Profitgate: Marlins Issue Official Statement Regarding Leaked Financials

[Swifty]

He's also trying to say that anyone who thinks they're doing things to cut money that will hurt the team is mistaken, because he wants to win, not just make money.

I like it.

Ehhhhhhh, I think you're taking it almost as far as Fip to the other extreme.

He said they're self motivated. Great. He didn't say this is as much about winning as it is about running a sound business, or that winning supersedes profitability.

[HUGG]

That quote is awesome. Doing things for yourself is the American way. Our front office is comprised of TRUE PATRIOT HEROES.

No, but seriously, I stand by my previous statement that this whole situation has made me like them more.

[Party]

Atleast we're not the Dodgers:

Since buying the Dodgers for $430 million six years ago, Frank McCourt has so heavily leveraged the team — $433 million in debt as of last year — that he has struggled to find additional financing.

The debt load has limited how the Dodgers can pay their players and could affect the team's ability to sign talent.

McCourt was turned down at least three times — by Citibank, by a Chinese investment group and by a Southern California infomercial king — in trying to secure additional financing last year, according to documents filed in the divorce case between him and his estranged wife, Jamie.

[...]

The analysis conducted by The Times and the HCVT accounting firm was limited to documents available in court files, including internal financial documents through 2009 and personal statements of net worth but not including audited financial statements.

The firm concluded that, if the Dodgers were sold today and the McCourts were to split the proceeds, the debt and tax burdens would be so great that each of the McCourts might walk away with about 10 cents on the dollar.

The documents showed:

— The Dodgers generated $72 million in operating revenue last year but had a net profit of $8.4 million, largely because of $28 million in debt service and $34 million in revenue-sharing payments. Baseball requires the teams that generate the most money help support the ones that generate the least.

— The debt is not projected to drop significantly until at least 2013. The Dodgers' business plan is based on selling 3.8 million tickets every season, a number the club has hit once in six years. The team is projected to sell 3.6 million tickets this year, based on current attendance.

— Bank of America, the Dodgers' lead lender, last year restricted the team to $66 million in deferred player compensation at any one time, a provision called "unusual but not unprecedented" by a high-ranking baseball official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the court case.

The Dodgers have routinely signed players to contracts in which payments are deferred, most notably Manny Ramirez. The Dodgers signed Ramirez to a $45-million contract for the 2009 and 2010 seasons but deferred $30 million through 2013. (The Dodgers saved $3.8 million by sending Ramirez this week to the Chicago White Sox.)

The Dodgers also owed about $30 million in deferred money to Andruw Jones, Rafael Furcal, Hiroki Kuroda, Jason Schmidt and Orlando Hudson at the time the bank capped deferrals.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep...ances-20100902

[Beef]

Yeah, but they've got a super cool motto/catch phrase thingy.