It is well known that money is not a problem for many of the teams in the professional sports leagues in the United States, but this reality applies more to some than others, and there are clubs or teams that are at the heights of a value that can often seem unlimited. But this is not magic, but the consequence of good financial planning
This is the case of the current World Series champion, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who this offseason did not rest on their laurels and have been aggressively recruiting new talent, as if they had a bad season and needed to make adjustments to get out of a hole. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Dodgers are and want to remain a winning franchise and behave as such.
Dodgers continue to invest, not spend
The Dodgers’ great sin for many of their critics is the amount of money spent on high-value signings, but here the maxim of stretching the league to the limits applies, and as long as the franchise operates within the margins of the rules imposed by Major League Baseball, everything is fair game.
The Dodgers, however, are moving into what some see as dangerous territory, as they are holding up to $1.3 billion in deferred payments. But as long as this is allowed, the Dodgers will continue to bet on this business model that has so far not yielded bad results and, on the contrary, allows them to continue making signings within the market such as the multimillion-dollar contract with Japanese Shohei Ohtani for $700 million.
The million-dollar question is why many of the other MLB teams do not do the same if it is allowed by the rules of the game
High confidence in their fans
The Dodgers’ financial strategy is anchored in the trust they have in their fans, who respond in the expected way, attending the stadium, buying merchandise and taking their team to the heights of what is expected of a franchise of that size.
This was said loud and clear by the president and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Stan Kasten: “It’s really good when there’s a team that’s loved by its fans, that attends in record numbers, leading all of baseball in attendance, while that same team can be hated and lead baseball in road attendance. This is really good for baseball.”
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