Attendance to Date: 12.5% Over 2011

[wildcard]

Here is my guess:

Projected O's 2013 salaries

1) 15.35m Markakis

2) 10m Roberts

3) 8.833m Jones

4) 8m Reynolds

5) 7.416m Hardy

6) 6M Hammel

7) 4.070m Wada (starts the year on the DL)

8) 4m Wieters

9) 4m J Johnson

10) 3.655m Chen

11) 2m Andino or trade for a 2b/3b

12) 2m McLouth

13) 1.7m O'Day

14) 1.5m Davis

15) 1.45m Matusz

16) 1.3m Patton

17) 1.245m Bundy

18) 1.2m Ayala

19) 1m Hunter

20) .6m Reimold

21) .6m Teagarden

22) .5m Strop

23) .5m Gonzo

24) .5m Tillman

25) .48m Machado

26) infielders

27) .16m S Johnson

Total 88.059m

That is without Betemit who is owed $2m but I think gets traded.

[Ampontan]

Saunders could well be in there too.

[Going Underground]

The anemic season ticket numbers have a lot to do with it. We don't have that baseline cushion of guaranteed sold seats. However, you're absolutely right that some of those games had terrible attendance. I do think that part of the season was the turning point though, as the team has had at least a couple epic collapses in July and August and I can't help but think that the ghosts of 2005 were scaring a sizable number of fans away. With what I expect will be far more impressive season ticket numbers next year, expect it to turn around some.

The Twins are a prime example of season tickets sold. The Twins are terrble but sold about 24,000 season tiicket packages and 2.2 million seats before the season started.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/blog/sports-business/2012/01/twins-ticket-sales-down-but-still.html

[bird watcher]

I haven't analyzed it, but the Orioles will spend significantly more money on several players they already have, like Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Johnson, Hammel and others. I don't care too much exactly what they spend, so long as the moves make sense. I don't want to see spending on players who won't earn anything close to their deals, or who make no strategic sense.

I haven't analyzed it, but the Orioles will spend significantly more money on several players they already have, like Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Johnson, Hammel and others. I don't care too much exactly what they spend, so long as the moves make sense. I don't want to see spending on players who won't earn anything close to their deals, or who make no strategic sense.

That was definitely worth saying twice. Additional payroll will enable us to keep our current core in tact which has immense value even if it lacks the splash of a $150 million dollar FA. This is especially true given the youth on this team. We have a bunch of guys that have not yet entered what is likely to be there most productive years given their ages.

[hoosiers]

Fangraphs: Orioles winning season paying off at the box office

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/orioles-winning-season-paying-off-at-box-office/

Estimates an additional $8 Million in ticket revenue this season:eektf:

An excellent article. IMO, indirectly, this validates criticisms I have had of our marketing department. They should have been doing games with roll-back pricing in July and

August until demand picked up with the winning.

I agree with comments that increasing payroll is not a ticket to winning, but IMO we are seeing some credible signs of a higher payroll capacity. If our capacity is around $90M-$95M now, I think we can add the $8M in increase ticket sales with at least $7M (my number) in higher parking, concessions and at least a $20M increase (possibly double that amount) in higher MASN revenue. I would estimate that our payroll capacity is now in the ballpark of $125M based on this year's attendance. If we had a similar increase in attendance next year, I believe we are looking at something approaching $140M. The numbers get pretty big if we start talking about attendance of 3M or more.

All this assumes our current payroll capacity is supported by the revenue streams without support from our owner.

[OFFNY]

o

2012 ATTENDANCE:o 2,102,249

AVERAGE PER GAME: 25,954

O

I only went to 3 games at OPACY this year , so thank you to all of my fellow Oriole fans that pushed us above the 2 million mark in 2012, as well as above the 25,000 per game mark. :clap3: