Seattle P-I: Thiel - TV deal reflects Mariners’ strength

As hand-wringing commenced in earnest about a Sonics move to Oklahoma City, the Mariners and telecast partner FSN Northwest announced quietly Wednesday that they have extended their contract through 2020… [S]ources in the sports and broadcast industries say the total value is more than $450 million.

The current FSN deal, which was scheduled to expire in 2010, was worth about $300 million, which in 2000 was considered a breathtaking number. The new deal pretty much sucks the rest of the air out of the room.

“We continue to be amazed by it,” Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said Thursday. “We were one of the last teams in baseball to have a cable TV deal (in ‘94). Our biggest worry then was that the TV games would take away from home attendance.”

Instead, the telecasts over the years spread the Mariners gospel across a five-state, two-province monopoly that is MLB’s largest.
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After projecting a net operating loss for the 2007 season with an attendance of 2.3 million, the Mariners instead drew 2.67 million. As has been the case for every full season at Safeco Field, the Mariners were profitable, although Armstrong wouldn’t divulge the amount.

The Mariners budgeted a $99 million major league payroll in ‘07, but ended up spending about $113 million (lucky guy, that Jeff Weaver), and they still made money. Imagine how it would have worked if they spent the $113 million wisely and made the playoffs.