On Oct. 9, Rockies owner Dick Monfort announced plans to build a party deck at Coors Field in the upper deck’s right-field seats rarely occupied over the past decade.
The money for the project will come from a surplus of capital construction funds and money the Rockies and the Denver Metropolitan Stadium District received from Aramark and RTD.
The announcement, meant to excite Rockies fans, triggered massive criticism on social media. Fans already upset with the team’s second straight last-place finish in the National League West were apoplectic that the first big offseason news was adding a party deck — not, say, acquiring a slugging first baseman or an ace pitcher.
Unrest among Rockies fans or not, Monfort isn’t about to make drastic changes to his business model.
This past season, the Rockies ranked 24th in baseball in opening-day payroll, a figure Monfort calculated at $84 million — his accounting includes in-season call-ups and free-agent additions — which amounted to 49.4 percent of the team’s $170 million in revenue. Monfort framed those figures in context with his business model, saying it’s his rule of thumb to spend “50 percent of revenue on the players’ salaries.”
For the 2014 season, he said he’s willing to stretch the payroll to about $95 million while attempting to add an impact bat, a starting pitcher and another reliever to join veteran LaTroy Hawkins, who was signed last month.
Given that baseball’s new TV deal begins next season, that $95 million payroll seems low. After all, each team will receive $54 million next year as part of baseball’s eight-year, $12.4 billion national television contract, including $27 million in additional money based on the previous contract.
To explain his thinking, Monfort, for the first time, provided The Denver Post with a line-by-line budget. He also explained why he isn’t about to spend all that new TV money next year. He said he is planning to receive $8 million less, or $19 million, believing a chunk will be kept for baseball’s central fund to compensate for last season. MLB said it was going to hold back money this past year for the central fund, but after owners complained, the money was not withheld, leaving Monfort to believe extra money will be withheld next year.
“I don’t know if other clubs are looking at it like that, but we are,” Monfort said. “We have been told (as owners), and I don’t know if it is scare tactics or not, that (each team) will pay that back this year. The way we are budgeting right now is that not only are we not getting that extra $4 million (like last season) but we will be paying back the $4 million from last year.”
The $18 million is additionally siphoned, Monfort explained, to pay $5.5 million to the MLB credit line for past loans, $5 million for player raises and $3.5 million to cover projected revenue loss from not having the Yankees and the Red Sox play at Coors Field, series that drew huge crowds this past summer at inflated ticket prices. That leaves approximately $4 million to $5 million in “new” money, and the ability to add about $11 million to the payroll, he said.
Stay tuned to TV contracts
The critical revenue vein that the Rockies haven’t successfully tapped as well as other teams is local TV money. The Rockies have a 10-year, $200 million contract that expires after the 2020 season, leaving them at a disadvantage. Based on recently negotiated deals, the Rockies will receive a significant boost in their next TV contract. The Rangers and Angels have new rights agreements that will pay them approximately $3 billion over the next 20 years.
This is why Monfort is determined, despite the outcry among Rockies fans, to stick with his philosophy. The Rockies are getting additional funds but so are all other teams. The Rockies, though, have been at the league’s bottom the past two years and haven’t played meaningful September games in three years. Asked how likely it is, with his business model, that the Rockies should reach the playoffs, Monfort said a realistic goal is “twice every five years.”
The Rockies’ most recent playoff appearance was 2009.
“I think (our plan) is working. Yes, we got last place. Yes, we were 10 games better,” Monfort said. “Yes, we had three pitchers, four starting pitchers, whose winning percentage was 61 percent. So if you had a fifth, just like the other four, and you had a bullpen that did its share of the deal, you would win 98 games. That’s a lot of games.”
The Rockies have operated like a small-market franchise since 2003, when the contracts of starting pitchers Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle, worth a combined $175.3 million, proved to be disastrous moves in free agency. The Monfort brothers, Dick and Charlie, took controlling interest of the Rockies before the 2005 season, purchasing former CEO Jerry McMorris’ shares. They immediately shifted the focus to a more “sustainable” business model, focusing on drafting and developing players. It worked in 2007, the team’s lone World Series season, and in 2009, but the Rockies have fallen back to the bottom since then.
