Open Letter From Mark Attanasio

[brewcrewreview]

http://milwaukee.brewers....ource=ed-2113238-55426403

[Ennder]

Nice letter, I found the attendence statistics very interesting.

 

Brewers were the top-rated prime time show 44 times out of 80 nights this season. These ratings place us in the top-tier of all clubs, and the number of Internet pages viewed on brewers.com also place us eighth among MLB teams. Clearly, the Brewers transcended Wisconsin and garnered a significant amount of national interest

 

Now if only we had a better TV deal.

[Bring Back the Stein]

I'm grateful for the perspective that this provided. Kind of made me feel bad for all the kvetching I did about the little things during the season. I'm glad our owner gets the big picture. And what a killer way to finish the letter. I'm hoping for "third-in-my-lifetime" next year. God bless Mark. A.

 

(By the way, did Zell send an open letter to Cubs fans? "Hey, you bums: We're doubling beer costs since I can't unload this waste of a team, what with all the back-loaded contracts. I'm thinking of selling ad space on their foreheads. Enjoy the recession. I'm rich.")

[rm121978]

saying all those nice things is just to butter us up for when he announces ticket/parking increases and the carry-in policy changes

[brewcrewreview]

Everyone wants us to resign CC and extend our better players, yet people get upset at the thought of a price increase in tickets and/or parking as well as a possible change to the carry in policy. Hard to have it both ways.

[Ennder]

The price of just about everything has gone up in the last year, why would the price of a ballgame be any different?

[RU Rah Rah]

A little too much capitalizing in that first paragraph -- "Managers," etc.

[MHgb]

Nice letter. Interesting and impressive stats, as quoted earlier. Acknowledged the fans who chanted "Let's go Brewers" but felt snubbed when they didn't come out of the dugout to show their appreciation. Classy acknowledging Yost. Should make us feel appreciated and lucky to have him as our owner.

 

I would find it difficult for them to bump prices during the current economy. Maybe in a few locations, but not all around. Raising parking prices I can see though. It's $30 at Lambeau, I think, and more expensive at other venues. Yes, we have lots of parking, but it's still cheap in relation to other parks.

[kramnoj]

Brewers were the top-rated prime time show 44 times out of 80 nights this season.

 

I think there is something missing there. Why is that limited to 80 nights? Are those the only 80 games that were measured by Nielsen? Are those the only 80 games in Primte Time (that can't be right). Is that 80 road games (I don't think that works either). It's great news either way that the Brewers were so popular, I just was curious about that.

 

Edit: It must mean that there were only 80 prime time games shown on FSN. All other games were day games or not shown of FSN (FSN didn't broadcast the games in Milwaukee on Saturday hardly at all, did they?). I didn't think half of the games would be day games, but that must be the answer.

[nate82]

I think there is something missing there. Why is that limited to 80 nights? Are those the only 80 games that were measured by Nielsen? Are those the only 80 games in Primte Time (that can't be right). Is that 80 road games (I don't think that works either). It's great news either way that the Brewers were so popular, I just was curious about that.

I would believe it would be night games not afternoon games and depending on the time criteria they used. Prime time is usually defined as 7:00 - 9:00 P.M. CST. That is what the prime time is for the central time zone. I believe that is what they are basing it off of.

[Ennder]

We were 36-28 in day games so that takes care of 64 games. The other 18 games were probably not shown on FSN or maybe they didn't count the later starting west coast road games.

[Patrick425]

Good letter. He kind of paraphrased Torres' quote. I prefer the original "You CAN wait no more"

[Bikeage77]

Raising parking prices I can see though. It's $30 at Lambeau, I think, and more expensive at other venues. Yes, we have lots of parking, but it's still cheap in relation to other parks.

 

Yeah, but Lambeau only plays 8-10 home games a year. We have 81. I'm sure they make plenty off of parking. I know a lot of that money doesn't go directly to the Brewers, but I think 15 is plenty considering you still have a good hike to get into the park once you can get out of your car

[monty57]

Now if only we had a better TV deal.

