Cincinnati Reds cut front office staff

[westofyou]

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnat...l?surround=lfn

The Cincinnati Reds last week laid off “a handful” of front office employees and canceled plans to hire several additional staffers to handle pre-season administrative chores.

The cuts were in response to lower-than-expected revenue from pre-season ticket packages.

“Our volume is really good, but people are buying smaller plans. So, in response to that, we’re tightening up,” said Karen Forgus, senior vice president of business operations for the Reds.

The number of layoffs represented less than 5 percent of the Major League Baseball team’s front office work force, which typically ranges from 138 to 150 people during the year, Forgus said. The team has not lowered its ticket sales projection for the 2009 season, during which the Reds expect to draw more than 2 million fans.

That estimate could be revised based on the results of the Reds’ “Power Pack” sales initiative, in which fans can purchase 10 games in advance, including Opening Day.

“The wolf is not at the door,” Forgus said. “People are telling us they’re still going to come to games. They’re just going to buy them during the season.”

[jojo]

[url]“People are telling us they’re still going to come to games. They’re just going to buy them during the season.”

Why do I get the impression that while Forgus saying that he was also doing this

[BRM]

Why do I get the impression that while Forgus saying that he was also doing this

He better be praying for a fast start by the team too.

[cumberlandreds]

It's going to be interesting to see how poor teams attendance is this season. There could be some alarmingly low numbers.

[remdog]

“The wolf is not at the door,” Forgus said. “People are telling us they’re still going to come to games. They’re just going to buy them during the season.”

It just confirms that the Reds are tightening their belt in the face of what we are all going through in this economy. And it further enforses my thought that Jocketty got his funding pulled about two months ago.

As for people still coming to the games....yeah many still will but that doesn't mean as many will.

"They’re just going to buy them during the season." That remains to be seen. What's that thing about counting eggs before....? Selling that ticket today is more valuable than selling it in August.

Rem

[red-in-la]

I will say this, I am out of work right now and the wolves are pretty close to MY door.....I am however, (just made the first payment) buying MLB EI. Until the Reds start playing in Goodyear, that is the extent of my investment.

[Unassisted]

This should be no huge shock, as financial challenges are a fact of life across pro sports right now. Look at today's news in the NBA. The Reds might need an infusion like this before long.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...603674_pf.html

League Lines Up $200 Million to Distribute to Teams in Need

Friday, February 27, 2009; E05

The NBA has lined up $200 million to distribute to teams interested in additional cash, which the league considers a sign it remains strong in a slumping economy.

Between $13 million and $20 million will be available to each of 12 teams that have expressed interest in the funds, NBA Commissioner David Stern said yesterday. The money can be used for any purpose, including helping teams deal with operating losses incurred because of the economy.

It should not, Stern said, be construed as a bailout. At a time when credit markets have been frozen, investors saw the NBA as a safe bet. "It's exactly the opposite" of a bailout, Stern said. "This was a show of strength in the credit worthiness of the NBA's teams."

[REDREAD]

That's ok, all those front office employees do is just watch baseball games..

Seriously, I'm sad to hear that people are being laid off. Doesn't really give me a good impression of Cast. Sure, the team is selling less tickets, but they have a bunch of cash guaranteed from TV and revenue sharing. It's impossible for a baseball team with a payroll the size of the Reds to really lose money (without a John Allen accounting trick).
Pretty callous of the Reds to be sackng people when their financial grounding is not that bad.

[Chip R]

This should be no huge shock, as financial challenges are a fact of life across pro sports right now. Look at today's news in the NBA. The Reds might need an infusion like this before long.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...603674_pf.html

I don't want to stay on the NBA tangent but Bill Simmons wrote an interesting column about the financial hardships the NBA is going through and he's predicting a lockout by 2011. I wonder if this could happen in baseball.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/090227

[Cyclone792]

Sounds like they laid off about seven people then.

Now instead of burning a couple million by signing bad players, the Reds could have just not signed those bad players, saved those jobs, hired the additional front office staff they needed, and still likely saved a bunch of money.

FWIW, I'm one of those people that elected not to buy a season ticket package up front but told them "yea, I'll still go to some games ... " Of course, it wasn't the economy that made my decision for me, but rather it was the Reds stupid decisions by signing bad players.

[remdog]

Sounds like they laid off about seven people then.

Now instead of burning a couple million by signing bad players, the Reds could have just not signed those bad players, saved those jobs, hired the additional front office staff they needed, and still likely saved a bunch of money.

Not to mention marketing their product better.

Rem

[Roy Tucker]

PDoc wrote a fairly decent column about this issue...

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...40409/1004/col

and referenced a Fortune Magazine article...

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/18/maga...tune/index.htm

[bucksfan2]

That's ok, all those front office employees do is just watch baseball games..

Seriously, I'm sad to hear that people are being laid off. Doesn't really give me a good impression of Cast. Sure, the team is selling less tickets, but they have a bunch of cash guaranteed from TV and revenue sharing. It's impossible for a baseball team with a payroll the size of the Reds to really lose money (without a John Allen accounting trick).
Pretty callous of the Reds to be sackng people when their financial grounding is not that bad.

I just don't get comments or mindsets like this. You or I have no idea of the financial grounding of the Reds organization. You and I also don't know if the sacking of people was due to Castellini or a minority partner. Guys when a financial interest in the Reds didn't get to the point where they are by losing money. They aren't laying off people because they can. They are laying off people because there is a need to.

We have no idea about the financial details of the Reds cash flow. We don't know how the possible bankruptcy of Sirius Radio may affect cash flow. We don't know if FSN or ESPN has been forced to renegotiate their contracts with MLB because of decreased revenue. The NBA didn't open up a line of credit to their franchises and the franchises didn't take the money for the heck of it. They took the money because they needed money.

For the life of me I don't understand Castellini is held up to a different standard in this economy. He is probably more at risk than most to the recent economic downturn. So when he makes a move, similar to almost every other company in America, to lay off employees he is thought of as callous. And when he doesn't open up his pocket book this off season he doesn't want to win. Fact of the matter is we have no idea how baseball attendance will be this season. IMO the numbers weren't adding up revenue wise this year so the Reds were forced to make an unfortunate decision.

[remdog]

I, personally, don't see Catellini as callous.

However, I do see his moves as a confirmation that he is reining in costs and cutting budgets, i.e. Jocketty's ability to go after players.

I don't particularly blame Castellini, since he isn't the source of the downturn, but I am worried that he doesn't have the 'deep pockets' required to ride this out if the veggie market goes soft.

And that's the reallity of being a 'small market' team.

Rem

[marcshoe]

Given the other news reports today, it should be obvious that they're just doing this to free up money to sign Manny.

For a week.

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