu’s net worth is almost entirely in the team itself. What money do you expect him to use to further improve the team?

    * it seems like the sweet spot for teams, including the Dodgers, is about $200M between revenue and payroll. That covers all other expenses. I would guess that much less than that and you operate at a deficit.

  6. This has always been my issue — percentage of revenue that gets put into payroll. Look at Arizona and San Diego. TB is a bigger market than both.

    I’m willing to caveat that any owner (Stu or new guy) needs to have a new stadium before we can Hope/expect a significant boost in payrolll.

    I’m also willing to acknowledge that no one knows the actual revenues of these teams because they are private companies. So these are estimates that are typical challenged by owners. But we can ballpark the Rays revenues and we know their payroll (not all organizational expenses tho), and it leaves a lot to be desired.

    I’m hopeful the new guy can announce a new stadium in Tampa and put some shovels in the dirt before 2027 so that we can hope for a better payroll by 2030. We’ve been at the bottom for way too long.

  7. Unfortunately it’s more complicated than the simple numbers. I wish the rays would spend 300+ a year but look at the numbers, the math doesn’t work out.

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