The reason this blueprint worked out for the Padres is they had a billionaire owner that treated the organization as entertainment, not a business. He didn't care about losing money or bad investments. They took massive swings that worked out (Machado, Snell, Tatis Jr) and massive swings that didn't work out (Matt Kemp, Eric Hosmer, Boegarts) - all of that builds trust in the fanbase and willingness to invest in attending the games.