How much money do the Brewers have left to spend?

[TexasCheesehead]

I know we don’t know an exact figure here, but the Grandal deal made us eclipse $100 million in salaries for 2019, just how much more do we have in the bank to get another big name? Could we even afford Bumgarner or Dallas Keuchel at this point?

[KeithStone53151]

We are in unchartered territory with payroll. I see us somewhere between $115 and $120 million payroll depending how you count the min salaries, with at least a few million possible in incentives. With how low payroll was the prior couple years, the imminent new tv deal, extra revenue coming from increased ticket prices and likely increased attendance due to the team being good, and baseball generally having much more revenue than past years...I personally could see us around $150 million without losing money, assuming the Brewers contend. We certainly won't open that high and might not even push payroll that high with mid-season acquisitions. That's my opinion on absolute max payroll. I think it would be unlikely we add more than $10 million in payroll at this point to open the season.

[homer]

Does anyone know when the Brewers TV deal expires? Only thing I could find online was this from 2013:

 

"Melvin said the Brewers will get $21 million for those rights this season, the first year in an extension agreed to in 2009. Sources have said the extension is through the end of the decade. So the Brewers' revenue from their local TV deal averages about $167 million less each year compared to the Dodgers."

 

http://archive.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/200738381.html

 

Looks like it expires after this season:

 

"The Brewers contract with Fox Sports started in 2010 and runs through 2019, according to SportsBusiness Journal, a sister publication of The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee."

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/blog/2013/04/brewers-earn-20-million-in-television.html

 

I wonder how much more revenue that will provide? They kind of got shafted last go around since they signed their deal at the height of the recession.

[KeithStone53151]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/estimated-tv-revenues-for-all-30-mlb-teams/

 

This is the article I was referencing. I believe I've seen other sources verify the 2019 number, but this is the only source I can find quickly.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I remember the days of a lot of their games being on UPN24 or something. It wasn't cable, whatever it was. I remember being about 10 and being really upset when the Brewers pre-empted the Simpsons re-runs, haha. I liked baseball but they were usually about 35 games under .500 by then.

[MadScientist]

Well this is a good time for the Brewers to be negotiating a new TV contract, given the excitement of last year and the team building more for this one.

[MNBrew]

I remember the days of a lot of their games being on UPN24 or something. It wasn't cable, whatever it was. I remember being about 10 and being really upset when the Brewers pre-empted the Simpsons re-runs, haha. I liked baseball but they were usually about 35 games under .500 by then.

Does anyone remember Sportsvue, the mid-'80s cable network started mainly to air Brewers & Bucks games? I worked hard to convince my parents to pay the extra each month for it (and they did). It was a great thing but too far ahead of its time. Kinda like the local/regional Fox Sports networks but without anything near good enough financial backing of a major media conglomerate.

[JohnBriggs12]

There's sources out there that say the Brewers total revenue in 2017 was $255 million. I imagine the total for 2018 was a fair amount above that. Now they may have a budget figure they want to stay below, but the fact is they are nowhere near the luxury tax cutoff and they made a lot of money in 2017 and 2018. They certainly have the resources to exceed $120 or so million if they choose to do so in the short run as long as they aren't committing insane amounts well into the future.

[KeithStone53151]

A reminder that opening day payroll is not final payroll. Last year we opened at $91M and closed at $121M according to Cots. We definitely want flexibility to add at the deadline.

[umphrey]

I think we're done, maybe $5M more at most to open and we'll have another $5-10M at deadline

[3and2Fastball]

There's sources out there that say the Brewers total revenue in 2017 was $255 million. I imagine the total for 2018 was a fair amount above that. Now they may have a budget figure they want to stay below, but the fact is they are nowhere near the luxury tax cutoff and they made a lot of money in 2017 and 2018. They certainly have the resources to exceed $120 or so million if they choose to do so in the short run as long as they aren't committing insane amounts well into the future.

 

It really all comes down to what Mark A values more. Making more profits or winning a World Series. Sometimes I feel like Mark A is PT Barnum, and I'm the sucker who is born every minute.

[xisxisxis]

There's sources out there that say the Brewers total revenue in 2017 was $255 million. I imagine the total for 2018 was a fair amount above that. Now they may have a budget figure they want to stay below, but the fact is they are nowhere near the luxury tax cutoff and they made a lot of money in 2017 and 2018. They certainly have the resources to exceed $120 or so million if they choose to do so in the short run as long as they aren't committing insane amounts well into the future.

 

It really all comes down to what Mark A values more. Making more profits or winning a World Series. Sometimes I feel like Mark A is PT Barnum, and I'm the sucker who is born every minute.

The profits that Attanasio and the other owners have been getting each year is like crack to them... They are hooked and they aren't giving it up for anything... Where did the $30M for the sale of MLBAM go? Did any go into the salary pot? There is no reason the team can't have a $120-$140M payroll with current revenues/revenue sharing... All the Brewers owners need to do is kick part of their habit... I'm not holding my breath...

[wntrtxn21]

We are in unchartered territory with payroll. I see us somewhere between $115 and $120 million payroll depending how you count the min salaries, with at least a few million possible in incentives. With how low payroll was the prior couple years, the imminent new tv deal, extra revenue coming from increased ticket prices and likely increased attendance due to the team being good, and baseball generally having much more revenue than past years...I personally could see us around $150 million without losing money, assuming the Brewers contend. We certainly won't open that high and might not even push payroll that high with mid-season acquisitions. That's my opinion on absolute max payroll. I think it would be unlikely we add more than $10 million in payroll at this point to open the season.

 

 

There is no way in the world the Brewers could add 67% to their payroll! Nobody knows what the tv deal will be, except it will be less than 1/4 of the Cubs or Dodgers deal. Increased attendance won't bring much, and costs are increasing. Their MAX will be around $117-120M for this year. Right now I too think they are at that sum, so unless a trade of Anderson and/or Thames comes to pass, Stearns is done.

[KeithStone53151]

We are in unchartered territory with payroll. I see us somewhere between $115 and $120 million payroll depending how you count the min salaries, with at least a few million possible in incentives. With how low payroll was the prior couple years, the imminent new tv deal, extra revenue coming from increased ticket prices and likely increased attendance due to the team being good, and baseball generally having much more revenue than past years...I personally could see us around $150 million without losing money, assuming the Brewers contend. We certainly won't open that high and might not even push payroll that high with mid-season acquisitions. That's my opinion on absolute max payroll. I think it would be unlikely we add more than $10 million in payroll at this point to open the season.

 

 

There is no way in the world the Brewers could add 67% to their payroll! Nobody knows what the tv deal will be, except it will be less than 1/4 of the Cubs or Dodgers deal. Increased attendance won't bring much, and costs are increasing. Their MAX will be around $117-120M for this year. Right now I too think they are at that sum, so unless a trade of Anderson and/or Thames comes to pass, Stearns is done.

 

Im not sure where you are getting 67%. Brewers ending payroll last year was 120m. A 67% increase would bump it to around 200m. You must be comparing opening day payroll of 90m, which is a meaningless comparison.

 

I also said i think they could go 150m without losing money. Not that they'd go that high. Their opening day payroll might be around the number you suggested, but i would be surprised if we are both a contender and end the season with under 130m payroll.

 

As for the tv deal, i would look at the rays recent tv deal for what we likely can get. I don't have the numbers offhand, but you can certainly find it on google and it would be a game changing number.

[AKCheesehead]

I remember the days of a lot of their games being on UPN24 or something. It wasn't cable, whatever it was. I remember being about 10 and being really upset when the Brewers pre-empted the Simpsons re-runs, haha. I liked baseball but they were usually about 35 games under .500 by then.

 

Growing up in Madison I remember them being on WMSN 47, I can still hear in my head the jingle they had for their Brewers coverage.

