Profitgate: Marlins Issue Official Statement Regarding Leaked Financials

[wanks1212]

Passan's argument can be rebutted with the following statement that's actually made by Passan within the article.

Though the documents do not show that Loria has taken a direct distribution of money as owner,

Otherwise, it's the same old shit. Loria and Samson are clowns (which we knew), the money wasn't all put towards directly improving the on-field product (which we knew), blah blah *dismissive wank*.

[Party]

By Sarah Talalay August 27, 2010 03:52 PM
It didn’t take long for Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez to respond to County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa’s request to see if the agreement to finance the Florida Marlins' new ballpark could be altered.

On Friday, Alvarez issued a carefully worded memo outlining the reasons why county administrators weren’t surprised by information revealed this week in leaked documents showing the Marlins were profitable the past two years. He reiterated what Marlins President David Samson and County Manager George Burgess have said this week about the importance of the team’s solvency as a partner in the ballpark deal.

Sosa sent him a memo on Wednesday asking if the team could be required to contribute more in light of the team's profitability.

“Even if we did see the need to reopen negotiations – which we do not – the Marlins are not willing to discuss reopening the contract,” Alvarez wrote in the memo sent to Sosa and distributed to county and city of Miami commissioners and staff members. “Nothing that we have learned has changed our reasoning in a way that would demand or justify new negotiations.”

In fact, Alvarez said he thinks the release of the information – the documents were obtained by Deadspin.com – and the subsequent reporting on it has “misled the public.”

The financial statements show the Marlins had a net operating income of nearly $50 million combined for the years 2008 and 2009. The documents show net operating income of $37.82 million in 2008 when the team’s on-field payroll was a league-low $24.8 million and $11.1 million in 2009 when the payroll was up to $35.1 million.

Alvarez chose to highlight the team’s net income -- which factors in interest, taxes, amortization and other expenses. Those figures show the team earned $29.4 million in 2008 and $3.9 million in 2009.

Alvarez said the figures should give commissioners comfort, not pause, that the team can cover its obligations to the $515 million ballpark. “That the team had a positive revenue stream should not have been a surprise to anyone. It was not a surprise to your negotiating team,” he wrote.

According to Alvarez's memo, the team’s contribution works out to $120 million up-front, $93 million in rent payments, $26 million for the capital reserve (maintenance) fund and any cost overruns on the ballpark.

He said county officials did not see “the team’s confidential financial information during negotiations,” but did do “a wide range of other research before we became confident that the deal was properly structured.” That included reviewing public documents, conversations with the team and potential lenders and financing experts.

He ended the memo with a forward-looking statement suggesting county commissioners may want to join him at the ballpark’s opening: “In April 2012, I expect we will all have reason to celebrate a model of sustainable public-private cooperation when the first pitch is thrown.”

http://blogs.trb.com/sports/custom/b...r_marlins.html

@ the way Alvarez is spinning it. His argument is stronger than anything the false shock and awe the media and pols are up in arms about.

[nny]

Wow, someone who is smart.

"We're happy they're profitable, it means they'll actually pay us back"

GENIUS

[fauowls44]

Amazing how this story regarding the Mayor's memo supporting the Marlins and rejecting the irrational anger of other politicians is reported in exactly 1 place (Good job by Sarah Talalay to report fairly). Angry politician reacting to a headline gets national coverage. A measured, informed response gets one blog post. Seems fair.

As far as I can tell, this story is not even mentioned by the Herald. I wonder if they are afraid our old pal Norman Braman would pull some ads if they report anything remotely positive in this story...

[Party]

The Miami Herald is a rag with hack reporters. It is like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.

[Party]

A Message To Our Fans:

While it is impossible to respond individually to all the misleading information and rumors contained in media reports related to your Marlins, the recent reports about the team's financial statements are so misleading that the record needs to be set straight.

Financial statements of the team were recently released and have been widely misunderstood and inappropriately analyzed. We would much rather have you debate the merits of our team on the field, root for wins, bemoan losses and analyze on-field strategies.

That said, attempting to draw conclusions of a baseball team's financial health is very hard to do by only taking a cursory look at a two-year snapshot. Worse, a small sample size gives one little perspective on circumstances surrounding other and prior years of operation. Therefore, examining such a small sample can be very misleading.

The messages that we delivered for years are all confirmed in these statements. The team had net income of roughly $33 million for the two years 2008-2009. This number does not include many cash expenses incurred by the team, so it is not the amount of cash held in a bank account at the end of this two-year period. The statements clearly show that of the $31 million of cash generated by the operation of the team, $24 million was spent on the new ballpark and the rest was used to reduce our team's debt.

Some of the team's debt is held by banks, some by Major League Baseball and some by the owner. Reducing the debt was and remains critical so that we can fulfill our contribution to the new ballpark, which is currently being built on time and on budget in Miami. To prepare and to be in position to pay a substantial portion of construction costs, the team had to execute a plan many years in advance. That plan was to stop incurring debt, actually reduce debt, and manage the team so that the banks, Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami would agree to do business with us.

The reduction of debt was a critical component of the team's operation, because losses from previous years had led to excessive debt balances. This large amount of debt would have made it impossible to contribute to the ballpark's construction and would have put baseball in Miami in jeopardy.

The promises made during the ballpark negotiations have all been met, and in fact, surpassed. There are currently 800 people working on the ballpark's construction, over 60 percent from Miami-Dade, with over 33 percent of those workers residing in the City of Miami. Both of these figures exceed the goals set by the county and city. We could go on, but the reality is that construction is proceeding very well as everyone can see by either going to our webcam online or in person.

In April 2012, there will be a first pitch thrown in an air-conditioned, retractable-roof state-of-the-art ballpark. Our partners are Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami, and most importantly, you, our fans. We will continue to do our best to ensure that the only thing you are worried about related to baseball is our yearly win total and our efforts to add to the two World Series championships that this young franchise and great city have to its credit.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Your Florida Marlins

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...tnerId=rss_fla

Wow they must have gotten a nasty response.

[Party]

A Message To Our Fans:

While it is impossible to respond individually to all the misleading information and rumors contained in media reports related to your Marlins, the recent reports about the team's financial statements are so misleading that the record needs to be set straight.

Financial statements of the team were recently released and have been widely misunderstood and inappropriately analyzed. We would much rather have you debate the merits of our team on the field, root for wins, bemoan losses and analyze on-field strategies.

That said, attempting to draw conclusions of a baseball team's financial health is very hard to do by only taking a cursory look at a two-year snapshot. Worse, a small sample size gives one little perspective on circumstances surrounding other and prior years of operation. Therefore, examining such a small sample can be very misleading.

The messages that we delivered for years are all confirmed in these statements. The team had net income of roughly $33 million for the two years 2008-2009. This number does not include many cash expenses incurred by the team, so it is not the amount of cash held in a bank account at the end of this two-year period. The statements clearly show that of the $31 million of cash generated by the operation of the team, $24 million was spent on the new ballpark and the rest was used to reduce our team's debt.

Some of the team's debt is held by banks, some by Major League Baseball and some by the owner. Reducing the debt was and remains critical so that we can fulfill our contribution to the new ballpark, which is currently being built on time and on budget in Miami. To prepare and to be in position to pay a substantial portion of construction costs, the team had to execute a plan many years in advance. That plan was to stop incurring debt, actually reduce debt, and manage the team so that the banks, Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami would agree to do business with us.

The reduction of debt was a critical component of the team's operation, because losses from previous years had led to excessive debt balances. This large amount of debt would have made it impossible to contribute to the ballpark's construction and would have put baseball in Miami in jeopardy.

The promises made during the ballpark negotiations have all been met, and in fact, surpassed. There are currently 800 people working on the ballpark's construction, over 60 percent from Miami-Dade, with over 33 percent of those workers residing in the City of Miami. Both of these figures exceed the goals set by the county and city. We could go on, but the reality is that construction is proceeding very well as everyone can see by either going to our webcam online or in person.

In April 2012, there will be a first pitch thrown in an air-conditioned, retractable-roof state-of-the-art ballpark. Our partners are Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami, and most importantly, you, our fans. We will continue to do our best to ensure that the only thing you are worried about related to baseball is our yearly win total and our efforts to add to the two World Series championships that this young franchise and great city have to its credit.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Your Florida Marlins

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...tnerId=rss_fla

Wow they must have gotten a nasty response.

[Beef]

Good letter, I like it

[emkayseven]

"your" florida marlins

wasn't that the team slogan in like 1998?

[Party]

According to Wiki:

"Be Here When It Happens" (1997)
"Every Day, Every Game, All Heart!" (1998-99)
"Get Back In The Game" (2003)
"Get Hooked!" (2004-05)
"You Gotta Be Here!" (2007-08)
"It's Where You Wanna Be!" (2009)
"Serious Fun. Get In On It!" (2010)

(Who the f keeps track of slogans?)

[emkayseven]

that list is incorrect anyway, didn't they change from "Get hooked" to "Get hooked up" in 2006?
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also there's a gap from 00-02, maybe that's when they used "Your Florida Marlins." I had a strange memory of that being the slogan and then it changing a few months into the season

[Party]

It was 'Get Hooked Up'. I remember joking the following year should have been 'Get Hooked Up, NOW!'

[emkayseven]

and I might be crazy but I do not remember "Get Back In The Game!"
--------------------
furthermore as I thought, Every Day Every Game All Heart was the slogan in 2000 (http://web.archive.org/web/200005200...lamarlins.com/ archive from May 2000 - check the very bottom of the page)
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and in 2001: http://web.archive.org/web/200102071...lamarlins.com/
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I am committed to solving this. Also that list is just complete bullshit, wasn't "Your Home Team" a slogan once as well?
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http://cgi.ebay.com/1999-6-SGA-LAPEL...item19bbd65537

BOOM. SUCK ON MY BALLS BITCH. 1999. YOUR HOME TEAM. THAT LIST IS FUCKED.

Now all that's left is to figure out when they changed from Your Florida Marlins to Your Home Team or vice versa. I remember thinking it was a cop out just like Get Hooked and Get Hooked Up

[Swifty]

Price is wrong, bitch.

[Party]

JJ hacked mk's account.
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I remember when you could hear games online for free.

MARLINS AGREE TO TERMS WITH MARK KOTSAY AND DAVE BERG; OUTRIGHT MICHAEL TEJERA TO AAA CALGARY

GOOD GOD WHAT A DAY OF TRANSACTIONS!