I'd guess that the ratings they've been getting, paired with an owner who understands the business world a little better, will mean a much better deal from FSN when the current deal is up. There's no way FSN Wisconsin wants to lose the Brewer games.

On another note, I'm surprised we had 64 day games this year. It didn't seem like nearly that many.

[JohnBriggs12]

It's a tough economy to be raising prices in any industry. I've heard Attanasio and he is sensitive to that. If you don't think this affects baseball, ask yourself what's holding up the sale of the Cubs. The answer is Sam Zell can't get his asking price in this market. It's possible that even player salaries will be held somewhat in check this offseason.

[nate82]

It's a tough economy to be raising prices in any industry. I've heard Attanasio and he is sensitive to that. If you don't think this affects baseball, ask yourself what's holding up the sale of the Cubs. The answer is Sam Zell can't get his asking price in this market. It's possible that even player salaries will be held somewhat in check this offseason.

Prices are going to increase just like food, gas, and any other product. You may not notice it but it will increase. It will be more along the lines with inflation though that you will see the increase in ticket prices.

[monty57]

It's a tough economy to be raising prices in any industry.

 

For "any industry," CPI is abating, and we are now seeing deflation in some industries (housing and energy in particular), but year-on-year numbers are still up around 4.7%, so we're seeing prices go up at a rate substantially higher than the historic norms of around 3%. As far as baseball is concerned, owners will have to put more thought into price increases then they would in "boom" years. Price increases (especially those greater than CPI) should likely cause reduced demand / attendance in any scenario, but have a more dramatic effect during a recession. Often, "luxury" purchases are the first to go, and baseball tickets could be considered non-essential purchses. However, the Brewers had excess demand this season, leading to a record number of sellouts even with a looming recession. A rise in prices for Milwaukee may not have as dramatic an effect as raising the prices in stadiums that don't already sell out. Fan demographics and local unemployment should definitely be considered before making any pricing decisions.

 

It's possible that even player salaries will be held somewhat in check this offseason.

 

It's possible, but only if owners / GMs are forward looking, which probably isn't the case. Even though retail sales numbers are expected to be down, baseball attendance and viewership were up this year, so I'd guess the owners have ample cash to spend. If they have cash, and they want to sign a player, history has shown that the cash will be spent. If the current downturn (likely recession) continues through next season and attendance drops, then it's possible we'd see salaries go down (or at least not rise dramatically) after next season.

[ELCABALLO45]

Your going to tell me this guy is going to be ok with a "rebuliding" year next year? I doubt it.

[fallingleaves]

I still can't get a good read of Mark A. Sometimes he seems completely clueless about baseball, spouting pro-brewer propaganda. His market based strategy in baseball seems to be paying off, I commend him for getting CC and firing Yost. I sometimes feel he is obsessed with the Brewers as his own little toy and wants the Brewer's to compete for his own personal pleasure.

[owbc]

Mark A. is a very smart business man and he has done virtually everything correct to market his product. The Brewers are huge into acquiring sponsors, selling merchandise, doing community work, advertising, and just about every other way you can think of to further bring baseball into the community. Having a winning team helps, but the Brewers are a business and the business side of the team is run extremely well--perhaps the best in baseball.

 

I expect there will be price increases, but he definitely won't make the mistake that the Rockies did last year in using their World Series run to raise prices enormously. I'm expecting a 3-4% increase, mostly to keep up with inflation.

 

The Brewers aren't rebuilding next year, I don't see where that idea comes from. Rebuilding is when you trade core players for prospects. We are losing key free agents, but will be acquiring other free agents to take their place while adding in a few players from trades and the minor leagues. That seems more like reloading than rebuilding to me.

[bjkrautk]

A record 3,068,458 of you passed through the turnstiles this season.

 

Hearing this always bugs me. Three million people did not pass through the turnstiles in Miller Park this year; people passed through the turnstiles over 3 million times. Personally, I went to about 5-6 games this year....but I'm still just the one guy. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some fans went 60-80 times, as I yearn to have that kind of disposable income.

