Like most every person or business, all thirty MLB teams face tough questions during the time of COVID-19. Some are relatively similar for all ballclubs, but there are obviously quite a few unique issues — some more pressing than others.
Dealing with the implications of this pandemic is probably toughest for organizations that are in the midst of executing or planning major business initiatives. We’ll run down some of those here.
Angels: The team has been cooking up potentially massive plans to develop the area around Angel Stadium. Fortunately, nothing is really in process at the moment, but it stands to reason that the project could end up being reduced in scope and/or delayed.
Athletics: Oof. The A’s have done a ton of work to put a highly ambitious stadium plan in motion. Massive uncertainty of this type can’t help. It isn’t clear just yet how the effort will be impacted, but it seems reasonable to believe the organization is pondering some tough decisions.
Braves: Luckily for the Atlanta-area organization, the team’s new park and most of the surrounding development is already fully operational. But with the added earning capacity from retail operations in a ballpark village comes greater exposure to turmoil.
Cubs: Like the Braves, the Cubs have already done most of the work at and around their park, but were counting on big revenue to pay back what’s owed (and then some). Plus, the Cubbies have a new TV network to bring up to speed.
Diamondbacks: Vegas?! Vancouver?! Probably not, but the Snakes do want to find a new home somewhere in Arizona. That effort is sure to be dented. Plus, the team’s recent initiative to host non-baseball events at Chase Field will now go on hiatus.
Marlins: The new ownership group has had some good vibes going and hoped to convert some of the positivity into a healthy new TV deal. That critical negotiation will now take place in a brutal economic environment.
Mets: So … this is probably not an optimal moment to be selling your sports franchise. The Wilpon family is pressing ahead with an effort to strike a new deal after their prior one broke down (at the worst possible time).
Orioles: That bitter television rights fee dispute that just won’t stop … it’s not going to be easier to find a resolution with less cash coming through the door. It was already setting up to be a rough stretch for the Baltimore org, with past TV money due to the Nationals and more bills to come, even while going through brutally lean years on the playing field.
Rangers: The new park is now built. While taxpayers footed much of the bill, the club still has to pay back a $600MM loan. Suffice to say the Rangers (and municipal authorities) anticipated game day revenues of more than $0 in year one when they planned out the loan repayment method.
Rays: The club’s preferred Ybor City option flamed out and it is currently engaged in a somewhat confusing effort to split time between the Tampa Bay area and Montreal. Existing hurdles to that arrangement seem only to be taller in the age of the coronavirus.
Others: We may be missing some, but it seems most other organizations are engaged more in usual-course sorts of business initiatives rather than franchise-altering efforts. For instance, the Nats have an interest in that TV deal as well. The Red Sox have been working to redevelop areas around Fenway Park. The Blue Jays are dabbling in future plans. And the Dodgers have a new TV rights deal, though that came to fruition after the pandemic hit and may not be impacted any more than any other existing carriage arrangements.
pkennedy6
Add Padres to your list: bisnow.com/san-diego/news/mixed-use/san-diego-padr…
Rangers29
Ah yes, the ol’ build a new stadium and don’t pay for it… They pulled the ol’ switcheroo. I see what you did Texas lol.
wild bill tetley
Toronto is seeking a new convention centre. Blue Jays should sell the old Skydome to the city, turn it into the new convention centre and build a new stadium at Ontario Place.
bigboybambino
I’d rather not pay for it
wild bill tetley
They are already looking into moving the convention centre to Ontario Place, and right now Ontario Place is just sitting there. City will be paying for the centre anyway, use that money for the Blue Jays to fund their own Stadium. You will pay for it no matter what.
Stealing Signs
Can’t be done. The sale of the land to The Crown explicitly states that the land must be used as a sports stadium or a casino. The Crown doesn’t own the land underneath either. I’m all in on Ontario Place as the best location for a new stadium as well.
Rangers29
Question: How much would Nike pay to have the swoosh on top of all roofed/retractable roof stadium? Imagine a blimp going over The Trop during the world series, and it has a giant Nike swoosh on top of it lol.
RunDMC
It’s not unprecented as that’s exactly what Mercedes did with the Mercedes Benz Dome in ATL. A: $324M ($12M/yr)
Vizionaire
most angels fans probably want a new ballpark built but even if it doesn’t materialize still will be happy.
smrtbusnisman04a
The Pirates will be adversely affected by Social Distancing…. Bob Nutting relies on PNC Park being the ONLY reason fans come see the team but the virus will scare off 90% of the attendance (No matter how many home runs Josh Bell hits)
drasco036
I’d be willing to bet that there are some owners, Tom Ricketts being one of them, secretly hoping that the entire season is canceled.
