Yesterday, I attended an event where Sandy Alderson spoke to the Association for Strategic Planning and basically laid out what the Padres' Strategic Plan currently is. I was hoping to be able to do a complete writeup, but I don't have the time, so instead, I'll present points here and there as I can get them out.
First point...
Alderson took up the issue of signing free agent players. Fan attendance is expected to drop this season from 2.9 million to 2.6 million. Ryan Klesko's $10 million salary for this season equates to 500,000 fans (somehow).
He then talked about Barry Zito. In Alderson's view, in order to sign a guy like Barry Zito at potentially $10 million for a year, we'd have to somehow be able to say that he would be able to draw 500,000 extra fans.
Essentially, for every 50,000 fans through the gates in a season allows the Padres to spend $1 million dolars in player salary.
So my question... which incidentally I didn't get the chance to ask... What number dictates the other? Do we need 500,000 fans in order to spend another $10 million, or will spending another $10 million actually bring in 500,000 more fans?
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