The post of the day in my opinion

[OregonRedbird]

If you'll only support a team full of Pujols and Yadis, and a team the wins 90 games a year. Then you are either a spoiled fan who jumps on the bandwagon when they win, but leaves the team if they need to rebuild or someone who does not understand the game.

The game has changed. Look at salaries 10 years ago. The large population team owners figured out that they could build their own TV system and use the population to outspend, all but 4 or 5 teams. In today's game, money buys championships and the truth is that the big market teams own the league. Stl no longer has the entire midwest as it's fan base. TV has replaced the radio broadcasts which made people in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee and others, Cardinal fans.

The Cardinals will never have a 300 million dollar payroll and the only thing that will balance the competition is a salary floor and a salary Cap. The players will still get their money. but it may be in Miami or Kansas City instead of NY or LA.

My point isn't that billionaires should treat their clubs like toys, but that they are toys. Win or lose, these investments appreciate dramatically. BDW bought the club for $150 million in the mid-nineties and its worth a couple billion today. If you're wealthy enough to own one, failing to do right by the fans and invest enough to put a competitive club on the field pleading operating loss poverty is absurd. And also bad business. A competitive club will put butts in the seats, and wins or losses notwithstanding, the appreciation of their assets will dwarf operational losses.

[General]

The post of the day and possibly of the year.

by ScotchMIrish » 14 Feb 2026 09:28 am

Time for DeWitt III with him MBA from Harvard to step up. Unfortunately he seems to see the world from the perspective of someone who inherited money. The focus on replacing blue collar seats in Busch II with luxury suites in Busch III and the move toward forcing fans to pay to watch games indicate he doesn't understand blue collar fans who for 100 years were the backbone of the Cardinals.

DeWitt put together possibly the longest stretch of sustained success, perhaps only rivaled by 1926-1946 period, in Cardinals history, and in the top five, maybe top three, of most successful franchises in MLB in the past 25-30 yrs and all you do is whine and complain when it caught up to them and they have to reset. As if this hasn't happened to EVERY SINGLE other team at some point.

He came in and rescued the franchise from the Busch's and built it into a consistent powerhouse while operating in a smaller market. Now he has to try to build it up again and it won't be easy but jeezus, let's not pretend his ownership group hasn't proven to know what they are doing and doesn't know how to connect with the fans. How many seasons in a row was he able to see over 3M tickets?

You are such an incredible baby for being such an old geezer.

[General]

If you'll only support a team full of Pujols and Yadis, and a team the wins 90 games a year. Then you are either a spoiled fan who jumps on the bandwagon when they win, but leaves the team if they need to rebuild or someone who does not understand the game.

The game has changed. Look at salaries 10 years ago. The large population team owners figured out that they could build their own TV system and use the population to outspend, all but 4 or 5 teams. In today's game, money buys championships and the truth is that the big market teams own the league. Stl no longer has the entire midwest as it's fan base. TV has replaced the radio broadcasts which made people in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee and others, Cardinal fans.

The Cardinals will never have a 300 million dollar payroll and the only thing that will balance the competition is a salary floor and a salary Cap. The players will still get their money. but it may be in Miami or Kansas City instead of NY or LA.

My point isn't that billionaires should treat their clubs like toys, but that they are toys. Win or lose, these investments appreciate dramatically. BDW bought the club for $150 million in the mid-nineties and its worth a couple billion today. If you're wealthy enough to own one, failing to do right by the fans and invest enough to put a competitive club on the field pleading operating loss poverty is absurd. And also bad business. A competitive club will put butts in the seats, and wins or losses notwithstanding, the appreciation of their assets will dwarf operational losses.

Are you trying to say he failed "to do right by the fans and invest enough to put a competitive club on the field" for the ~30 yrs he's owned the club? You can't really be saying that knowing how the Cardinals performed over that time period, right?

