Farmer Ted

Fortune says the MFYs are laughing all the way to the MLB bank. The Yankees' stadium windfall It's costing the team $800 million to build a new stadium, but it's going to be a gold mine. By Jon Birger and Tim Arango, Fortune NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Talk about the rich getting richer. Already the most valuable team in baseball, the New York Yankees will tap a whole new revenue gold mine when the team's new stadium opens in 2009. To be sure, its $1.2 billion price tag is enormous - about $400 million more than the one the crosstown Mets are now building in Queens. The Yankees are footing the entire $800 million cost of construction. (New York State and New York City are kicking in the remaining $400 million in the form of land acquisition, infrastructure improvements, and tax breaks.) Yet as expensive as the new stadium will be, nearly everyone we interviewed believes it will dramatically improve the Yankees' value, should the team be sold. "The cash flows coming out of the new building as compared with the old one are going to be ridiculous," says one Yankees source. How ridiculous? A window opened into the normally secretive world of Yankees finance last year when, in conjunction with New York City's Industrial Development Agency, the team sold $940 million in tax-exempt municipal bonds to finance the stadium's construction. The bond prospectus provides a rare if partial look at the Yankees' stadium revenues. From 1997 to 2005, growth in stadium revenue far outpaced the rise in attendance. Annual attendance rose 58 percent, from 2.6 million to 4.1 million, whereas ticket and luxury-suite revenue soared 202 percent, from $52 million in 1997 to $157 million in 2005. The new stadium will boast more than three times as many luxury boxes as the old, and as a result, ticket-and-suite revenues are projected to soar to $253 million when the new ballpark opens in 2009. They will probably be much higher. The $253 million figure in the prospectus assumes attendance in 2009 of 3.4 million, which is the equivalent of 79 percent of the new stadium's 53,000-person capacity over 81 regular-season home games. Given that the Yankees sold 90 percent of their tickets last year, 88 percent in 2005, and are on pace for another 90 percent showing in 2007, it's hard to imagine ticket sales sagging when the new stadium opens. And the ticket-and-suite figures don't include two other sources of stadium revenue - concessions and sponsorships - that Yankees president Randy Levine expects will get a boost from the new ballpark. The Yankees' current concessionaire, Centerplate Inc., obtained 9.6 percent of its 2006 sales - the equivalent of $62 million - from its contract with the Yankees, according to SEC filings. Hal Steinbrenner, George Steinbrenner's youngest who appears to have stepped in as his father's chief lieutenant, tells Fortune that the Yankees are considering handling concessions on their own in the new stadium. Were the Yankees to go that route, the team could conceivably net $30 million annually on gross concession sales of $100 million, estimates former Yankees marketing director Joseph Perello. As for sponsorships, Levine says the Yankees are not planning to sell traditional naming rights: "It's going to be called Yankee Stadium." Nevertheless, according to the bond prospectus, the team's lease with New York City (which will own the new stadium) stipulates that the Yankees keep "all cash and receivables" related to "naming rights" and "advertising" and specifically raises the possibility of the Yankees' selling naming rights "for parts of the stadium." In other words, fans may enter a building called Yankee Stadium but find themselves sitting in the Bank of America bleachers or purchasing snacks at the Pfizer food court. Perello, now a sports consultant, thinks the Yanks could collect $50 million to $75 million a year in sponsorship dough this way. What will New York taxpayers get in return for all their Yankee largesse? Very little - unless you're a local pol with a hankering for hardball. The Yankees will pay a mere $10 a year in rent in the new ballpark, down from about $10 million in the old one. No, we didn't leave off some zeros; it's typical of the sweetheart deals cities make to keep teams in town. And this one comes with a cherry-on-top kicker: According to the prospectus, city officials get their own luxury box "for all regular-season team home games." Of course, the Yankees are responsible for $51 million a year in debt service. Yet even that expense comes with a silver lining: It will help reduce the Yankees' revenue-sharing obligations. Baseball's 2002 collective-bargaining agreement permits teams to deduct stadium debt service and construction costs when calculating revenue sharing. Bottom line? Baseball's 29 other teams will effectively bear a third of the cost of the Yankees' new ballpark. "It's a classic tax shelter," one baseball insider says. "Not only do you get the benefit of added revenues, but you get a major revenue-sharing deduction as well."

