Last season the Red Sox spent more than $20 million less on their payroll than they did in 2007.  With the current economic climate the team does not have the income it had two years ago.  NESN viewership is down meaning ad revenue is down.  In addition John Henry's hedge fund is hemorrhaging money, so much so that he had to lay off a quarter of his staff.  He has entered into other areas like Nascar but money is even tighter there.  The Mark Teixeira negotiations may not have been a simple outmaneuvering by the Yanks; it is possible that the Red Sox just don't have the money to get the players they want.  Jason Bay and Matt Holliday are good players but they are not league MVP's.  If the Sox overspend on one of them they may be handcuffed in the future.  Look at how long Boston tried to get out from under Manny's contract.  Going long term on a high priced player carries a huge amount of risk and sometimes options even come back to haunt teams (didn't take Manny long to exercise his option with LA did it?).

The Yankees and Mets will be in on Bay and Holliday driving up the price.  How high will the Red Sox be willing to go?  Can they afford to land either of them?  Can they afford not to?  Theo does not have a blank check to spend this offseason so he will have to work some magic.

Comments (4)

VicF said:

... On the other hand... The Red Sox derive a substantial portion of their revenue from Fenway Park, which had sold out for hundreds of consecutive games, and will for the foreseeable future. Also, while ad revenues are down, I suspect ad rated for Sox games is negotiated over a number of years. I don't think, overall, that the team has seen much of a revenue drop off. Additionally, it is also true that many teams have financial woes. No one knows the full extent of the losses the Mets suffered in the Maddoff collapse. The Yankees have new debt on the stadium plus staggering commitments to players they signed last year plus ARod, plus the impending Jeter contract. Overall, I would say the team's financial position this offseason is relatively the same as previous years

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November 07, 2009
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nutballgazette said:

	Small Market Team? Sounds like Henry with his so-called money woes will turn the Red Sox into one of those Small Market Teams, Remember he did not have the cash to keep the marlins going.
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November 07, 2009 | url
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SoxMeRed said:

I dont think so..but who knows.. If John was concerned about a budget and money they would have not not-raised the seat value. In other words, Knowing the season will be sold out they opted to keep the price of fenway seats the same as the year before. They could have, not said they wanted to save us money because of the current situation. Having fenway the hotest ticket in boston, I predict the continue selling out record will come to a stop by 2010, Aug, 17th. Wow, weard, With out knowing, I went to see the schedule and the date I picked happends to be the start of the Angels searies at home. Please dont kill me if Im right, wowe is me.

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November 07, 2009 | url
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Red Sox Sonoma (aka Sonoma Dave) said:

	... I know there's still a lot of demand for tickets, especially when you factor in the Sox's perennial contention for the pennant. They'll still be selling out for a few more years.
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November 09, 2009 | url
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