Sad news:The Cardinals’ ownership committed yet another error with their tone-deaf and blasé remarks.
An important disclaimer: I have met and interviewed St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III numerous times, and while I don’t know him well, I have always felt that he is a responsible executive who understands the market dynamics and takes the responsibility of overseeing one of the most important and historically significant teams in the history of the game seriously. He has always seemed to me to be superior to and different from baseball’s wave of second generation mediocrities, such as your Mark Lerners, John Angeloses, and Hal Steinbrenners, who have inherited their dazzlingly golden geese only to complain in public about having to pay for them.
You may gauge my level of astonishment at his recent remarks about the outraged reactions of Cardinals supporters by starting from that baseline, then. Maybe I’ve always been a sucker. During a recent interview with Martin Kilcoyne, which aired on the Scoops Sports Network (full disclosure: I was once a paid contributor to that website), DeWitt burst out laughing and said, “I sometimes laugh at comments that say things like ‘we have to show up to show the owners that this isn’t acceptable.'”
He went on, “I think that one is a little nonsensical since we’re basically turning this revenue generator into a payroll processor. This business is exactly what it is, after all. Generally speaking, we aim to generate as much revenue as possible before putting it on the field.
Those three phrases include enough misinterpretations and misunderstandings to fill a newspaper page, but at its core, they convey a mindset that places the relationship between a sports owner and a sports fan squarely backward. Teams spend money on players to get fans to spend money later; they don’t invest in players because fans allow them to. Payroll is not driven by the gate; rather, it drives it. That is how it is intended to operate. Otherwise, you ought to be holding a dividend check if you have purchased Cardinals tickets for the last thirty years.
An interview request sent through a Cardinals media relations staff member was not answered by DeWitt. The majority of Kilcoyne’s interview focused on recent, careless remarks made by DeWitt, which gave rise to an exaggerated article in the Riverfront Times about the team’s attempt to obtain public funding for repairs and improvements to Busch Stadium. The podcast and the story both avoided discussing the obvious factor that will motivate this pursuit: sports betting.
Kilcoyne was informed by DeWitt that the team would anticipate revealing a plan in approximately a year. The team was part of a group of professional teams from across the state that supported the endeavor to collect signatures for a referendum that would legalize gambling in November. DeWitt even managed to fit in a lobbying visit from Fredbird between his appearances at kid-focused events.
In a year, it is highly probable that sports betting will be allowed in Missouri, and the Cardinals will be well on their way to building a physical sports book at Ballpark Village or the stadium itself. They plan to use the proceeds from this venture to fund stadium upgrades.
Given the round defeats at the polls this spring by the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals, the Cardinals should have the good sense to negotiate a deal that maximizes fan enjoyment while minimizing direct financial hardship. The public funding used to build the nearly 20-year-old stadium was not burdensome as those things go. However, the underlying presumption of unwavering support and the team’s potential behavior when it is put to the test are worrisome.
Even if early attendance at the stadium was historically low, the Cardinals are still one of baseball’s biggest draws. Notwithstanding their dismal record and inconsistent weather, they have averaged 36,849 spectators at home games. In the majors, that is good for sixth place. It is also probable that attendance is not as strongly correlated with success as the team would have supporters believe given that they are not among the top 10 in salary.
In the end, payroll isn’t the problem either. For the second straight season, the team is on course to end at an all-time high. They are not the Royals, but they also don’t spend like the Dodgers. The questions still surround how baseball operations are run, how much money is spent, why player development is so much behind the competition, why mediocrity would be an improvement, and why the current ownership group has allowed itself to be in charge of what may be the team’s most uncompetitive era in sixty years.
The only thing that has kept the Reds from plunging to the basement of the division during the past two years is the collapse of the Cardinals. Castellini, on the other hand, has mostly remained quiet and has apologized. When his father, Bob, retires or goes away, he will almost probably take over as the Reds’ club manager. You can sure that as soon as he does, rumors about the team possibly being sold will begin.
The Cardinals supporters undoubtedly fared better with the Cincinnatian whose interest was retained than with the Castellinis, who had previously been a part of the St. Louis ownership group. DeWitt has stated that the family plans to control the team indefinitely and has alluded to a succession plan behind his 82-year-old father in recent weeks.
Therefore, he would be wise to exercise caution to avoid waltzing into too many more needless potholes. The floor has remained stable, despite whatever the Cardinals’ support may have declined during the previous two years. Not since the pandemic-affected 2020 and 2021 seasons has Busch Stadium reported fewer than 30,000 fans in attendance. Even though it’s still impossible to purchase any Sonny Gray or Masyn Winn memorabilia at the ballpark, Redbird supporters are making a big show of themselves and spending more money than they have ever had to on anything associated to the team. Even with a losing record, a team is still making a lot of money.
That’s all for now. Finally, let me say that this support is neither required nor final. When the chips are down, fans might be about to learn just how much the Cardinals believe they owe. Nobody will be laughing at the bottom of the fall.
That’s all for now. Finally, let me say that this support is neither required nor final. When the chips are down, fans might be about to learn just how much the Cardinals believe they owe. Nobody will be laughing at the bottom of the fall.
