Mariners report $7.3 million loss in 2011

[TellItToTheDA]

But they spent $9 million on the Bullpen Market renovations and LED scoreboards...

http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120313&content_id=27244334&vkey=news_sea&c_id=sea


PEORIA, Ariz. -- For just the second time since Safeco Field opened, the Mariners reported a financial loss for a fiscal year with a $7.3 million deficit for 2011.

The figure was released in the team's annual report to the Washington State Major League Baseball Public Facilities District board, which owns and oversees the stadium for the state.

Rebecca Hale, the Mariners' director of public information, said the loss was expected, given the club's decline in attendance along with a $9 million capital investment in renovations to the Bullpen Market area and new LED scoreboards on the club-level façade.

The only other reported operating loss since Safeco Field opened in mid-1999 was a $4.5 million deficit in 2008. However, that year the "special calculation formula" used by the PFD to determine how soon the club will begin sharing profits from the stadium actually came out as a $1.9 million profit.

This past year, both the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) formula and the "special calculation" agreed upon by the club and PFD for profit-sharing purposes resulted in about the same figures. The GAAP calculation showed a $7,344,000 loss, while the "special calculation" came to a $7,356,000 loss.

Because of the profit-sharing provision in the team's 20-year lease with the PFD, the Mariners are required to provide an annual report of the team's financial performance. If the club reaches $200 million in profits before the lease expires in 2018, the team will share 10 percent of its annual profits with the PFD.

Using the special calculation agreed upon in the lease, the team had lowered the remaining balance on profit to $38 million last year, but that figure now grows back to $45 million. The original $200 million is the amount of money lost by the current ownership group from the time it purchased the franchise in 1995 until Safeco Field opened.

Since the current ownership group bought the franchise in 1992, there has never been a distribution to ownership in any year, even when there has been a profit.

The "special calculation" was reached by taking the GAAP net loss of $7,344,000, adding depreciation/amortization of $23,915,000, subtracting player signing bonuses of $14,369,000, subtracting non-ballpark capital expenditures of $495,000 and ballpark capital expenditures of $9,063,000.

That yields the special calculation of negative $7,356,000 for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31.

The Mariners' attendance last season was 1,898,936, an average of 23,419 per game, which is the lowest figure since the Safeco opened, while the team's player payroll increased slightly to just less than $100 million.

[Felix = Cy Young]

Great even more payroll loss

[Nateyb24]

Great even more payroll loss

Probably why we didn't see any big signings and traded for Montero.

[jwmann2]

Fans need to get to Safeco more often. The only remedy to spending and money problems is big attendances. Fact. How many consecutive games have the Phillies and Red Sox sold out?

[SeaTownJosh]

If the mariners start off good and have a .530+ winning record into june they should see 25,000 a game.

[Nateyb24]

Fans need to get to Safeco more often. The only remedy to spending and money problems is big attendances. Fact. How many consecutive games have the Phillies and Red Sox sold out?

You can't really compare those two teams to the Mariner's they have been winning besides Boston is a bigger market.

[JosephC]

Yes, Boston is a bigger market, but why is the question? The populations are almost the same, they are both on water, they have almost identical skylines. The only difference is one city has history, the other city has coffee. I don't see why Seattle cannot compete with Boston, but they never have been able to.

[flyboywhit]

Well the Red Sox fan base is more fanatical about their team. Plus you have fans who have been fans since they were born. Nobody older than 35 can say they have been lifelong mariner fans. But also, the Red Sox have also done a good job of not alienating their fans by putting out subpar talent year in and year out. I'm happy with where the Mariners are going in trying to go younger, but at the same time, the team has not done alot in terms of putting a quality product on the field. And until they do that, I don't think your going to see attendance going up. If we had a more active ownership who was more interested in winning than money, we would probably have more people coming to the games.

[Nateyb24]

Yes, Boston is a bigger market, but why is the question? The populations are almost the same, they are both on water, they have almost identical skylines. The only difference is one city has history, the other city has coffee. I don't see why Seattle cannot compete with Boston, but they never have been able to.

Pretty much what flyboywhit said if we were winning we would still be pulling in 30k+ a night we have been mediocre for the last 9 season's the new stadium has worn off on people.

[206HoopsFan]

Probably why we didn't see any big signings and traded for Montero.

Yeah but at the same time the only big name available was Fielder who was obviously going to cost a fortune. It's obvious that we're building from the ground up with prospects so I'm not really worried about free agents at the moment. Now, if the organization still isn't making those signings in 2-3 years we have a problem.

