CHICAGO • Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts wants baseball fans to know the league is facing "biblical losses" this year.
Major League Baseball (MLB) players and owners are in heated negotiations about the financial split involved in a return to the field during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to ESPN and USA Today, some owners have proposed a reduced season of 40-50 games, while others will only consider a normal 82-game season if a sliding pay scale - which would bring heavier salary reductions for the highest-paid players - is implemented.
Regardless, Ricketts told ESPN on Tuesday that teams will be operating at a loss or breaking even at best and the dire financial situation has been exacerbated by the likelihood of games being played behind closed doors.
Last year, one-third of the MLB's US$11 billion (S$15.38 billion) revenue came from gate receipts.
"The scale of losses across the league is biblical," Ricketts said. "The timing of the work stoppage, the inability to play was right before the season started. We're looking at 30 teams with zero revenue.
"To cover the losses, all teams have gone out and borrowed (money). There's no other way to do it in the short run.
"In the long run, we may be able to sell equity to cover some of our losses but that's in the long run. Who would invest at the moment?"
While he supports the league's attempt to get a season that has yet to start back on track, he told ESPN playing games without fans assures more losses.
"Here's something I hope baseball fans understand," he added. "Most baseball owners don't take money out of their team. They raise all the revenue they can from tickets and media rights, and they take out their expenses, and they give all the money left to their general management to spend.
"The league itself does not make a lot of cash. There is a perception we hoard cash and we take money out and it's all sitting in a pile we've collected over the years. Well, it isn't.
"Because no one anticipated a pandemic. No one expects to have to draw down on the reserves from the past. Every team has to figure out a way to plug the hole."
He confirmed the Cubs are staring at 20 per cent of their usual targeted revenue this year.
REUTERS