The Mrs. the other day..."What happened to that dolphin face guy. What's his name?" Well, he ain't playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgfSzuFD8rw

Feel free to rant. http://www.firejoemorgan.com/

A friend forwarded this to me today (needless to say, a Bonds hater). This is crazy shit. EXCLUSIVE: Barry Bonds' Home Run Record Tainted by Mechanical Device? By Michael Witte Published: August 06, 2007 10:45 AM NEW YORK (Commentary) Beyond his alleged steroid use, Barry Bonds is guilty of the use of something that confers extraordinarily unfair mechanical advantage: the �armor� that he wears on his right elbow. Amid the press frenzy over Bonds� unnatural bulk, the true role of the object on his right arm has simply gone unnoticed. This is unfortunate, because by my estimate, Bonds� front arm �armor� may have contributed no fewer than 75 to 100 home runs to his already steroid-questionable total. Bonds tied Henry Aaron�s home run record of 755 on Saturday night and will go for the new standard this week back at home in San Francisco. As a student of baseball � and currently a mechanics consultant to a major league baseball team -- I believe I have insight into the Bonds "achievement." I have studied his swing countless times on video and examined the mechanical gear closely through photographs. For years, sportswriters remarked that his massive "protective" gear � unequaled in all of baseball -- permits Bonds to lean over the plate without fear of being hit by a pitch. Thus situated, Bonds can handle the outside pitch (where most pitchers live) unusually well. This is unfair advantage enough, but no longer controversial. However, it is only one of at least seven (largely unexplored) advantages conferred by the apparatus. The other six: 1) The apparatus is hinged at the elbow. It is a literal "hitting machine" that allows Bonds to release his front arm on the same plane during every swing. It largely accounts for the seemingly magical consistency of every Bonds stroke. 2) The apparatus locks at the elbow when the lead arm is fully elongated because of a small flap at the top of the bottom section that fits into a groove in the bottom of the top section. The locked arm forms a rigid front arm fulcrum that allows extraordinary, maximally efficient explosion of the levers of Bonds' wrists. Bonds hands are quicker than those of average hitters because of his mechanical "assistant." 3) When Bonds swings, the weight of the apparatus helps to seal his inner upper arm to his torso at impact. Thus "connected," he automatically hits the ball with the weight of his entire body - not just his arms - as average hitters ("extending") tend to do. 4) Bonds has performed less well in Home Run Derbies than one might expect because he has no excuse to wear a "protector" facing a batting practice pitcher. As he tires, his front arm elbow tends to lift and he swings under the ball, producing towering pop flies or topspin liners that stay in the park. When the apparatus is worn, its weight keeps his elbow down and he drives the ball with backspin. 5) Bonds enjoys quicker access to the inside pitch than average hitters because his "assistant" - counter-intuitively - allows him to turn more rapidly. Everyone understands that skaters accelerate their spins by pulling their arms into their torsos, closer to their axes of rotation. When Bonds is confronted with an inside pitch, he spins like a skater because his upper front arm is "assistant"-sealed tightly against the side of his chest. 6) At impact, Bonds has additional mass (the weight of his "assistant") not available to the average hitter. The combined weight of "assistant" and bat is probably equal to the weight of the lumber wielded by Babe Ruth but with more manageable weight distribution. At the moment, Bonds' apparatus enjoys "grandfathered" status. Similar devices are presently denied to average major leaguers, who must present evidence of injury before receiving an exemption. Bonds has worn some sort of front arm protection since 1992. In '94, a one-piece forearm guard was replaced by a jointed, two piece elbow model. In �95 it got bigger and a small "cap" on the elbow was replaced by a "flap" that overlapped the upper piece and locked the two pieces together when the arm was elongated. In '96, the "apparatus" grew even larger and so did the "flap." It seems to have remained relatively the same until -- interestingly� 2001, the year of his record 73 home runs, when an advanced model appeared made (apparently) of a new material. It had softer edges and a groove for the flap to slip into automatically at full arm elongation. More important, the upper half of the machine was sculpted to conform more comfortably to the contours of Bonds' upper arm. Since 2001, the apparatus seems to have remained relatively unchanged. Several years back, baseball was rightfully scandalized by the revelation that Sammy Sosa had "corked" his bat. The advantages conferred by the Bonds "hitting machine," however, far exceed anything supplied by cork. Ultimately, it appears the Bonds "achievement� must be regarded as partly the product of �double duplicity" -- steroidal and mechanical. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Witte (gmitchell@editorandpublisher.com) is a well-known illustrator whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Time, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal and dozens of other publications. The New Yorker recently wrote a piece about him and his study of mechanics. He appeared on network TV coverage of the 2003 World Series, providing cartoon sketches of some of the action.

