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Small markets can play the game
These teams just need to pick their spots when opportunity arrives, and some are showing Portland how it can be done
BY JOHN HUNT
The Oregonian
Sunday, July 16, 2006

Portland and Pittsburgh are a good match.

Portland is the 23rd-biggest television market in the country, Pittsburgh is 22nd. Portland has one major professional sports franchise, Pittsburgh has the other three.

But many in Pittsburgh would question whether the Pirates, with the worst record in baseball, qualify as major league.

Pittsburgh's staging of the All-Star Game last week was, by all measures, a success. Meanwhile, the Pirates, with a 31-60 record, are putting the finishing touches on their 14th consecutive losing season.

Are the Pirates' struggles merely symptomatic of small market baseball? Is the system to blame? And would a major league team in Portland be resigned to a similar fate?

According to commissioner Bud Selig and industry experts: No. Or at least, not entirely.

The system is working, with a few inequities, and although small market teams face an uphill battle, it's a hill that can be climbed -- just not as often.

"The system is not perfectly equal," said economist and author Andrew Zimbalist. "But what you want to have is a system that enables good teams to rise to the top on occasion, and I think the system is doing that now."

Baseball has become a game in which big-market teams can expect to contend nearly every year -- but with no certainty of winning the big prize -- and where small-market teams pick their spots.

The New York Yankees, who put almost $80 million into revenue sharing and luxury tax payments of nearly $30 million on top of that, often are the team to beat "on paper," but they haven't won a World Series since 2000.

Meanwhile, teams such as the Florida Marlins, who play in the 17th-largest market in the nation, can win it all in 2003, then trade away the high-priced players and make another run at it a few years down the road.

"(The Marlins) got the best prospects out of each and every one of those organizations," Florida All-Star second baseman Dan Uggla said. "Next thing you know, you sign a couple guys and you're ready to rock."

That is the blueprint the Detroit Tigers are following. The Tigers lost 119 games in 2003, signed free agents Ivan Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez and Kenny Rogers and now have the best record in baseball.

Then there is Cleveland, which won 68 games in 2003, 80 in 2004 and 93 last season. After being picked by many to win the American League Central this year, Cleveland is 181/2games behind Detroit.

"We've had a rude awakening of just how difficult this game can be, day to day," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said.

But other small-market clubs are improving. The Cincinnati Reds (No. 34 nationally in market size) and Selig's former club, the Milwaukee Brewers (No. 33) are playing .500 baseball, as are Colorado (No. 18) and San Diego (No. 26). The Minnesota Twins (No. 15) were 47-39 and baseball's hottest team at the break.

"(Small-market teams) should be able to be competitive," said Zimbalist, author of "In the Best Interests of Baseball? The Revolutionary Reign of Bud Selig." "Not as regularly, or not with as high a probability as a team like the Yankees or the Mets or the Red Sox, but they ought to be there.

"I'm not sure baseball wants a perfectly equal system. Ultimately, I think it's good for baseball to have some kings of the hill."

Back down the hill in Pittsburgh, a headline in a local paper last week on a review of the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, read, "More Bucs to Laugh At." In May, the Kansas City Royals (No. 31 in market size) were on pace to set a record for losses in a season; now, the Pirates are beating them in that category.

Selig awarded the city its second All-Star Game in 13 years in hopes of propping up the Pirates' season ticket base. The annual midseason event pumps about $50 million into the local host's economy, and the club itself is subsidized handsomely by Major League Baseball -- the Pirates get nearly $30 million of the $323 million revenue sharing pot this season.

"Baseball is sharing revenue, and lots of it," Selig said. "I want these clubs to see the money, who sent it and where it went -- every nickel."

That $30 million is enough to cover the Pirates' payroll increase this year (from $38.1 million to $46.7 million) with plenty left over.

But what are the Pirates doing with that leftover money? As a private company, it is not known for sure, but general partner Kevin McClatchy said the team is complying with its obligation to use revenue-sharing dollars to "improve performance on the field."