[Ike Hammett]

The post of the day and possibly of the year.

by ScotchMIrish » 14 Feb 2026 09:28 am

Time for DeWitt III with him MBA from Harvard to step up. Unfortunately he seems to see the world from the perspective of someone who inherited money. The focus on replacing blue collar seats in Busch II with luxury suites in Busch III and the move toward forcing fans to pay to watch games indicate he doesn't understand blue collar fans who for 100 years were the backbone of the Cardinals.

DeWitt put together possibly the longest stretch of sustained success, perhaps only rivaled by 1926-1946 period, in Cardinals history, and in the top five, maybe top three, of most successful franchises in MLB in the past 25-30 yrs and all you do is whine and complain when it caught up to them and they have to reset. As if this hasn't happened to EVERY SINGLE other team at some point.

He came in and rescued the franchise from the Busch's and built it into a consistent powerhouse while operating in a smaller market. Now he has to try to build it up again and it won't be easy but jeezus, let's not pretend his ownership group hasn't proven to know what they are doing and doesn't know how to connect with the fans. How many seasons in a row was he able to see over 3M tickets?

You are such an incredible baby for being such an old geezer.

General wins post of the day with this one!

[Voldemort]

Whatever the year the reality is clear. From the White House to the Outhouse it's a transactional world. Maybe it's always only been about the money and the values and traditions we treasured and counted on were an illusion and far more fragile than we believed.

For billionaires with billion dollar toys, fretting over the P/L has always been laughable. The value of sports franchises grows and grows as respect for the fans that make it possible shrinks and vanishes. Not an indictment, just sayin'.

I think it is a lot more true that some fans think billionaires SHOULD treat sports franchises as "billion dollar toys" that it is that most owners do actually think of them as such.

I’m not a millionaire, but I work hard and I can afford tickets to go see games. I don’t like the price of beer, but I’ll buy one or two. What Will keep me from going more is these games aren’t fun.
A few years ago when we had Albert Pujols and Yadi and Goldie and NAdo and Wainwright, and the rest of them, I loved watching those teams and went as often as I could. We had
Star power
Fundamentals
Chemistry.
Love for the game.
Household names
Franchise players
And winning more than we lost.

As a fan that checks the boxes for me to enjoy going. We’ve lost most of that and have nit replace replaced it. When will we?

Now, this could be a contender for post of the day!

[Cardinals1964]

The post of the day and possibly of the year.

by ScotchMIrish » 14 Feb 2026 09:28 am

Time for DeWitt III with him MBA from Harvard to step up. Unfortunately he seems to see the world from the perspective of someone who inherited money. The focus on replacing blue collar seats in Busch II with luxury suites in Busch III and the move toward forcing fans to pay to watch games indicate he doesn't understand blue collar fans who for 100 years were the backbone of the Cardinals.

Who is Scotch Mlrish?
“ the move toward forcing fans to pay to watch games ”

When haven’t fans paid to watch games. Nobody is forced to pay or watch.

[Cardinals1964]

Whatever the year the reality is clear. From the White House to the Outhouse it's a transactional world. Maybe it's always only been about the money and the values and traditions we treasured and counted on were an illusion and far more fragile than we believed.

For billionaires with billion dollar toys, fretting over the P/L has always been laughable. The value of sports franchises grows and grows as respect for the fans that make it possible shrinks and vanishes. Not an indictment, just sayin'.

I think it is a lot more true that some fans think billionaires SHOULD treat sports franchises as "billion dollar toys" that it is that most owners do actually think of them as such.

I’m not a millionaire, but I work hard and I can afford tickets to go see games. I don’t like the price of beer, but I’ll buy one or two. What Will keep me from going more is these games aren’t fun.
A few years ago when we had Albert Pujols and Yadi and Goldie and NAdo and Wainwright, and the rest of them, I loved watching those teams and went as often as I could. We had
Star power
Fundamentals
Chemistry.
Love for the game.
Household names
Franchise players
And winning more than we lost.

As a fan that checks the boxes for me to enjoy going. We’ve lost most of that and have nit replace replaced it. When will we?

Some could consider that being a fair weather fan.

But, if it helps I can PM you when we get 5 future HOFers back,