[adambr2]

We are in unchartered territory with payroll. I see us somewhere between $115 and $120 million payroll depending how you count the min salaries, with at least a few million possible in incentives. With how low payroll was the prior couple years, the imminent new tv deal, extra revenue coming from increased ticket prices and likely increased attendance due to the team being good, and baseball generally having much more revenue than past years...I personally could see us around $150 million without losing money, assuming the Brewers contend. We certainly won't open that high and might not even push payroll that high with mid-season acquisitions. That's my opinion on absolute max payroll. I think it would be unlikely we add more than $10 million in payroll at this point to open the season.

 

 

There is no way in the world the Brewers could add 67% to their payroll! Nobody knows what the tv deal will be, except it will be less than 1/4 of the Cubs or Dodgers deal. Increased attendance won't bring much, and costs are increasing. Their MAX will be around $117-120M for this year. Right now I too think they are at that sum, so unless a trade of Anderson and/or Thames comes to pass, Stearns is done.

 

First, there's a big difference between what we can do and what Mark A. is willing to do, and I guess that's what we'll find out. Mark A. has a $700M net worth. If he wants to push the payroll to $150M this season and he anticipates $140M in revenue, he could operate at a $10M loss if he felt the long-term investment was worth the price. He absolutely COULD do it if he wanted. Doesn't mean he would, but he could. Making the playoffs is worth a great deal of revenue to a franchise. A World Series, especially for Milwaukee, is worth far more in potential revenue.

 

There is more to it than just "we have X amount of dollars to spend on payroll this year." If you have several 1 year expiring contracts, he could say, "Ok, we can go to $140M this year, but next year we need to be around $100M." There's a lot of different factors at play, and the big picture covers more than just one season. We were up around $100M at times in the Melvin era when we were looking to contend, and other times when we were rebuilding we were closer to $60M, because in the bigger picture it didn't need to be more than that. It doesn't mean we had that much less to spend that year.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

This is an open-ended question. If the Brewers identify a player that provides value at a position of need, the money will be there. I have no doubt in that.

[owbc]

The profits that Attanasio and the other owners have been getting each year is like crack to them... They are hooked and they aren't giving it up for anything... Where did the $30M for the sale of MLBAM go? Did any go into the salary pot? There is no reason the team can't have a $120-$140M payroll with current revenues/revenue sharing... All the Brewers owners need to do is kick part of their habit... I'm not holding my breath...

 

The evidence increasingly points to this being the correct answer. All MLB teams are profitable. Some MLB teams are immensely profitable. The Brewers have appreciated in value by $800 million since they were purchased by Attanasio. After they couldn't get public money for Maryvale they ate the $60 million cost like it was nothing.

 

The post-2008 Brewers are small market in name only. Their attendance, TV viewership, merchandise sales, etc are all mid-tier or better in MLB. The payroll is starting to reflect that as well. We shouldn't pretend like we are some poor franchise that's struggling to get by. The Indians, Rockies, D-Backs, etc. can all spend $150 million and so can the Brewers.

[markedman5]

https://www.statista.com/statistics/193645/revenue-of-major-league-baseball-teams-in-2010/

[brewmann04]

I agree if there a player out there to get this team over the hump he would ante up

[rickh150]

We have this year circled. A big arm and a big bat are still comin, whether it be now or the deadline. A little thing like money won't stand in the way, at least not for MA. He can recover that when we are rebuilding. If it makes sense to do, meaning the addition makes us another sizable notch better, he'll back the cash truck up. Trading Ray for Bum falls in this category. Signing Moose or a remaining 2B on the market? Probably not.

[rickh150]

Then again, Machado isn't coming here.

[Invader3K]

Totally random, but as far as TV stations, I remember Brewers games occasionally being on channel 18 out of Milwaukee (Super 18, I think they went by).

 

I really think Mark Attanasio will allow the payroll to get significantly past where we are now, if it makes sense to. This team was one win away from a World Series this past season. Just knowing what we do about him as an owner, I can't imagine how badly he probably wants a ring.

[homer]

In 2014 the Brewers payroll was 15th in the league @$110 million. They are committed to $115 million so far this year. Given revenue increases they should be able to add more no problem. I would think they could start the year at $120 if they felt like it.

[xisxisxis]

https://www.statista.com/statistics/193645/revenue-of-major-league-baseball-teams-in-2010/

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