Why is DeWitt so cash-strapped?

[OldRed]

A large portion of the dry powder is still stashed away. Along with the Fox Sports TV deal signed several years ago. The one BDW claimed "would keep the team competitive for years to come."

DeWitt has always shied away from big free agents. He prefers a strange practice of overpaying mediocre to bad players.

You got that right. Bill is against paying free agents lots of money. Instead, he favors paying borderline healthy, avg to below avg, over the hill players who people don’t want to pay to watch. Amirite, Miles? Scherzer, a hometown boy, couldn’t crack the code. Instead, we got 5-6 years of The Man Who Eats Lizards. Words never uttered by a young Cards fan, ‘Dad, I want to see Miles pitch; will you take me to the ballgame?”.

"Dad, I want to see Goldschmidt play. He's a future Hall of Famer."
"Dad, I want to see Arenado play. He's a future Hall of Famer."
"Dad, I want to see Sonny Gray pitch. He came in 2nd in the Cy Young voting last season."

Now that is a real stretch. When I grew up, I wanted to Stan play.

[Rojo Johnson]

He isn't cash strapped..simply not willing to spend it on payroll at this time.

Daze - Do the math. Look at revenues, operating income, value of the franchise, debt as a % of value, probable interest rate, etc. Then look at interest dollars alone that are probably paid, not including any principal reduction. The interest payments are close to twice the operating income.

Busch III was completed and I assume financing in place for the 2006 season. The Foxsports local TV contract that everyone is crying over all the time was signed in 2018. So square that one up Cranny……
And let us know how much tickets and concessions have gone up since 2006???

Their media carrier declared bankruptcy, short changing many of it's "customers". But the main principle you need to look at are the comparative cable contracts between the huge market teams, the mid market teams, and the small market teams.

2006 local TV revenue
29mil

2025 local TV revenue
58mil
Which is down from the 75mil expected from old contract.

So in summation, the Local TV Rev has almost doubled since 2006(new stadium/financing) but is 17mil less than…
So 17mil is reason for all the crying……a Miles Mikolas

17mil is the reason BDW can’t make his stadium debt payment, reduced payroll by 75mil, decimated his top of league attendance, won’t sign star players, and has Cranny on herE crying poor every other post
Who believes this nonsense??? 17 MIL CAN’T BE THE REASON TO NOT HAVE A 180-190MIL PAYROLL. STOP THE NONSENSE.

Won't sign star players? What about Ozuna, Goldy, Arenado, Gray, Contreras, etc.

You really need to do the math to understand. Companies in a portfolio need to cash flow. That's how billionaires get to be billionaires.

Now let's look at the reality of the situation. When you buy a stock, you look at a return on investment in two ways - the cash return every year and the equity growth return every year. A good measure is around a 2% dividend/interest return and around a 3.5% for a total of 5.5% total return. So those who want to include the extraordinary value growth of the Cardinals over the Dewitt ownership years have a point. But the problem is liquidity. You can sell a stock easily. Not so with a franchise. So the principal growth is all on paper. It's great, but the business entity itself has to cash flow.

Cranny: I don’t believe you have many followers. Your arguments are specious and you act like Bill, a man who has been around baseball all his life, has no clue how to squeeze as much money from a sports franchise as possible. Even Bill told the P-D (?) that you can’t make any money on a baseball team, but you act like he’s stupid enough to believe the Cards would perform financially as though they were Nvidia. Furthermore, your little example above acts like all stocks are dividend bearing, which is hardly true. In fact, a sports franchise is pretty far from being described as a dividend stock. Just give it a rest and join Moe where you both belong.

[CCard]

When allocating needed money to improve the Cardinals. Isn't he a billionaire? The Dodgers spent $300 million this season on salaries. They've won the last two World Series. The Cardinals haven't even been to the playoffs for the last three seasons. DeWitt needs to put 2 and 2 together.

It's about greed. With most all billionaires that is the common thread. How can one sleep at night knowing that they have the means to alleviate so much suffering and instead choose to build their fortune to ridiculous levels. Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Billionaires are a mutation of an unjust economic policy. They shouldn't exist. It's a disgrace.