Chalk up Zambrano's 7 BBs to nervousness as he was auditioning for a possible suitor for '08 and beyond. Great win, I think I heard Gary mention that the Mets have won 75 percent of their first games in each series this season (or something to that effect).

He got angry. Delgado with 4 walks on the day.

Peral Jam...still in business? Where the hell have I been? The Mets will be the visiting team at Wrigley, residing in the FIRST BASE dugouts. In my book, that dugout is for the home team. And probably the real reason that franchise is cursed out its arse.

And, as noted in a thread months and months ago, his graddaughter is on a full tuition scholarship at UNC. Congrats on earning it honey, but couldn't you help out a student with real need? [jumping off soap box]

I'm a Sun-Times man myself, with the today's masthead noting a "Sizzler" is in store for the game. Today: Sunny; very warm, less humid H:90�F Saturday: Partial sunshine H:82�F Sunday: A thunderstorm in the morning H:88�FL:70�F

Konerko and Dye go yard, 13-9 good guys in the 8th.

I was watching the game last night on TV and the Mrs. chimes in, "Cory Hart, NOT good looking". So I watch this mutha some more and I KNOW he looks like someboby. It just clicked. A slimmed down and cleaned-up Randall "Tex" Cobb.

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The New York Yankees' cable network, the YES Network, is for sale, Fortune has learned. And some baseball insiders and Yankees limited partners are wondering whether the team itself might be next. The highest-rated regional sports network in the country and the cable home of the Yankees and the NBA New Jersey Nets, YES is jointly owned by the Yankees, investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co., and former Nets owner Ray Chambers. Goldman and Chambers would like to cash out, YES and Yankees insiders say, and one source says to expect a deal by summer's end. Some possible bidders: Cablevision, Comcast, News Corp., and Verizon. Publicly, Yankees and YES officials are noncommittal. "Absolutely not," Yankees president Randy Levine replies when asked whether YES is for sale - though not before acknowledging some "testing of the market." Gerry Cardinale, a Goldman managing director and YES board member, is more forthcoming, conceding that YES is in fact being shopped. "We're testing the waters with a limited universe of quality buyers," says Cardinale. "We would consider selling only if we receive a full and fair price." And what might a "full and fair" price be? Try a cool $3 billion to $3.5 billion. At that price, one could argue that the true gem of the Yankees business empire isn't the team itself but YES. The team hasn't distributed profits to owners in about 10 years, two Yankees insiders say. (Responds Yanks chief operating officer Lonn Trost: "There have been distributions in the past and the expectation is there will be more in the future.) Meanwhile, YES brought in $340.5 million in revenue in 2006, up about 6 percent from the prior year, according to Kagan Media Research estimates. (YES doesn't release official financial data.) Kagan believes that 40 percent of that revenue - about $136 million - translated into cash flow. The cash flow, of course, is the key to YES's valuation. John Mansell, a prominent sports-industry analyst, notes that stakes in other regional sports networks have traded hands recently at 19 times cash flow. So if YES, which is the cable home of the Yankees and Nets, can grow its cash this year by 8 percent or more - as Mansell thinks it will - a $3 billion valuation seems well within reach. News of a possible YES sale comes at a crucial time for the Yankees. On the field, a team loaded with All-Stars and future Hall-of-Famers is struggling to keep pace with the American League East-leading Boston Red Sox. Off the field, an even weightier drama is playing out. George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' demanding, combustible, and usually larger-than-life principal owner, has been strangely silent. This silence is feeding rumors of the Boss's failing health. He also lost his well-regarded number two - son-in-law and Yankees Global Enterprises chairman Steve Swindal - in March when Jennifer Steinbrenner, Swindal's wife and George's daughter, filed for divorce. And the team is building a new $1.2 billion ballpark across the street from existing Yankee Stadium in the Bronx - a somewhat risky venture given skyrocketing construction costs, but one that comes with a potentially huge payoff. Details about the new stadium and its value to the Yankees will be examined further in the next issue of Fortune. Some highlights: The new stadium will add a minimum of $100 million annually in extra ticket-and-luxury box revenue. The rent