[clarknova]

Yeah but at the same time the only big name available was Fielder who was obviously going to cost a fortune.

Who the team also made a run at signing but found out that Fielder did not want to play here and that Boras was seeking $200M+. I would have loved Fielder for $160-180M, and apparently so would Jack, but it became clear that wasn't going to happen. They drew a line, but that's a pretty big contract they were prepared to give Fielder. But a combination of him not wanting to play here and Detroit spending all that cash, the Mariners would have had to overspend immensely and given him one of the biggest contracts in baseball history. 206HoopsFan is right, you don't spend just to spend. And beyond Fielder who wasn't happening, there weren't any game changers outside of Pujols, so you save your money. The free agent class looks terrible next year (unless you want pitching) especially with Votto off the board, but there are sign and trades and other options. I for one, am glad we didn't spend money on Willingham or any other second tier player that would be overpaid and NOT make us contenders. I like the Texas plan.

[Nateyb24]

Yeah but at the same time the only big name available was Fielder who was obviously going to cost a fortune. It's obvious that we're building from the ground up with prospects so I'm not really worried about free agents at the moment. Now, if the organization still isn't making those signings in 2-3 years we have a problem.

The ownership has been lowering pay roll over the last 3 season's i feel like our owner's treat this team more like a business then something that should be an enjoyment.


USA Today does an annual salary report of all the MLB teams and this year, as we've been telling you, sees the Mariners open the North American part of their schedule with a payroll of just under $82 million. The official tally of $81,978,100 is well below last year's opening figure of roughly $94 million, which included players who were no longer with the team.

That is no longer the case. And yet, the Mariners have opted not to replace the salaries of outgoing players like Carlos Silva, Yuniesky Betancourt, Jack Wilson and Jack Cust with anyone new at similar amounts.

Meanwhile, the top contenders in the AL West continue to grow their payrolls.

The Angels will open at $154,485,000 with Albert Pujols taking up only $12 million of that. Vernon Wells is the big ticket at $24 million plus and will need to produce this time.

As for the Rangers, they are at $120,510,974, which is a significant leap over last year, when they opened at $92 million. No, it is not easy to contain costs once you start to win.

Some of you won't care. Some of you will. But this is what's out there.

The Oakland Athletics open at $55,372,500 and are expected to provide exactly what the team owner there is paying for.

The Yankees once again lead all of MLB with a slimmed down $197,962,289.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2017919115_mariners_open_at_rough.html

I sure hope they don't give Felix the Randy Johnson treatment.

[206HoopsFan]

The ownership has been lowering pay roll over the last 3 season's i feel like our owner's treat this team more like a business then something that should be an enjoyment.



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2017919115_mariners_open_at_rough.html

I sure hope they don't give Felix the Randy Johnson treatment.


Yeah, I'm not here to defend our ownership, it just seems like they are willing to spend money when it "appears" that we are in a position to contend as evidenced by the big (and mostly awful) contracts Bevasi dished out in the mid-late 2000's. I don't think throwing money is what we should be doing at this point in time, we need to see what we have in the young guys. Like I said, if this is still going on in a few years I'll be upset but it doesn't seem like now is the time to be dishing out big contracts. I'll obviously be very upset if we don't retain Felix as well.

[Nateyb24]

Yeah, I'm not here to defend our ownership, it just seems like they are willing to spend money when it "appears" that we are in a position to contend as evidenced by the big (and mostly awful) contracts Bevasi dished out in the mid-late 2000's. I don't think throwing money is what we should be doing at this point in time, we need to see what we have in the young guys. Like I said, if this is still going on in a few years I'll be upset but it doesn't seem like now is the time to be dishing out big contracts. I'll obviously be very upset if we don't retain Felix as well.

How they ever hired Bavasi is beyond me just listening to him talk make's me cringe.

[206HoopsFan]

How they ever hired Bavasi is beyond me just listening to him talk make's me cringe.

Seriously. Aside from everyone involved in the Sonics fiasco I think Bevasi is my least favorite Seattle sports figure of the decade (maybe all time). Not only did he make AWFUL trades but when we had crap years and had a chance to draft someone good he passed up on future stars for duds (except Adam Jones who he flipped for Erik Bedard).

[SeaTownJosh]

Everytime i go to safeco im overcharged up the ass. Getting rally fries and a burger with a drink is near 15$. I expect prices to rise this season with the lack of revenue.