FYI, For the past week or so, Jamey has cleverly been formatting his updates to include a number of items equivalent to the number of games the Rangers need to win for a title. So this morning, it's still "One thing"  ....

 

With that new TV deal on the way reportedly set to give the Rangers at least 80m a year, Texas is going to be a serious force to be reckoned with. For all the love Friedman & Epstein get for building TB & BOS it seems Jon Daniels has flown a bit under the radar, but he has the organization in tremendous shape from top to bottom.

I never realized that this was now a Rangers fan site. Cards are gonna romp the North Texans tonight. I must say that the game last night was perhaps the most exciting game of baseball I have ever been witness to. Tonight won't even come close to matching that intensity.

Hear, hear!

Fan site?  Never.  What could be more Canadian than welcoming a Yankee/Ranger/Red enthusiast into the fold, with the usual BB multicultural grant?

Excuse me.   The TV Deal (using simple math - a calculator would help) gives the Rangers approximately $150.0 Million per year.   MLB generates: TV Network money. Internet Money, and other monies (not usually explained because MLB can't).   Texas, besides the TV Deal, generates: Ticket and Concession sales, Program, Souvenirs, etc.   This should be closer to $225.0 Million than it is to $80.0 Million.   Now, I understand there are bills to pay / depts to pay off, but even massive payouts gives Texas at least $125.0 Million for payroll.   Tell me where I went wrong.

The Rangers future does look bright. From poor to rich, and maybe even loaded with talent and a good GM.

The trade for Napoli was good, it benefited both clubs. Potential big bat for potential closer. This addressed a more crucial need for the Jays IMO.

This strike zone is going to mean a looooong night - nothing borderline is going to the pitchers. First team to 10 runs wins again? Or maybe first team to 10 pitchers?

This just in from North Texas - goodnight.

Sucks for Rangers fans.  ONE strike away.  Twice.

Well, safe to say that after what St Louis did these last three months that no one's going to be afraid to trade with Anthopoulos!

Magpie

I agree.   A.A. has a top class reputation of dealing good value for good value.  I can't wait to see what happens next.

The Napoli-Francisco trade was more like "potential big bat for potential extra draft pick in 2012."

The Rasmus deal worked out extremely well for the Cards. They get a WS, a good left-handed reliever in Rzep, and (potentially) draft picks for Jackson and Dotel.

Organizations that have a lot of talent should probably not over worry about getting the best of every deal.There are only 25 spots per major league team.If you can upgrade a key position like centerfield and you must overpay;then why not?? Money can get you more prospects and Rogers has money that's for sure .

I would imagine that after last night that Texas will become a larger player in the Darvish sweepstake and that Wilson's value took another hit .  With the proverbial 'experience gained' and the 'lessons learned', Texas with its deeper pockets and farm system has legitimized its position and passed the AL East top three to become, yet another, major obstacle for the Jays . 

An interesting question is why is the Rangers TV rights worth $80 mil a year. Texas as a whole state has just shy of 25 million people split among 2 teams. For comparison the Jays have a population just shy of 34 million all to themselves. Yes, the Mariners have some support out west, Tigers in southern Ontario and NY/Boston/etc. have some support all over but not the direct competition the Rangers have with the Astros (since the Expos left) plus Rogers owns the TV network that shows the games.

So what does this suggest? That the Jays rights are possibly worth more than $80 million a year to Rogers.

Of course, there are other factors. This is a 20 year deal and in 20 years $80 mil a year (US) could seem like a small rights fee. It doesn't officially start until 2014. However, up to $80 million could be paid to the team right away which sure would help if they want Darvish (big upfront rights fee needed).

One wonders just what the Jays are worth to Rogers. This is a team that, when winning, has shown the ability to draw a strong fan base coast-to-coast even with another franchise in Canada. The big crowds they got everywhere with the fan fest last winter suggests that even a mediocre team carries a lot of value.

Another factor - now the west has the Angels & Rangers as very big spenders, with the Mariners right there whenever they want to be and probably the Astros having the ability to go way up there too. Poor Oakland. Out east we have the Yankees and Red Sox of course, and Baltimore has shown the ability to spend before. In the central you get the White Sox and Tigers with big budgets (how can the Tigers be higher than the Jays?). That puts up to 9 teams in the AL plus the Jays able to go to the $125+ range easily. The remaining 5 (Tampa, Oakland, Minnesota, Cleveland, Kansas City) are in deep trouble as they'll have to be smart and lucky to get in vs these deep pockets, even if they expand the playoffs to 8 teams per league.

John N that is a good question. Revenues come from all sources, as we all know. So a total needs to be done for each team IMO.

Some teams may possess a factor that is unique to itself, that may be the NYY who can have fans every where, so they are drawing from non local sources. Some owners, again the NYY & a few others spend because they want/need a toy or something and it must win for them to be pleased, never mind the cost.