the Yanks are paying New York City for the new stadium will drop to $10 a year (from $10 million a year for the old stadium). And the cherry-on-top: City officials get their own luxury box. With Swindal gone, George's youngest son appears to have stepped in as his father's chief lieutenant. An executive with another club tells Fortune that Harold "Hal" Steinbrenner, 38, was the Yankees' surprise representative at Major League Baseball's owners meeting in May - something which the Yankees confirm. Hal runs the family's hotel business, and associates describe him as bright, capable and driven - much like his father. "Hal is probably more like George than any of his other children," says one Yankees limited partner. "He's a very strong businessperson," adds John Swart, a Florida real estate developer who worked with Hal on a hotel project. "If Hal says he'll get something done, you know he will." In an interview with Fortune, the usually press-shy Hal is forthcoming to a point. He declines to put a label on his stepped-up role: "That's a decision for George." Nevertheless, he acknowledges that his Yankees responsibilities did expand significantly following Swindal's exit. "When he left, of course there was a void," he says. "Let there be no doubt that I will fill that void enthusiastically." Hal won't discuss his father's health, which is the subject of much speculation and little certainty. George Steinbrenner himself declined an interview through his spokesman. Yankees president Randy Levine says he talks to Steinbrenner "ten times a day" and insists the Boss is still making the important decisions. Daniel McCarthy, a Yankees limited partner and a long-time Steinbrenner friend, says Steinbrenner seemed "100 percent sharp" when he saw him in the spring. However, such assurances conflict with what other well-placed sources say - reluctantly - about the Boss's health. A baseball executive - someone who has seen Steinbrenner this year and talks with Yankees officials - describes him as "inconsistently lucid." A New York businessman who knows Steinbrenner reports "George is very sick." On the subject of a possible sale, Hal is emphatic. "There's no thought of selling the team," he says. "It's been in the family for 35 years, and it's going to stay that way." Indeed, selling YES could well be part of a long-term plan to keep the Yankees in the Steinbrenner family. The windfall from YES, of which the Yanks own 36 percent, would provide a cushion to pay off any future estate taxes as well as provide the money needed to sign expensive free agents, pay draft picks and otherwise run a business heavy on fixed costs. "The reason they're cashing out is in very large part so they'll have enough cash to continue to own the team," says one source. Even so, there remains speculation among the Yankees limited partners and other baseball insiders that Hal is simply echoing the wishes of an ailing father - that the Steinbrenners do not intend on keeping the team long term. The topic of a sale "comes up all the time" in conversations with the other partners, says Yanks minority owner Edward Rosenthal, a retired steel executive. Adds another Yankees limited partner: "If I were handicapping it, I think we're looking at a sale of the team within three or four years." Were the Yankees to be auctioned off, the price tag for the team alone (in other words, not including the Yanks' stake in YES) could easily soar past $1 billion, given the global reach of the Yankees brand, the benchmark that will be set by the upcoming sale of the Chicago Cubs (for a sum that could approach $1 billion), the untapped revenue sources (a Yankees hotel or restaurant chain?), and the fact that many if not most of Wall Street's heavy hitters are Yankees fans (or have children who are). "My golden retriever could sell the Yankees," jokes one sports banker. "It would be the greatest bidding war in the history of bidding wars." A banker with the firm helping to sell the Cubs - J.P. Morgan managing director Richard Walden - believes the Yankees would fetch "at least" $1.5 billion. "I actually think three years from now," says Walden, "that will look conservative."

I can only imagine what was happening yesterday about 5 pm in the clubhouse. Willie looking around the lockers, one arm in a harness, the other on his hip. A gazed look crosses his face as he thinks to himself, "Marlon Anderson. Marlon Freaking Anderson. We're playing the NL Central-leading Brewers, the team with the 3rd best record in the league, in 2 hours and I've got Marlon starting in CF for me. This is just great." Anderson gets my vote with the tie-breaker criteria being Ollie's dumb-ass throw into CF that would have prevented a 3-run explosion in the first.

Skates Green. Jeesh.

