What can we as fans do to keep CC?

BrewCrew25 · September 29, 2008

So this is something I've been thinking about since I saw someone mention something about it in a previous post. Although it's not really possible for us to get a 0.1% sales tax passed by the government, there has to be some ways in which the fans of Milwaukee and the Brewers can in some way do our part to help this team retain CC while still keeping them from losing money. Just some general suggestions as to possibilities...

First off, I think since CC has been in Milwaukee, he kind of represents that kind of hard working, grind it out, type of workforce that we here in the Midwest are known for. I know that he obviously is in the prime of his career and it's a big risk to invest such a large portion of the team's salary into one player. But at the same time, the example of work ethic and the leadership along with the confidence he brings to the younger players on this team, can have kind of the "Reggie White" effect on our players in the future.

Baseball and Football obviously have very different business models in regards to payroll and revenue, but the Packers have built a successful team that is driven around community ownership and a non-profit organization. They have successfully sold stock in the team and turned the team into a marketing giant. Mark A has had some similar success with marketing his players and the Milwaukee Brewers brand in his short time here. And I think that we've all seen how much the Brewers fans can contribute just based on the attendance alone this season. Being ranked 9th in the MLB in attendance for one of the smallest markets really says something about the fan base.

So how can we accomplish raising more money to keep a player of CC's caliber in Milwaukee? Obviously he is going to get a HUGE raise and I think the fans specifically will need to contribute in some way, shape or form. The following are just a couple of ways that we can help raise the payroll enough to Keep CC on for 5-6 more years...

Stock ownership for the public - Not sure if there are legal issues with this given that Mark A and his ownership group actually own the team, but the way that the Packers have it set up is basically that the fans get a souvenir piece of paper and are invited to attend a yearly shareholder's meeting which is basically a "State of the Packers" address. For the Packers in 1997, it raised over $24 million. Spread that over 5-6 years and you're talking about $4-$5 million of the payroll that the fans are picking up.

Raise the seat cost at Miller Park - I realize this in an unfavorable option because then eventually it starts to price out certain fans and families from coming to the ballpark, but if you look at the math, it could be very beneficial to the payroll not just in the short term, but in the long term as well. The Brewers had 3,000,000 in attendance this year. Let's estimate that in a normal year Miller Park could bring in 2,700,000 fans. If you raise the price of tickets $3, that's another $8,100,000 for the payroll next year. Again, it wouldn't completely cover the cost CC's salary, but it eats up a large chunk of it.

CC Sa-back to Milwaukee Fundraiser - This would probably bring in the least amount of revenue, but I have to believe that with the marketing that the Brewers have had over recent years, they can do some kind of fundraising effort(s) to generate revenue for the team. They could adopt a similar model to the Minnesota Twins On Deck event where they charge a fee for Twins autographs of both current and former players. The Twins however do it for charity, but maybe they could put some kind of spin on it where charity gets a certain amount of it. Things like that maybe.

All of this is said under certain assumptions. 1) It can overcome the population of people that say no one person should be paid that much money for playing a sport when that money can be used elsewhere. 2) Mark A doesn't get all "Selig" on us and decide the Brewers are best suited just to turn him a profit on minimum investment. 3) The fans and community realize that there is a certain amount of investment that we need to make as a community to continually field the most competitive teams even though we are in a much smaller market. Let's face it, this team helps to put Milwaukee on the board and could in the long run, serve as a Miller or Harley type product where when they think of Milwaukee, they also think of the Brewers.

Sorry for the long post. I'm really just kind of thinking out loud here. I'm just looking for anyone's thoughts, ideas, or any ways that people can get their voice out to look into these types of things so we can keep Sabathia and, in the long run, maybe create a little more of a payroll to spend wisely and keep this team at or near the top!