Thanks for your input Bernie

You're welcome Donald.

[CCard]

When allocating needed money to improve the Cardinals. Isn't he a billionaire? The Dodgers spent $300 million this season on salaries. They've won the last two World Series. The Cardinals haven't even been to the playoffs for the last three seasons. DeWitt needs to put 2 and 2 together.

It's about greed. With most all billionaires that is the common thread. How can one sleep at night knowing that they have the means to alleviate so much suffering and instead choose to build their fortune to ridiculous levels. Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Billionaires are a mutation of an unjust economic policy. They shouldn't exist. It's a disgrace.

DeTwit just assumed that fans would show regardless of how the team played. .he's out-of-touch and deserves having the fans stay home...apparently. most real fans care about watching a competitive team as opposed to be front office (donkey) kissers.

Indeed. It seems as though they don't want to try to win. They've pushed their sports betting agenda in hopes of a jackpot and one wonders why?

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Now that is a real stretch. When I grew up, I wanted to Stan play.

What is a stretch about it? Not everyone gets a chance to be born at a certain time in order to see one of the greatest baseball players of all time. I got to see Pujols play and it's likely that I'll never get to see a player that good again. I'm not going to hold it against a team that they don't have a guy in the same league as Albert Pujols and Stan Musial every year. That's crazy.

Plenty of people want to go to games to see guys like Arenado, Goldschmidt, and Gray pitch. I wanted to see guys Matt Holliday, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Carlos Beltran, Matt Carpenter, Ray Lankford, and Rick Ankiel play. And when I was a kid Willie McGee, Tommy Herr, and Jose Oquendo, even though they aren't among the greatest players of all time. And I also went to games recently to see all three guys that Cranny named.

[WLTFE]

Where do I sign up to be a front office (donkey) kisser?... it must be a nice gig...argue with anyone who criticizes DeTwit and claim to be a business owner...of course, I don't have 24 hours a day to shovel bull[shirt] .

[rockondlouie]

You can sell a stock easily. Not so with a franchise. So the principal growth is all on paper. It's great, but the business entity itself has to cash flow.

Are you delusional?

BDW & partners could put the Cardinals up for sale today and have a line of qualified buyers by tomorrow morning!

[Shady]

You can sell a stock easily. Not so with a franchise. So the principal growth is all on paper. It's great, but the business entity itself has to cash flow.

Are you delusional?

BDW & partners could put the Cardinals up for sale today and have a line of qualified buyers by tomorrow morning!

That would be a quite interesting turn of events.

[Goldfan]

He isn't cash strapped..simply not willing to spend it on payroll at this time.

Daze - Do the math. Look at revenues, operating income, value of the franchise, debt as a % of value, probable interest rate, etc. Then look at interest dollars alone that are probably paid, not including any principal reduction. The interest payments are close to twice the operating income.

Busch III was completed and I assume financing in place for the 2006 season. The Foxsports local TV contract that everyone is crying over all the time was signed in 2018. So square that one up Cranny……
And let us know how much tickets and concessions have gone up since 2006???

Their media carrier declared bankruptcy, short changing many of it's "customers". But the main principle you need to look at are the comparative cable contracts between the huge market teams, the mid market teams, and the small market teams.

2006 local TV revenue
29mil

2025 local TV revenue
58mil
Which is down from the 75mil expected from old contract.

So in summation, the Local TV Rev has almost doubled since 2006(new stadium/financing) but is 17mil less than…
So 17mil is reason for all the crying……a Miles Mikolas

17mil is the reason BDW can’t make his stadium debt payment, reduced payroll by 75mil, decimated his top of league attendance, won’t sign star players, and has Cranny on herE crying poor every other post
Who believes this nonsense??? 17 MIL CAN’T BE THE REASON TO NOT HAVE A 180-190MIL PAYROLL. STOP THE NONSENSE.

Won't sign star players? What about Ozuna, Goldy, Arenado, Gray, Contreras, etc.

