The big story – not just in Pittsburgh, but nationally – is that the Pirates and other Major League teams have had their financial books revealed by the Associated Press. Deadspin has scans of the books from the Pirates, Angels, Marlins and Rays here and the Mariners here.
To make a long story short: some fans see that the team made a profit and are angry about it. Presumably, they would rather see the business operate at a loss. Presumably, they don’t own businesses themselves. Presumably, they’d like the see their place of employment operate at a loss as well.
The more compelling story, however, is a question of whether or not the Pirates will EVER be able to raise payroll without thrusting themselves into debt. Tim at Pirates Prospects has a post up about that question, and I think he’s hit the nail on the head: assuming the Pirates are able to bring up a competitive group from the minor leagues like the Rays, Brewers and now the Reds have done, attendance will rise, leading to more profits and naturally more payroll flexibility.
At any rate, I’m not all that interested in the Pirates’ finances, but I know some fans are. The fact that ownership pulled in around $34.8 million over the past three years is of little concern to me, but there’s always that conspiracy theory subset of the fanbase that thinks that the Pirates took “The Producers” a little too seriously and are trying to make more money with a flop than with a hit. I doubt many minds will be changed on that front here, as it comes down to whether or not you believe the team when they say that $20 million of that profit was used to pay down debt and taxes, and that no monetary distributions were made to the ownership group.