So IMO the NYY are still way ahead of the rest. Rogers is probably in it for financial reasons and so they will make calculations and forecasts before spending. MY opinion only.

Speaking of finances. Texas can bring back almost all of their players & coaches and do a realistic budget now if not done already. Assuming 2011 was profitable, with all the playoff games it should have been, then the 2012 budget should be acceptable. I am not sure how much extra $ winning the WS would have put into their pocket, I can only think of WS Champ souvenirs revenue. A simple, cheap "Third time the Charm" promotion should work for this team. Every thing looks good except IMO there is too much competition for them to be lucky a 3rd time.

OFF TOPIC

Anyone still interested in reading more about our minor league guys should go to jaysprospects.com they continue to have new - good - postings almost every day - some days more than one posting. I'm really enjoying the prospect porn!

How much are the Jays TV rights worth? Now thats a great question and a better one is how much would they sell them for if they wanted to.(and they don't).Advertising on TV generally goes for just over 5000 dollars a minute.It can go for much higher for big or popular events.The average game probably gives you about an hours worth of ads.Between innings'prior to the game'after the game and during pitching changes.That comes out roughly to about a million dollars every 3 games or 55 million bucks a year with a couple of exhibition games and no playoff games added in.The Jays have a huge audience mostly over 500,000 per game so the rates may be higher.The yankees average about 328,000 and are at number 2.For rogers they have the added value of placing all this programming under canadian content. That makes owning the rights to the games invaluable to Rogers as it greatly increases their ability to expand their subscriber base;which is how they make money.How many subscribers besides me would cancel without the games on TV??There's also the cost of purchasing that extra programming if they had no baseball.I have no information on what they pay for prime time programming but i think i can find out.All in all I would guess that the value of Bluejays TV is about 80 -100 million per year;so I asked a person I know in marketing in toronto if they thought the Jays would sell their TV rights for this price. The answer was that in his opinion Rogers isn;t selling at any price and they they are very resolute in not negotiating with any other organization so maybe the numbers are conservative.Who knows???

MLBTR quoted Moreno saying the Angels would have a $130-140 mil payroll...and notes they are already committed to a projected ~$120

They don't look to have a lot of cash to throw around.

In 2009, CBC paid a rumored $3.6MM for 24 Jays games.

I remember, late in 2008, trying to work out how how much the Jays had to spend in 2009.   In my opinion, that figure, $3.6 MM ($150,000.00 per game), is correct.   I was trying to calculate the cost CBC would have to charge for a 15 second advertising slot.   Today, with longer commercial breaks, more advertising dollars to earn, each game should earn $500,000 - $1,000,000 (possibly $81 MM-$162 MM per year).   The trouble with Mega-Corps is, information is harder to obtain.   Bits and pieces surface from time to time, never enough, but it sometimes clarified things.

 

And with Rogers owning the stadium, the team, the networks, and also buying some of the advertising space during games, the number of games to play when evaluating the Blue Jays part of the operation is almost endless. Broadcast rights are almost certainly worth more to Rogers than to other bidders at this point. Rogers would lose the chance to constantly say their own name (in front of Sportsnet, Blue Jays baseball, the field name, etc.), and other broadcasters would probably avoid saying their name whenever possible. But how do you fairly value something no one else really wants (CBC can't, CTV and Global don't want programming that isn't a lucrative re-broadcast, TSN doesn't have room for it amid hockey and CFL in the fall)? The profitability of the Jays could be manipulated through the value of what Rogers pays itself for broadcast rights (in either direction).

I am not an insider when it comes to these figures .I get them from marketing people and i have to assume they're correct but i think most of us agree that the jays are not as poor as they make out to be .Many teams have big debts. and or large rental agreements with cities etc.. The jays own everything they use lock stock and barrel and deal in canadian funds which may turn out to be huge in the near future.

When it comes to profit, remember how Beeston proudly stated in the 70's that he could switch a million dollar profit into a million dollar loss and get every accountant to agree with him.

I think this is where the variable budget for the Jays comes from. Beeston and AA make a case that adding, say, Darvish will increase TV ratings in BC (and other areas) without needing any change in team record just due to the Asian influence thus adding $x to the value of that acquisition. Mix in the potential of adding 5 wins thus shifting the Jays back to the mid-80's and the strength otherwise that could push them to the low 90's by just adding him and you might have a winning argument - assuming Darvish is worth 5 wins over other options and that his presence would indeed jump viewership on the west coast.

The dollars that are fed from the Jays to Rogers can be fed the other way if it is shown that the Jays spending will lead to more $ overall for Rogers. If a $20-$30 million investment in Darvish (per year) could lead to $40-50 million overall for the company then they'll go for it.

I wonder if there is a way for the Jays and rogers to make money in Japan with a Darvish signing?