Former Mets top pick and minor league journeyman finds a new home in baseball. UNC Greensboro announced Wednesday the hiring of Chris Roberts as assistant baseball coach for the program. Roberts spent the last four seasons as the pitching coach at NC State. While with the Wolfpack, Roberts had eight pitchers drafted in Major League Baseball�s First-Year Player Draft, including first round pick Andrew Brackman last season. He coached two All-Americans at NC State and three first-team All-ACC pitchers. He made an immediate impact upon his arrival in Raleigh. In 2003, Roberts� first season with the Wolfpack, NC State logged a team ERA of 3.67 � the program�s best in 11 years. Roberts played his college baseball at Florida State, where he was a two-time All-American and played in the College World Series in 1991 and 1992. An outfielder and pitcher for the Seminoles, Roberts hit .321 as a sophomore and earned third-team All-American honors and Metro Conference Player of the Year with 14 home runs and 77 RBI. The following season, he was a second-team All-American with an 8-4 record as a pitcher and a 2.34 ERA to go along with 12 home runs and 59 RBI at the plate. Roberts, a graduate of Florida State with played for Team USA in the 1991 Pan Am Games and was the starting left fielder for the USA Olympic squad in 1992 in Barcelona. Roberts was selected by the New York Mets in the first round of the 1992 draft and played in the Mets organization from 1993-97. Roberts was regarded as a Top 10 prospect for the Mets and went 13-5 with a 2.75 ERA in his first season at Class-A St. Lucie, earning a spot in the Florida State League All-Star Game. He won 13 games again the following year at Class-AA Binghamton, helping the Mets to the Eastern League title. He later had one-year stints with Oakland (1998), Colorado (1999) and Milwaukee (2001), along with a season in the Japanese Pacific League (2000). He played on the Class-AAA level with New York, Oakland and Milwaukee before retiring from his playing career at the end of the 2001 season.

Where's our PSL correspondent? Get him on the horn. We need real time updates and photos.

I would have brought in Gagne to face the rightie. Glavine gives up a lead-off single to Miller in the 7th and Willie yanks him? I thought that was too early even looking back and seeing he was at 95 pitches.

The Mets have come up big in recent years with the no-name guy that produces down the stretch, see Timo Perez and Endy Chavez. I was hoping that Gotay would have more chances, moreso than Easley and Valentin.

The snooze's version: A Queens man who allegedly bludgeoned his mother to death with a barbell blamed the Mets for setting off his murderous rage, authorities said yesterday. Michael Anthony, 26, was frustrated with the Mets' 6-5 loss to the Washington Nationals in the second game of Saturday night's doubleheader when he started arguing with his father, according to a statement he gave police. Anthony told cops after his arrest for murdering Maria Fischman, 61, that he "was watching the Mets game and became enraged." "We started fighting and my mother jumped in," he said, adding that she took a knife from the kitchen of the Fresh Meadows home. "I took the knife from her and it got stuck in her head." Fischman then fled to the bedroom, where Anthony said he thought she was going for a weapon in a dresser drawer. "I grabbed a weight from the top of the dresser, swung it, hit her and she fell to the floor," Anthony said. He was arraigned on murder, weapons and assault charges, ordered held without bail and faces up to 25 years in prison.

"His favorite player growing up: Alfredo Griffin." Alfredo Griffin sold me a pair of sneakers. While toiling in the minor leagues in the 70s, Alfredo was playing for my hometown minor league team. He had a part-time job at a local sporting goods joint. Slapped a pair of adidas on my feet and thanked him very much. Should have gotten an autograph. But I digress. I'm in the Gotay corner. Play Ruben NOW!!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York man has been charged with beating his mother to death with a barbell after losing his temper while watching a baseball game on television. Michael Anthony, 25, was watching the New York Mets lose a game on Saturday from his home in the borough of Queens when he began furiously banging on the walls, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement on Monday. His father Fred Fischman shouted at him to stop, but Anthony punched him in the face and threw him to the ground, according to the criminal charges. When Anthony's mother, Maria Fischman, 61, tried to intervene, prosecutors said he stabbed her once in the head with a knife before chasing her into a bedroom where he struck her several times with the 20 pound (9 kilogram) barbell. "It is difficult to imagine a crime more heinous than that of a son viciously attacking his parents and, in the process, fatally beating his mother to death," Brown said. Anthony has been remanded in custody and faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted.

Travolta and Mork are filming a baseball movie and the Mets take center stage, supposedly. http://i.cnn.net/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0707/Caught.in.the.Act/images/9.jpg

I was thinking of Ambler. Ambler sightings anyone?

Whatever happended to our LA guy? He showed up at the picnic a few years back.