I’ll admit that “The D-Back's Soul” is still a work in progress, but I wonder how much “soul” the Giants or the Yankess had in their fifth season of play?
As far as being debt-ridden is concerned, although Jerry Colangelo isn’t one of my favorite guys…I gotta admit he is one savy businessman. Yeah, they did loss a truck load of money last year, but Mr. C knows that a winning product will result in tons of merchandise sold, an increase in broadcast revenues, and a greater number of butts in the seats.
I can’t put my hands on the merchandising or broadcast numbers just now….but in regards to attendance, the D-Backs are fourth in all of baseball. (ONLY 33,402 less than the Giants).
Futhermore, contrast that with the “other” five year old team, The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, being third from the bottom at well under one million paid attendees.
1. The NY Yankees @ 2,502,343
2. Seattle @ 2,853,561
3. San Francisco @ 2,372,378
4. Arizona @ 2,338,976
28. Tampa Bay @ 852,071
One more point about the debt….yeah it’s true that Arizona was the 8th highest paid team ($85,500,000) in 2001, compared to San Francisco coming in 16th ($63,300,000)…..but a lot of good it did the highest paid team of both leagues, The New York Yankees ($112,600,000).
I'm probably jealous they never really struggled, before they bought their title.
To this, all I can say is "struggle" is a relative thing.
(Source for attendance and payroll numbers: espn.com)