(10-29-2018 01:40 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote: It is amazing that Boston won with a payroll of "just" $237 million.
Worth noting that the Astros' 25 man was only $9 million lower in payroll than Boston's.
I'm biased re: Boston sports since I'm a huge fan but I've always laughed when Houston, Texas, Miami, San Francisco, etc fans gripe about the Red Sox's payroll when they all have an equal or greater metro area/market/fan catchment area.
Pittsburgh, KC, Tampa, etc fans I can sympathize more with.
It's amazing how one post can be so wrong.
The Astros' payroll was $180 million, a figure that is significantly lower than that of Boston's.
The media markets are close in size, with Houston at either #7 or #8 and Boston at #10. But, the key is the money paid for media rights to broadcast and telecast. According to Forbes, the annual value of Boston's media rights is about $114 million, while the Astros' 20-year deal nets them just $60 million annually.
Let's see .... $180 + (114-60) = $234. Hmmm ...
I've attached a screenshot of my data source with regard re: the 25-man roster payroll. Maybe its wrong, maybe its right. I'd imagine the difference between the overall payroll and 25 man payroll could be due to the absence of Dustin Pedroia and a couple others from the Sox's playoff roster.
With regard to the value of the media deal: I'm not sure what your point is... If Houston is a bigger media market, shouldn't they have a bigger media deal? Despite the Astros only really getting good in the last 5 years (vs. the Red Sox being successful for the last 20 which could tip the scales in Boston's favor), the Houston market is faster growing, younger, and more diverse than the Boston market, all things that I'd assume would be more attractive to advertisers.
Spotrac is a great site to look at salary totals if you're into that sort of stuff.
I see Houston and Boston's salaries for their main lineups being about the same. Both teams had 6 players with 10 million dollars salaries or higher in 2018. Boston had 3 in the 20's with Price at $30 million, JD Martinez at 23 and Porcello at 21. but once you get past those three, they drop down to Kimbrel at 13 and that's comparable to Houston (Verlander at 28 being the highest but then jumping down to Kuechel at 13 million after that).
A lot of Boston's money was for guys who were hurt (Pedroia's $16 million) or deferred money for guys no longer playing (Hanley Ramirez at 22 million and Pedro Sandoval's inexplicable $18 million).
Houston has done a good job in paying some money to get some quality players here the last couple of years, but the key will be what they do in the coming years when some of that young talents asks for the big money.
In terms of media money, Boston got more because I'm sure they draw bigger TV audiences. I'm convinced those days are coming to a close though - the TV revenue isn't going to continue to bring in those crazy contracts in the future.
But a big part of revenue today is also ticket sales and then multimedia revenue. Houston and Boston pretty much had identical attendances this year. I don't know how to see the MLB online revenue numbers but I'd be curious to see how they shake down.
It was fun to watch Holt do well and enjoy himself so much in this series. It was a great WS this year, and a fitting end to the season. Can't wait for 2019 MLB.