Empyreal Environs

All good things arrive unto them that wait — and don’t die in the meantime.
Mark Twain

I tried not to wait in vain for tonight’s game, and found some news to comment on.

Red Sox, Inc.
According to this article by Chris Snow in today’s Boston Globe, the World Champion Red Sox have generated an unprecedented volume of requests for the team’s players, executives, and owners to appear in various media outlets. Not only has the baseball management both on the field and in the front office vastly improved, but the business end of the club has been updated. Andrew Zimbalist, professor of economics at Smith College and author of Baseball and Billions, states that the Red Sox radically changed the culture of the team’s operations. “Basically, they’ve done everything exactly right,” said Zimbalist. “It’s an absolutely remarkable story. They’ve changed the corporate culture of the Sox. They’ve extended themselves into the community. They’ve opened up Fenway to the community.”

I was interested to see how the growth in value of the Red Sox and Yankees franchises compared over the last few years. Using valuations published in Forbes, I generated the following table. The past two years have seen the slowing in valuation growth for both, but more so for the Yankees, an organization that lost $17M in value from 2003 to 2004. In contrast, the growth in value for the Red Sox has slowed since 2002, but the Boston team’s value has never been significantly less than any previous year in the time range I was able to find data. Although it is unlikely that the John Henry ownership group will see valuations as high as George Steinbrenner’s club, the gap between the clubs has lessened in the last seven years.

1. Red line: Red Sox change in valuation from previous year in terms of percentage, with actual dollar values in millions at each point.
2. Blue line: Yankees change in valuation from previous year in terms of percentage, with actual dollar values in millions at each point.
3. Green line: Gap in valuation between the Red Sox and Yankees expressed in terms of percentage.

It is safe to say that the impact of the championship has not been taken into account yet, but when it does, I wonder how much closer the gap will be? Continued success on the field, promotion of Fenway Park and the surrounding areas as an alternate venue, and the further expansion of NESN’s programming are all factors that will keep the pressure on the New York American League club to remain competitive in all aspects of the rivalry.

Show Goes On
Thank you, Red Sox. This means more to Dave and I than you can imagine.