If this revenue sharing were in place in 1992, perhaps the Pirates' fortunes might have been different. That was Barry Bonds' last year in Pittsburgh before he left to sign a free agent contract with the San Francisco Giants.

The sentiment in Pittsburgh is that an ownership change is needed, that a deep-pocketed owner could reverse the team's fortunes. After all, the Pirates raised payroll by signing Joe Randa and Jeromy Burnitz -- not exactly Detroit's haul of Rodriguez, Ordonez and Rogers. But Selig scoffed at that idea.

"There is no such thing as a deep-pocketed owner," Selig said. "An owner can only do what his franchise can produce in revenue. He isn't spending his money; he's spending the market's money."

And when a deep-pocketed owner spends his money, there isn't always a happy ending, as Portland fans know well with Blazers owner Paul Allen.

"He thought it was going to be a success formula just by pouring money out," Zimbalist said of Allen. "That's not a sustainable behavior -- you need smart leadership."

Selig agreed.

"The management aspect of it is a different story," he said. "Branch Rickey was right: Luck is the residue of design."

And revenue is the residue of the design of PNC Park, an intimate ballpark with postcard views of the city and built for a bargain-basement price of $233 million in 2001. In some respects, PNC Park is a model for a ballpark in Portland, should it ever get a major league team.

"It's a good example of how to milk your city skyline for good views," said Portland architect John Vosmek of the Portland Baseball Group.

PNC Park, located just across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, is about a 10-minute walk from most of downtown -- about half the distance between downtown Portland and proposed eastside sites.

It's a jewel of a ballpark, but the Pirates still are 26th in the major leagues in attendance and haven't ranked above that since 2002.

It takes more than aesthetics to draw fans. And that is the plight of small markets: To be competitive, a team must look to the future and take advantage when that window opens. In many cases, such as in Cleveland this season, the window unexpectedly slams shut.

Portland would be in that same category, but Zimbalist is confident that it is a viable major league city -- assuming some political will, of course.

"If you took the Pittsburgh stadium and put it in Portland, then Portland would be a stronger market than Pittsburgh," Zimbalist said.

And, occasionally, strong enough for a winning team.

John Hunt: 503-294-7643; johnhunt@news.oregonian.com. To read his "Behind the Baseball Beat" blog, go to www.oregonlive.com/baseball/weblog/

We need to mirror the effort that put together the PNC Park (price tag seems too good to pass up).

What was their secrets?

BB

quote:

Originally posted by Big Boomer:
We need to mirror the effort that put together the PNC Park (price tag seems too good to pass up).

What was their secrets?

BB

quote:

And revenue is the residue of the design of PNC Park, an intimate ballpark with postcard views of the city and built for a bargain-basement price of $233 million in 2001. In some respects, PNC Park is a model for a ballpark in Portland, should it ever get a major league team.

Good inspiring article! PNC is a good comp.
The cost of land, labor and materials has gone sky high since 2001. It would be interesting to see what the cost of that stadium would be in todays dollars. That number would be a good target for us if it wasnt for the fact costs will be even higher years from now when Portland may be ready to build a stadium.

Yeah Roy, the cost of Steel is the one material that has been killing all estimates for new buildings, etc..

Another fifty million just for material costs and than inflation adds fifteen percent (5 years at three percent). We better get that stadium done fast and cheaply or we won't get it done.

BB

I would think that any stadium developed now would be in the $450 million range.

The conventional wisdom is that stadium costs will not spiral in the coming (2-3) years like they have in the past 5 years. Why?

1. Financing costs will level off as the Fed stops ratcheting up the prime interest rate;

2. Materials costs will still have upward pressure due to China, but suppliers are ramping up to meet the post-Katrina, current real estate boom demand, and also the real estate boom is expected to level off or decline. Increased supply, decreased demand.

The bigger issue to me is, and always will be, assembling the funding mechanisms, which is a combination of creative financing and political savvy. The latter is in short supply right now in PDX. The former is a work in process and is not anything that would be unique to Portland versus any other competing city (except maybe for selling development rights which are generally valued higher in the south and west).