Is the Padres Spending Money Bad For Business?

Yesterday I wrote about how MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred questioned the San Diego Padres sustainability during his Arizona press conference. It turns out after the presser, he spoke more about the Padres with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

The following are a couple of excerpts from Nightengale’s article published last night on Manfred’s comments:

As a fan, I don’t care if Peter Seidler is going to be making a huge profit this season. What I and many other fans care about is if the club wins or not.

With that said, it doesn’t make sense for Manfred to know that the Padres—a team actually trying their best to win—are going to lose money this season regardless of how successful they are.

The only reason I can think of as to why Seidler would lose money is if the franchise doesn’t get their $50 million payment from Diamond Sports Group (which is linked to Bally Sports San Diego). According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Diamond Sports Group is expected to file for bankruptcy.

Beyond the bankruptcy situation, owning a Major League Baseball team that is trying to win doesn’t seem like a good business model if we’re going off of what Manfred is saying.

According to Kevin Acee, Manfred told the media that the Padres will be a payor into the revenue sharing system next year, meaning they will be giving money to the lower revenue teams. So essentially the teams spending the most money are the ones who have to get docked money.

Why should the Padres be penalized for trying to win?

The Padres are going to be generating record revenue this season and if they win a World Series, I think Seidler will be fine if he loses money like Manfred is saying he will.