In Tracy Ringolsby's article this morning, Charlie Monfort pointed out a couple of interesting tidbits in regards to the Rockies revenue stream as we enter our post NL Championship season. Of greatest note is the fact that single game ticket sales are over 20% higher than the year ago pace at this time. This is a good sign, as is the optimism around a possible Matt Holliday extension:
"You never know if the negotiations will work out or not but, obviously, we want to keep Matt," Monfort said. "Our team is young and it has had success, which we feel is important to Matt. Matt likes Colorado. He has bought a home in Denver. He likes the players on this team and the organization. The piece that is missing is financial.
"Hopefully, that can be resolved in the next year or so. Our intention is to come up with a contract that both sides feel is fair and allows the relationship between Matt and the Rockies to continue."
If you can recall the weeks that led up to the Jason Jennings trade, you'll know that Monfort usually lets a little more realism creep into his assessments if he feels there's no chance at a contract, and in fact, in the past he's been less sunny in his outlook regarding keeping Holliday, but clearly the influx of cash has him a little more upbeat.
While that 20% plus increase in the number of tickets sold is right in line with the 25% increase in player payroll this year, remember that this is also on top of a healthy price increase, so you know the team's still coming out ahead here. So long as the Rockies don't flop out of the gate, that trend should continue into the summer. The simple math of this makes it clear why a team that's pledged to stay cash flow positive should suddenly feel more at ease with the prospects of signing a superstar like Holliday.
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