Robinson Cano is the latest to join baseball's $20MM-man club, Doug Miller of MLB.com writes, noting that the list of players making an average of $20MM or more annually has swelled dramatically in recent years. "It goes to the fact that these teams are anticipating revenue from regional television networks, and the new cable agreements are an accelerant to the spending," David Carter of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute comments. "The owners feel as though they're going to get that money back." Here's more from around the majors:
- The Twins are up next in Yahoo Sports' rundown of each club's offseason. Jeff Passan argues that while Minnesota's additions to the rotation should help, Twins fans will spend much of 2014 waiting for the arrivals of heralded prospects like Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. Passan also likes the decision to move Joe Mauer to first base.
- Eduardo A. Encina of The Baltimore Sun lists five factors to monitor as the Orioles prepare to hold a four-day offseason minicamp next week.
- The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Rob Biertemfepfel spoke with Pirates reliever Duke Welker, who was traded to Minnesota in October but was flipped back to Pittsburgh 44 days later. Welker is expected to compete for one of the Pirates' bullpen spots this spring.
- Scott Boras believes the Phillies' new TV deal is worth about $200MM annually when factors such as the club's equity stake in the network are considered, Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Having an ownership stake in the entity allows a team to avoid exposure to revenue-sharing rules, according to Boras, who says the loophole "hurts other teams in the league from receiving the true payment."
- Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez had his appendix removed on Friday night in an emergency surgery. Troy Renck of The Denver Post reports that Gonzalez didn't undergo a standard appendectomy, and could require nearly two months to recover, instead of the usual four weeks. However, that should still allow the All-Star plenty of time to recover and prepare for Opening Day.
Wow, go Phillies. Its about time they made a out-of-the-box solution to increase revenues.
Winning is of course out of the question with RAJ at the helm.
Wait, so what’s the real number here. I’ve heard $65MM, now Boras is saying $200MM. Can someone who actually knows the numbers pipe in on this?
Not sure anyone knows the actual numbers. The $65 M that you’ve heard, is the estimate made by a different Philly writer, who tries to take inflation into account. It doesn’t appear that Boras is doing that. Plus, we don’t know (or at least I don’t think it’s been leaked yet) what percentage of ad revenue the Phillies got from CSN Philly, or if the Phillies ownership stake in CSN Philly is something they can “cash out” on at the end of each year. It’s really a floating number, which is why there are so many numbers floating around. The $65 M number is probably closer to accurate than Boras’ $200 M number – in terms of what the Phillies will actually have available to them when the deal starts.
My understanding is that the Phillies will be getting $100M when the deal starts in 2016 on an average annual value basis, so it actually starts lower and increases each year. The $65M figure I have heard is the difference between what they get now $35M and the $100M they will be getting, but maybe they start at $65M and go up. The ownership stake and ad sharing is in addition to these numbers and I don’t believe have been shared by anyone yet. Regardless, the Phillies will remain as one of the top spenders in the game for quite some time to come.
From a report, it says the Phillies yearly cash payment will start at a number below $100 M and increase by 3-4% every year (mostly to keep up with/stay a bit ahead of inflation). One of the things I read, claims that if they follow that guide, the Phillies would start 2016 by making $65 M (a year), break the $100 M barrier (a year) by 2029, and end up making $145 M (a year) in the final year of the contract. And then you still have to take a fair amount off of that because of revenue sharing. None of this actually takes in the equity share (because I don’t think there is a valuation on CSN Philly right now) or the ad revenue (mainly because that number hasn’t been leaked yet). On top of that, those two numbers are pretty fluid. If the Phillies play really well, and viewership on CSN Philly goes up, the money the Phillies will be getting goes up.
Maybe Boras was saying $200M after everything is factored in, but it’s also possible that CSN is that well off in Philly because there isn’t any other broadcast competition for local professional sports.
Or, Boras being Boras, he’s purposely inflating revenue figures to get more cash for his clients. It’s not like he hasn’t been known to exaggerate both the cash the owners have available and his clients’ worth to get better deals (which often works, by the way, so why would he stop?).
Buxton and Sano have invites to spring training. Twins will be a fun team to watch in Grapefruit League action!
Did the Mariners sign a future Hall of Fame player?