Competitive Lottery 2014

[ScottyB]

Does anyone know something about who is eligible to take part in the competitive lottery? It seems to me that if St. Louis and Detroit are eligible, that the Twins could be eligible as well. Could we possibly get an additional choice in next year's draft, which looks stronger than this year's?

[nicksaviking]

The lottery is made up of a combination of the teams with the ten lowest revenues and the ten smallest markets. St. Louis believe it or not is one of the ten smallest markets while Detroit recieves revenue sharing due to playing in the financial sinkhole which is Detroit Michgan.

 

So yes, the two teams I wish the Twins would most strive to emulate are supposedly in a worse financial situation than the Twins.

 

Not surprisingly Detroit's owner paid for 66% of his stadium while the St. Louis ownership paid for 87% of theirs. The Pohlad's paid for 33% of the costs for thier park. And it was more expensive.

[James]

The picks are awarded based on a lottery system for the 10 teams with the lowest revenue and the 10 smallest markets. St. Louis fits in to the 10 smallest markets (surprisingly).

 

The second round is chosen from any of the teams that didn't get a pick in the first round, and any team that received money from revenue sharing. Detroit got money from revenue sharing, so that's why they were able to be picked.

 

The Twins are definitely not in one of the smallest markets, and will not pay into revenue sharing, so those two ways of getting a pick are out of the mix. The only way the Twins will get a chance at one next year is if they continue to play poorly and people stop going to games. If all numbers stayed constant from last year, they'd have to have about $15MM less in revenue to get into that bottom 10 revenues.

 

Even after being eligible, there is no guarantee the team will get a pick. The odds are based off of the winning percentage from the previous year.

 

Overall, I would say that unless people stop going to games completely, the Twins are probably not going to get one of those picks.

[James]

The lottery is made up of a combination of the teams with the ten lowest revenues and the ten smallest markets. St. Louis believe it or not is one of the ten smallest markets while Detroit recieves revenue sharing due to playing in the financial sinkhole which is Detroit Michgan.

 

So yes, the two teams I wish the Twins would most strive to emulate are supposedly in a worse financial situation than the Twins.

 

Not surprisingly Detroit's owner paid for 66% of his stadium while the St. Louis ownership paid for 87% of theirs. The Pohlad's paid for 33% of the costs for thier park. And it was more expensive.

St. Louis is not a bottom 10 revenue club. They are, however, in the bottom 10 for market size.

[nicksaviking]

St. Louis is not a bottom 10 revenue club. They are, however, in the bottom 10 for market size.

 

I'm sure you just mis-read my post but my unstable ego forces me to defend myself by pointing out that I said the same thing.

[James]

I'm sure you just mis-read my post but my unstable ego forces me to defend myself by pointing out that I said the same thing.

That you did, sir. My apologies.

 

Note to self: Finally learn how to read.

[ScottyB]

Thank you all for your comments - looked it up, Twins are the 11th smallest market (of course). I guess we could hope that San Diego rises by 216,500. Greater San Diego population (as of 2009) 3,053,793; Twin Cities 3,269,814.

[fairweather]

Scotty doesn't know

[amjgt]

Metro area isn't that great of a metric for determining market size. I mean its ok, but what really matters is TV and radio watcher/listeners. In those cases I would guess that Detroit kills us because they draw from the entire state of Michigan (almost 2x the population of MN).

 

 

All his thread does is make me depressed about something that Detroits ownership apparently sees that MN ownership does not. (Sad face)

[SweetOne69]

All his thread does is make me depressed about something that Detroits ownership apparently sees that MN ownership does not. (Sad face)

 

First Detroit is operating in the red (i.e. they are losing money on an annual basis). The difference is the Illitch is desperate to have the Tigers win the WS before he dies. With all of the championships that he as won with the Red Wings, he is ashamed that he hasn't won with the Tigers and is spending all that he can in order to buy a championship. It hasn't worked yet.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Metro area isn't that great of a metric for determining market size. I mean its ok, but what really matters is TV and radio watcher/listeners. In those cases I would guess that Detroit kills us because they draw from the entire state of Michigan (almost 2x the population of MN).

 

You're forgetting that most of Michigan has neither TV nor radios.

 

Except for this guy.

 

[Mike Sixel]

First Detroit is operating in the red (i.e. they are losing money on an annual basis). The difference is the Illitch is desperate to have the Tigers win the WS before he dies. With all of the championships that he as won with the Red Wings, he is ashamed that he hasn't won with the Tigers and is spending all that he can in order to buy a championship. It hasn't worked yet.

 

True, but they've been close, only because of the money he has spent. Bad luck, whatever, but they've been close, and only because of the money.

[gunnarthor]

Scotty doesn't know

I was gonna link that song but thought, maybe it's not appropriate.

[amjgt]

First Detroit is operating in the red (i.e. they are losing money on an annual basis). The difference is the Illitch is desperate to have the Tigers win the WS before he dies. With all of the championships that he as won with the Red Wings, he is ashamed that he hasn't won with the Tigers and is spending all that he can in order to buy a championship. It hasn't worked yet.

Sounds like the thing they have figured out is that owning a sports franchise isn't all about operating in the black every year. I am sure there are many teams that operate in the red every year but still come out hust fine because the value of their business has gone up 5-10x since they purchased it. They owe the community that supports their 9-figure business and builds them stadiums on the taxpayers dime.

[mikecgrimes]

Does MLB know how close St. Paul is to Wisconsin? Thats Brewers territory!!! Who agreed to this deal anyways?

[gunnarthor]

Sounds like the thing they have figured out is that owning a sports franchise isn't all about operating in the black every year. I am sure there are many teams that operate in the red every year but still come out hust fine because the value of their business has gone up 5-10x since they purchased it. They owe the community that supports their 9-figure business and builds them stadiums on the taxpayers dime.

 

I agree. Carl Pohlad didn't. Guess whose opinion mattered more?

[ScottyB]

As of 2012 SD is a larger metro area (so Twins are 10th smallest), however the Twins are the 11th smallest TV market. So I'm not sure which they go by.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I would hope that something changes here a bit. Seems kind of odd that one of the worst teams in baseball the last 2 seasons (and going on 3 seasons) wouldn't be eligible for the competitive balance lottery. I get market size up to a point, but when the day ends, the teams with the least amount of wins need the most amount of help.

[Mr. Brooks]

I would hope that something changes here a bit. Seems kind of odd that one of the worst teams in baseball the last 2 seasons (and going on 3 seasons) wouldn't be eligible for the competitive balance lottery. I get market size up to a point, but when the day ends, the teams with the least amount of wins need the most amount of help.

 

IMO it's hard to make that argument when you deliberately leave $30 million of payroll off the table.

[kab21]

I would hope that something changes here a bit. Seems kind of odd that one of the worst teams in baseball the last 2 seasons (and going on 3 seasons) wouldn't be eligible for the competitive balance lottery. I get market size up to a point, but when the day ends, the teams with the least amount of wins need the most amount of help.

 

The draft is setup to help the worst teams as it is. The Twins are getting the #4 pick in each rd and they are getting substantially higher int'l FA bonus money. These extra picks are for permanently low revenue teams (market share) and fluctuating low yearly revenue teams. The benefit of getting a high pick is significantly better than either of these bonuses.