Cardinals' owner DeWitt Jr.: 'Industry isn't very profitable'

[June 10, 2020]    St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr., whose franchise was recently valued at $2.1 billion, said in an interview Tuesday that the baseball industry isn't profitable.

DeWitt said there are other costs that are draining reported revenue figures despite an overall decrease in player salaries.

"The industry isn't very profitable to be quite honest, and I think they understand that," DeWitt said in an interview with 590 The Fan. "But they think, you know, the owners are hiding profits, and you know there's been a little bit of a distrust there."

Forbes offered a valuation of the Cardinals that puts the team in a tie for 47th with the Kansas City Chiefs in a combined list of franchise values across sports. At $2.1 billion, the Cardinals were projected to have an operating income of $65 million.

DeWitt said the Cardinals now have 400 non-player employees compared to 240 when he purchased the franchise.

"Don't think for a minute that the reduced payroll added money in the pockets of the owners, because it didn't," DeWitt said, adding that several areas led to an expansion of the team's employee roster and that with, "training, conditioning, promotional work, front office, analytics, it's a bit of a zero sum game."

DeWitt said the new Busch Stadium and surrounding real estate and entertainment development, Ballpark Village, is not a revenue driver. He said most new stadiums are not generating enough revenue to matter.

"The fact is, it generates more revenue and the more revenue the more money the players get, too," DeWitt said.

--Field Level Media

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