After winning only 80 games last season, and after suffering off-season controversy in replacing a manager who was both beloved and despised, YS9 front office personnel were pragmatic about fan support going into the spring. Cash is going to be tighter than the Genius at a supper party, they said. The cash stream would be as down as a Nashville dream.
And they were right.
For much of the month of April, the Nine played to home crowds of 40,000 people, or about 66% capacity—at least 20% less than the level that fed Nine coffers for nearly a decade. “Our fans can sense bullshit,” one anonymous office worker explained. “They don’t want to give the team money if they’re just going to do is blow it on office parties.”
It turns out that the fans can also admit they were wrong, if not so much with their voices, at least with their pocketbooks. The Nine entered the month of June with a winning record and a stranglehold on the Heartland division, and suddenly the turnstiles started to sing the tunes of multiple sell-out crowds. As it stands, the Nine now lead the BBA in overall attendance with over 2.3M BIS (butts in seats), and in average attendance, at 53,536 per game. A glance at the team’s financial reports suggest revenue is now projected to be up $20M over last season, a total that makes officials breathe easier even if they haven’t heard from outspoken owner Bo Jordan on the issue.
OWNER POPS OFF , PRESSURE HELPS
Jordan has publicly kept pressure on the front office by suggesting the team should make up for last season’s debacle by winning it all this year. Of course, that’s what he said last season, too. Jordan may well be generous, but he didn’t get to the Hall of Fame by dealing well with loss. He has expectations.
“It’s important we keep money rolling in or he’ll cut the sugar stream off,” a leader in the Finance office said. “It was a near catastrophe last year. The wheels would have fallen off if it happened again this year.
If all that is true, and if the team continues to draw … if the result is an extension of the club’s winning ways, it’s possible that this year’s swashbuckling collection of young players may well be looked back on as saviors of a sort. Guys like rookie outfielder Jose Machado, and aging free agent Alfredo Salazar have put a charge into the team. Lucas McNeill’s bounce-back to star numbers and Carlos Valle’s recent streak. Curt Phillips suddenly arriving. Hard-nosed Brian Sullivan’s invisible super-power of the win, And more, of course. There’s always more in these kinds of Bromance stories, isn’t there?
They all could be seen as some kind of rag tag Justice League of baseball everymen who came together at the last minute possible to save the city from hardball ruin.
Assuming, of course, it’s real.
Assuming the team doesn’t collapse in the dog days.
And assuming the turnstiles keep singing.
