As you may notice from the chart, the Marlin's payroll as a percentage of team revenue is less than 1/2 that of the rest of major league baseball. From 2004-2008, the Marlin's payroll increased from $103 million to $139 million (+35%), but the team payroll from 2005-2009 fell from $60 million to $36.8 million. Over these time frames, the Marlins' revenue averaged $127 million, while the follow season's average payroll was a mere $26 million. What's really sad is that in 2006, the Marlins' payroll was below the $15 million mark. And yet, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is forcing the state to subsidize the Marlin's new stadium (by threat of moving). It is outrageous that the city is being strong armed into funding approximately 75% of the $645 million it will cost to build the new stadium in Miami. By contrast, compare this data to that of the Chicago Cubs.
Thank you to TBO for reading me each team's revenue from 2003-2008. It made compiling this data one thousand times easier. It is VERY difficult to find annual revenue streams for MLB, especially before 2004. Forbes has it's calculations of revenue per team on a single page from 2003 on, but it cannot be exported into an excel sheet nor is it totaled up for the reader. Thus, though not all of this information is technically "secretive," it is so practically speaking. This kind of information is not only interesting, but someone necessary if you ask me. Teams need to be more transparent about their earnings (MLB's figures (also not totaled for each season) are always less than those of Forbes) so the fans can really understand how much they are getting raped. Only then will Major League Baseball stop abusing the wallets of the average fan.
Sources: Cot's Contracts and Forbes.com
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