You really need to do the math to understand. Companies in a portfolio need to cash flow. That's how billionaires get to be billionaires.

Now let's look at the reality of the situation. When you buy a stock, you look at a return on investment in two ways - the cash return every year and the equity growth return every year. A good measure is around a 2% dividend/interest return and around a 3.5% for a total of 5.5% total return. So those who want to include the extraordinary value growth of the Cardinals over the Dewitt ownership years have a point. But the problem is liquidity. You can sell a stock easily. Not so with a franchise. So the principal growth is all on paper. It's great, but the business entity itself has to cash flow.

Yes, let’s look at the reality of the situation. You come on here and spout that the Stadium debt service is chewing up all profit. You claim the local TV contract has decimated the annual Revenue……and on and on. But the TV deal is twice as much as it was in 2006 when the the stadium financing was secured and it’s only 17mil(58 from 75) less than the HUGE GREAT loss from the local TV deal you continually bring up as to why they don’t have the money spend on payroll. So we found it……17mil. This is huge game changer????
Now since they let the club go to poo and have and by doing so have shot themselves in the foot and thus lowered revenue……thats on them….not the TV contract. Unless you’re now going to claim at the 17mil difference caused this……

[Cranny]

A large portion of the dry powder is still stashed away. Along with the Fox Sports TV deal signed several years ago. The one BDW claimed "would keep the team competitive for years to come."

DeWitt has always shied away from big free agents. He prefers a strange practice of overpaying mediocre to bad players.

You got that right. Bill is against paying free agents lots of money. Instead, he favors paying borderline healthy, avg to below avg, over the hill players who people don’t want to pay to watch. Amirite, Miles? Scherzer, a hometown boy, couldn’t crack the code. Instead, we got 5-6 years of The Man Who Eats Lizards. Words never uttered by a young Cards fan, ‘Dad, I want to see Miles pitch; will you take me to the ballgame?”.

"Dad, I want to see Goldschmidt play. He's a future Hall of Famer."
"Dad, I want to see Arenado play. He's a future Hall of Famer."
"Dad, I want to see Sonny Gray pitch. He came in 2nd in the Cy Young voting last season."

Now that is a real stretch. When I grew up, I wanted to Stan play.

So did I. But how many Stans are there.

[ScotchMIrish]

A large portion of the dry powder is still stashed away. Along with the Fox Sports TV deal signed several years ago. The one BDW claimed "would keep the team competitive for years to come."

DeWitt has always shied away from big free agents. He prefers a strange practice of overpaying mediocre to bad players.

You got that right. Bill is against paying free agents lots of money. Instead, he favors paying borderline healthy, avg to below avg, over the hill players who people don’t want to pay to watch. Amirite, Miles? Scherzer, a hometown boy, couldn’t crack the code. Instead, we got 5-6 years of The Man Who Eats Lizards. Words never uttered by a young Cards fan, ‘Dad, I want to see Miles pitch; will you take me to the ballgame?”.

"Dad, I want to see Goldschmidt play. He's a future Hall of Famer."
"Dad, I want to see Arenado play. He's a future Hall of Famer."
"Dad, I want to see Sonny Gray pitch. He came in 2nd in the Cy Young voting last season."

Now that is a real stretch. When I grew up, I wanted to Stan play.

I didn't move to St Louis until my senior year in high school. I was a Yankees fan for no reason other than they won all the time. I remember in Little Rock trading a Musial baseball card for a Yankees player.

[Cranny]

He isn't cash strapped..simply not willing to spend it on payroll at this time.

Daze - Do the math. Look at revenues, operating income, value of the franchise, debt as a % of value, probable interest rate, etc. Then look at interest dollars alone that are probably paid, not including any principal reduction. The interest payments are close to twice the operating income.

Busch III was completed and I assume financing in place for the 2006 season. The Foxsports local TV contract that everyone is crying over all the time was signed in 2018. So square that one up Cranny……
And let us know how much tickets and concessions have gone up since 2006???