As the article stated, the city of Chicago refused to help the Cubs organization out with updating their stadium and the renovations have been extremely expensive. At this point, baseball would not be able to play enough games in home city ballparks to come anywhere near offsetting the loss of ticket revenue and sales. For a team that has a payroll over 200 million dollars, that is devastating and I strongly doubt that the Cubs current TV deals, marketing and sponsorship is able to offset the 300 million or more in revenue they will lose by not having home games.
Furthermore, in regards to ALL owners, they know the CBA is coming up and this would give them the edge in negotiations (assuming the season is canceled). IMO, players would be more apt to cave vs. holding the “strike card” in their back pocket since they wouldn’t be able to go two seasons without getting paid.
I actually think this is why Manfred as drug his feet in regards to getting the season started.
Back to the Cubs, Epstein is praying to every known God and quite possibly satan as well to get the season started. He failed to get under the salary cap, loses another season of control over Bryant, Baez, Schwarber and Rizzo and the roster is not good enough to compete for a World Series title. If the season is canceled, no way will Tommy allow the Cubs to go into luxury tax territory again which means another lost season.
BlueSkyLA
The Dodgers were working on possibly the most significant upgrades in the history of the stadium this offseason. The plan included a new centerfield plaza between the pavilions, a major reconfiguration of the pavilion seating, and elevated concourses with escalators connecting all the levels, among other improvements. They were supposed to be ready for opening day. No word on whether the work was finished as planned, or if completion has been delayed.
rightyspecialist
whether or not LADs stadium upgrades are complete are irrelevant considering there will no fans at Dodger Stadium this year.
BlueSkyLA
The Great Carnac’s prediction is irrelevant. The article is about teams that have undertaken major businesses initiatives that have been impacted by the pandemic. The Dodger Stadium upgrade is definitely one of those.
Royalsfan12
Rays should just move to Montreal already (once a stadium is built of course). They made the playoffs and still have no fans.
Ejemp2006
Montreal Expos had the worst fan base in the history of professional sports. Plus it’s far away so players don’t want to play there. Plus there are extra psy roll tax concerns so players don’t want to play there.
Florisa should only have one team. Contract and consolidate. Done.
bigboybambino
I would suggest looking at a map and also looking at Tampa Bay Devil rays attendance records
adc6r
@Ejemp2006
Me thinks you are not familiar with the history of the Expos. While they weren’t Attendance leaders, they were not at the bottom of the attendance numbers until after the ’94 strike when Montreal fans went Eric Cartman on MLB and said
Skrew you guys I’m Going Home.
Baseball never regained those fans because of the ensuing treatment of the city… I.e. Stadium Blackmail
jdgoat
Montreal is closer to every AL East Team than Tampa lol what are you talking about. They’d be right about average for travel among teams.
metsie1
I attended several baseball games in Montreal during the 70s and 80s. I will say firsthand that it was the worst fan experience in baseball. Terrible stadium. It always felt empty with horrid site lines. The only way Montreal should get a second crack at baseball is if they somehow build a baseball only stadium. Preferably with a retractable roof because of early season weather. I get it you could say this about a lot of situations. Not likely to happen.
DarkSide830
i agree on the Florida thing, but only slightly on Montreal. I think Canada should have another team, and Montreal would probably work, but a western team (Vancouver?) might be better with connecting with fans.
MarlinsFanBase
I agree that Florida should only have one team. I felt that’s where MLB messed up. they expanded into Tampa to early after the Marlins were brought in. they should have allowed the Marlins to build a fan base first, then see if there was enough interest in North Florida to support a second MLB team before expanding there. It hurt both franchises.
adc6r
The Trop is a classic example of why the Bud Selig movement to force every city to build a new stadium [only a slight exaggeration] was and is a flawed plan. The obvious goal is to put more fans in the seats. A bright shiny new stadium is usually quite a draw… unless…
As with every plan it is the execution that determines success.From the start the Trop had issues about where to build, budget, and a series of design compromises that left the final product to be less than it should have been. That’s before you get to the oddities of the ground rules in this particular dome.
By comparison Seattle had no commercial or entertainment opportunities where they built and the first few years they had a beautiful park on an urban island. But that park aged better because the drawbacks were steadily addressed every year. The Trop on the other hand seemed to age poorly on physical level and had very little aesthetic charm aside from a circular shape.
Other comparison that would be appropriate are the Houston indoor park and target field where they said weather be danged and built a fully outdoor park despite the cold early and late season games..
The poor execution from start to finish in Tampa left the city needing a new park even before ground had bee broken on the old [current] park. As a Nats fan I want to see baseball return to Montreal. I remember how UI felt in ’71 when Shorty ran off with the Senators. But I also think Tampa Bay and the surrounding area should have a team… and a stadium worthy of MLB Baseball and the fans in Tampa
wild bill tetley
The stadium was built in 1990, a good 8 years before the Rays started. Unfortunately they never built that area of St Petes and it’s a complete disaster location for the baseball team.
