Make more weekends about kids at the ballpark and go all out to serve those families. Running around the bases on Sunday is great...but the process is horrible. It takes forever to stand in line for a 10 second experience. The ballpark experience for kids should be loose and fun! Tiktok dances, funny memes between at-bats, etc. Have fun!
Get your fans in seats - lower your beer prices. More theme days. More group packages.
Make Target Field a destination again. A fun place people want to spend their summers.
Hard pass my good man. Dog owners are already far too comfortable thinking everyone else wants their pet around. I enjoy my ballparks, grocery stores, planes, restaurants, department stores, etc to be pet-free.
This. Sure...44m in Tesla would have made a lot of money. It also had major risks. There is no risk with a pro sports franchise.
It's a fun way to guarantee value.
Ownership changes have tended to be different lately. People with enough money buy it as a guaranteed value asset that allows them to play and have fun.
I understand the caution. However, the Pohlads have set an exceptionally low bar. It would take a Herculian effort to be worse than them. Could it happen? Sure. But what's the difference? We go from sucky to suckier? Meh.
This could finally be non-sucky. For the first time in the lives of any Twins fan. Be optimistic, when else will you have that chance?
Good find, thank you! That does help the argument some, but I would still argue we're talking about one of baseball's most rabid fan bases. This move (which I've said is the right one) might build subscribers over time but I think it's going to be really ugly early on.
I hope I'm wrong.
Padres only had Padres.TV and national games. They did what the Twins are doing now.
They, by the way, are the biggest success. We don't know the Arizona or Colorado subscriber counts but it was likely far less than 40k because no one has dared report what the actual number is.
Also, the Rockies could make similar geographic arguments and household reach. Probably moreso than the Twins given the larger populations they expand out to in their region. It's quite possible the Rockies didn't even clear 10k.
Availability is great, but casual fans aren't going to pony up $20 a month when there are alternatives that cost zero. Not to the tune of 60k at least. You'll get your diehards and that will probaby be it.
Spotrac didnt cook the numbers. They used 1-30.
The simple truth is that the disparity in local media revenue is a major core of payroll disparities in baseball. It's is guaranteed money with massive differentials. It gets paid regardless of attendance or fan interest.
As I said...yes, the Pohalds are to blame for a lack of fan enthusiasm and gate/concession revenues. They've been choking the life out of the fandom for years but really put the finishing touches on last fall.
That can all be true AND the local media revenue issues can be a major problem long-term for the league.
It doesn't change the issue. MLB's local media revenues are a substantially greater piece than the other sports. You can nearly trace payroll differentials directly to local media contract differentials.
The revenue disparity between seats and media is 31% vs. 23%. However, that 23% for MLB is nearly double what the other four major sports account for in local media revenues.
Meaning....one of the biggest disparity points in baseball is local media revenue. Spin that any way you want, but in MLB those revenues are an enormous factor in payroll decisions. Yes, they should be putting more butts in the seat and I share your blame for the Pohlads on that. That doesn't change the issues within the larger context of the league.
I appreciate the thought behind this, but if the Twins are targeting talent I'd prefer it be somewhere other than OF.
I do like Alcantera though and people should be more open to the idea of flipping a bullpen arm for an every-day (possible) superstar player.
Save them? In the short term they are going to take a substantial hit financially. Substantial. This only perpetuates MLB's problem of the haves and have nots.
But it is step one to a larger war for the future of the sport. The question is if baseball is willing to have that war when the next CBA comes out or if they roll over and continue to blindly believe everything is fine. (Think: dog in the burning room kind of "everything is fine")
I cut cable/local a long time ago so I don't have personal experience, but I know the Phoenix Suns have resorted to that for basketball. I'm just not sure how that works with broadcasting deals. MLB is not notoriously flexible on this sort of thing.
I appreciate your optimism, but that is highly unlikely. $20 a month is more money than you pay for Disney Plus or Netflix for a fraction of the content. It also competes against the reality that pirating is free. Hardcore baseball fans will love it, but that's all you'll get. Casuals aren't dropping $20 a month.
The Padres getting 40K was considered a win. (Manfred has been reported saying as much) It's the most of any of the teams using that option and none of the other teams have been reported. (Guess why that is?)
Your numbers are almost certainly not going to happen.
My rankings of next to go:
1. Pederson
2. Sirianni
3. Stefanski
4. Dennis Allen
5. Antonio Pierce
Cannales in Carolina is a good offensive coordinator (like...one of the best in the league), I think he's safe for at least a year given the awful state of that roster.