 

Yes, I realize that I'm arguing about symantics within a press release, but if I don't point it out, people are going to keep saying it wrong.

[dadofandrew]

Ben, you're arguing a lost cause...ask my sister, the English teacher. She corrects stuff like that all the time, and the students are clueless. It's like folks that say "bring" instead of "take", they have no idea.

[ewizabeff]

Hearing this always bugs me. Three million people did not pass through the turnstiles in Miller Park this year; people passed through the turnstiles over 3 million times. Personally, I went to about 5-6 games this year....but I'm still just the one guy. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some fans went 60-80 times, as I yearn to have that kind of disposable income.

 

Yes, I realize that I'm arguing about symantics within a press release, but if I don't point it out, people are going to keep saying it wrong.

 

True. My dad and I counted for about 160 of those fans, when you consider the games we had extra tickets for to get my brothers bobbleheads, etc. And the great thing is, we really didn't need that much disposable income. Go Terrace Ticket Treat! But yes, they should fix the semantics of that. Granted, we probably had 2 million + fans, but not 3 million unique fans.

[joepepsi]

I posted the last few paragraphs of the Open Letter on an Orioles site that I administer. One of the better posters, Bill, came up with this gem of a response:

As many of you know, along with my role as Chairman of the Board/CEO for the Orioles since the Fall of 1993, for decades I have managed a law firm specializing in ambulance chasing, and asbestos lawsuits. I made ten lifetimes of money alone by suing Big Tobacco on behalf of the State of Maryland. Lately, I have branched out into media, establishing the Mid Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), a means to grow my personal accounts while continuing to provide a sub-standard product on the playing field. Regardless, a record low 1,950.075 walked lemming-like through the turnstiles at Oriole Park this year. More than one-third of that number came from the home games against Boston and New York. We don't mind those out of town fans, we really don't, even when they take over the park with their boisterous chanting. The few times we drew anything close to a capacity crowd was when they visited for the weekend. Clearly, our results on the field made us an afterthought in the minds of baseball fans across the nation. Luckily, by rule, every team is entitled to at least one representative to the All Star Game. Our lone representative this year, reliever, George Sherrill ,was a selection made by the Red Sox manager. Sherrill was acquired when we shrewdly traded that ungrateful, malcontent pitcher Erik Bedard. We are fortunate to have fine ballplayers such as Nick Markakis (did I mention he is Greek?) under control for the next few years at a savings far below what we would be expected to pay under a multi-year contract.

 

We are also fortunate to call Oriole Park at Camden Yards our home field, the model for most ballparks built after it. We are committed to having the State pay for continued upgrades, including new scoreboards installed this year around the field. Oriole Park was built with proceeds from the State Lottery and as recently as 2001 drew over three million fans per season. Today, Oriole Park is still an outstanding venue to watch a ballgame, and available seats, on a walk-up basis, are far more plentiful than at any time in its seventeen year history. As your benefactor, I was practically giving away seats in September for $1 each.

 

This letter would not be complete without special thanks to Andy MacPhail, our current general manager, and the seventh GM under my stewardship of the franchise. Andy took over a team that spent $93.5 million in payroll in 2007 and cut payroll to $67.2 million while falling just short of the 69 win-total from 2007. The 2009 contact option for field manager Dave Trembley was exercised on September 5th, and the team went 5-17 the rest of the way.

 

This season concluded my fifteenth as the Principal Owner of the Orioles. In 2005, I promised you that we were coming back strong, even if you had heard that tune before. I reserve my appreciation for those that actually believed that, coming from a lawyer. You still support this franchise through its eleventh straight losing season and possibly you will be rewarded before I take a dirt nap.

 

 

Go Me !

Peter G. Angelos, ESQ.

Chairman and Principal Owner

[hawing]

Dennis Punzel of the Capital Times in Madison wrote an open letter back to Mark. Link (because it's a bit long to post here).