You are completely off the mark when it comes to Montreal; they are far and away the worst, most careless fanbase in recent memory. Quebec cannot and should not fund a baseball stadium in Montreal where the cost of living is expensive. If Montreal wants another baseball team they should join the AA Eastern League and start a rivalry with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
MarlinsFanBase
Why does everyone bash Montreal, but conveniently forget that Jeffery Loria owned them before he owned the Marlins.
Does anything else need to be said about that?
adc6r
INRE Loria Remember that he was effectively an agent of MLB who wanted to contract the Expos but failed in court. Then came a series of fractured ownerships and the Loria debacle that grew out of his desire to acquire a high profile franchise (i.e. Red Sox). MLB told him you do this “favor” for us in Montreal and we will help you…
THe help Loria received ended up being a ticket to Florida
hOsEbEeLiOn
Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis, Portland, Charlotte would be on my list of moveable destinations. Memphis/Nashville as well.
Many places have decent mlb NBA fan bases the mlb doesn’t take advantage of.
TB RoHo
I think they should move the Royals to Montreal instead. You can drive to St Louis since you want to move teams so bad.
dynamite drop in monty
I had no idea it would be so much. I won’t pay it.
kylelohse
Well, we can just put this guy right back where he came from then.
dynamite drop in monty
I looked at the trap, Ray
DarkSide830
stop with this stadium absurdity. deal with the stadium you have. if you hate the place that much then dont buy tickets. stop holding up the league because of it.
adc6r
Actually I am Happy with Nats Park
thegreatbambi3
Cardinals need to pay off their stadium and complete/pay for Ball Park Village. Wonder if they made assumptions based off 3 Million being in attendance every year
troll
in a billion dollar industry. no parks should be built with taxpayer money.
unless voluntary, and discount tickets offered to said taxpayers.
adc6r
I think the best projects form the point of view of the owners and the Localities is a cooperative one that develops both the park and the surrounding infrastructure at the same time. The development of the waterfront at the same time as Camden yard was being constructed is a good example. It took a chunk of a bad area and made it a vibrant commercial/entertainment area.. Unfortunately niether party followed up on that and built out from there.
MWeller77
Economists disagree with you. E.g.,
“The overwhelming economic evidence is that ballparks do not generate sufficient economic development to warrant economic subsidies,” said Victor Matheson, professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
google.com/amp/s/amp.kansas.com/news/business/biz-…
Also, what happens to the people who live in that “bad area” in your example? Do they get any sort of support or benefit from the project? Do they get to participate in the “vibrant” new development? No, they get pushed out because the rent goes up.
Your model sounds good on the surface but it really only benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor. This is not what taxpayer money should do.
parkers
The entertainment industry will face tremendous hurdles going forward. If people choose fear over fun, then there will be an entirely new normal. Professional athletes will have their world shaken to the core. How will the industry deal with the loss of in park attendance revenue? How will they finance the recently built stadiums? How will they continue to pay out millions to the performers? As great as professional athletes are in their professions, the fact that they are able to receive tremendous renumeration is based on these sources of revenue. Could we be about to observe the explosion of a system that has made greed seem normal? Athletes that make millions not being content till they make even more. Unfortunately many people fail to appreciate their status till they no longer have it.
MWeller77
I agree that our system needs to change, but instead of wondering if people will “choose fear over fun,” I would reframe it: if we choose health and the well-being of our neighbors over selfishness. We don’t need to go to the movies every weekend to live fulfilling lives.
The Human Rain Delay
Yup their bubble will burst…..I almost like the idea of Max contracts that the Nba has now in lieu of the current climate-
And yes a whole new (free agency) market is going to be established to further your question
At that time the fans need to take the chill pill…..no 2019 owner collusion talks please….I cant handle another round of that hogwash but maybe since the Simps got hit in this round they will lay down arms when that time comes-
Worse off I think this benefits teams like the Dodgers and Yankees even more ….no Bueno for baseball and Im a Dodger fan as well
parkers
MWeller77
I was not trying to differentiate what fear or fun meant. I was trying to point out that we are facing new and unprecedented times which could change the entire landscape. How individual choices will have an enormous effect on how businesses operate.
The Human Rain Delay
The development around Angel Stadium will be a bunch of homeless tents in the next year or two along the wash basin-
Irvine CA (12 miles south) with help from the Irvine Company pay the Police to drop off their homeless right by Angel Stadium- With Irvine Co being the richest commercial property owner in the world and refusing to help its tenants at this time the problem will become leaps and bounds worse in the next couple years- Anaheim is literally used as a dump site for all the “upper class cities” (Newport Irvine etc) around here for a little local geopgraphy for those who dont know the area
* My wifes brother works for Irvine Pd