This has been viewed as an offseason in which the Rockies could make a play for some big-name free agents. And they tried, making a six-year, $63 million losing bid for Cuban defector Jose Abreu. Monfort said Abreu was an exception to what he might usually pay because of his age (26) and power.
The Rockies made a surprising run at free-agent catcher Brian McCann, who signed a five-year, $85 million contract with the Yankees. They aggressively pursued 34-year-old catcher Carlos Ruiz (offering two years at $15 million, with a club option) before he signed a three-year, $26 million contract with the Phillies. They landed Hawkins with a one-year contract worth $2.5 million. Now they have shifted their focus to free-agent first baseman Justin Morneau, with talks expected to heat up this week.
Hawkins, 40, is coming off a solid year with the Mets, but he’s not exactly the big-name reliever Rockies fans wanted. Colorado is more apt to add a reliever through a trade, with center fielder Dexter Fowler attracting interest from multiple teams.
Tulo, CarGo deals too big?
The Rockies are treading dangerously toward a payroll imbalance, which Monfort acknowledged. They have four players (Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Jorge De La Rosa and Michael Cuddyer) projected to make slightly more than half ($48 million) the projected $95 million 2014 payroll.
Monfort said his projected payroll for 2017 is $114.5 million at a time when Tulo and CarGo will make a combined $40 million, creating the question about the viability of carrying both all-star players in the future.
“That’s a concern. Our model has been sort of like the college model. That every year you have four new players come (in), which means that all the time you have 12 minimum players and then you have 13 of the other,” Monfort said. “That’s the way the model is built. And last year, we had 13 or 14 and then we had some injuries so we had 15 or 16 minimum (salary) guys — rookies or second-year guys. One of the things is that we have too many young kids. When our young kids aren’t ready or are hurt, their substitutes tend to be young kids. We don’t tend to go out and get experienced backup guys. I think that’s a fault.”
For Monfort, while admitting his roster was far too young this past season, the dynamics aren’t changing and neither is his blueprint. It means the Rockies can win only if they spend their money wisely and have a farm system constantly churning out impact players.
But can they win that way?
“I would say my answer to that is that if Oakland, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay can win, yes, we can win,” Monfort said.
Troy E. Renck: trenck@denverpost.com
Swing and a miss
The Rockies haven’t signed a high-profile free agent this offseason, but it’s not because they haven’t tried. Here are three examples of teams determined to outbid the Rockies:
JOSE ABREU, FIRST BASEMAN
Offered a six-year, $63 million deal; signed with White Sox.
CARLOS RUIZ, CATCHER
Offered a two-year, $15 million deal; signed with Phillies.
BRIAN McCANN, CATCHER
Rockies made late push; signed with Yankees for $85 million.
Expense account
The Rockies have finished in last place in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history, a performance many fans trace to their payroll, which ranked 24th in MLB. Rockies owner Dick Monfort said his rule of thumb is “half of revenue for players’ salaries.” He broke down the team’s 2013 budget for The Denver Post:
| Category | Amount |
| Revenue | $170 million |
| Team Payroll | $84 million |
| Payroll of corporate staff, travel, pension/health insurance of all employees |
$25 million |
| Draft bonuses, international signings |
$12 million |
| Stadium operations | $12 million |
| Minorleague player development |
$10 million |
| Majorleague operations | $10 million |
| Ticket/marketing | $7.6 million |
| Scouting | $4.3 million |
| Debt service to MLB | $4 million |
| Umpires | $1.5 million |
| Spring training | $1 million |
| Community spending | $1 million |
| Total nonteam payroll cost | $88.4 million |
| Total cost plus payroll | $172.4 million |
Source: Colorado Rockies