Their media carrier declared bankruptcy, short changing many of it's "customers". But the main principle you need to look at are the comparative cable contracts between the huge market teams, the mid market teams, and the small market teams.

2006 local TV revenue
29mil

2025 local TV revenue
58mil
Which is down from the 75mil expected from old contract.

So in summation, the Local TV Rev has almost doubled since 2006(new stadium/financing) but is 17mil less than…
So 17mil is reason for all the crying……a Miles Mikolas

17mil is the reason BDW can’t make his stadium debt payment, reduced payroll by 75mil, decimated his top of league attendance, won’t sign star players, and has Cranny on herE crying poor every other post
Who believes this nonsense??? 17 MIL CAN’T BE THE REASON TO NOT HAVE A 180-190MIL PAYROLL. STOP THE NONSENSE.

Won't sign star players? What about Ozuna, Goldy, Arenado, Gray, Contreras, etc.

You really need to do the math to understand. Companies in a portfolio need to cash flow. That's how billionaires get to be billionaires.

Now let's look at the reality of the situation. When you buy a stock, you look at a return on investment in two ways - the cash return every year and the equity growth return every year. A good measure is around a 2% dividend/interest return and around a 3.5% for a total of 5.5% total return. So those who want to include the extraordinary value growth of the Cardinals over the Dewitt ownership years have a point. But the problem is liquidity. You can sell a stock easily. Not so with a franchise. So the principal growth is all on paper. It's great, but the business entity itself has to cash flow.

Cranny: I don’t believe you have many followers. Your arguments are specious and you act like Bill, a man who has been around baseball all his life, has no clue how to squeeze as much money from a sports franchise as possible. Even Bill told the P-D (?) that you can’t make any money on a baseball team, but you act like he’s stupid enough to believe the Cards would perform financially as though they were Nvidia. Furthermore, your little example above acts like all stocks are dividend bearing, which is hardly true. In fact, a sports franchise is pretty far from being described as a dividend stock. Just give it a rest and join Moe where you both belong.

Rojo -
You're right. Posters who look at a situation as "why not" instead of "why" aren't the most popular posters on here.

[okcardfan]

When allocating needed money to improve the Cardinals. Isn't he a billionaire? The Dodgers spent $300 million this season on salaries. They've won the last two World Series. The Cardinals haven't even been to the playoffs for the last three seasons. DeWitt needs to put 2 and 2 together.

DeWitt could spend 200M a year on payroll and not miss a penny of it.

The money he received from revenue sharing alone was around $200 million last year from teams like the big bad Dodgers. You are correct, he wouldn’t miss a dime.

Instead of reinvesting these funds into the team as intended to create competitive balance they pocket it and blame the fans for not supporting the team.

That money should be returned to the pool if they aren’t going to use it for the betterment of the sport. Everyone calling for a salary cap should instead call for mandates to implement the mechanisms already in place to maintain competitive balance. No one is imposing a revenue cap on greedy owners so why should the employees, the players fans actually pay to see, be limited by a salary cap?

That last sentence perfectly and completely makes crystal clear the corrupt, rapacious, cynical capitalism that is at the root of the problems of baseball-- and of so much else.

[desertrat23]

Two things can be true at the same time.

Baseball's economics need a serious overhaul, including a salary cap/floor and increased revenue sharing.
Bill DeWitt can and should spend a higher percentage of baseball revenues on payroll.

[Cranny]

Two things can be true at the same time.

Baseball's economics need a serious overhaul, including a salary cap/floor and increased revenue sharing.
Bill DeWitt can and should spend a higher percentage of baseball revenues on payroll.

1.) For sure.
2.) Sure, as long as the company has break even or positive cash flow.

[OldRed]

Two things can be true at the same time.

Baseball's economics need a serious overhaul, including a salary cap/floor and increased revenue sharing.
Bill DeWitt can and should spend a higher percentage of baseball revenues on payroll.

1.) For sure.
2.) Sure, as long as the company has break even or positive cash flow.

You are not a fan; you are a company man only looking at profits. It may be time for you to find another (hobby) sport to follow.