Owners Down $185 Million, but They’re Cutting Losses

Baseball owners lost approximately $185 million last year, the first full season after the strike, the Associated Press has learned.

With attendance down from prestrike levels, the 28 teams lost $875 million over the last three years, according to data obtained from a management source on the condition he not be identified.

But the 1996 bottom line was the best since before the 232-day players’ strike, with last year’s loss nearly half that of the 1995 season.

In 1993, the last full season before the strike, the teams combined for an operating profit of $36 million on record operating revenue of $1.87 billion. The following year, when the World Series was wiped out for the first time since 1904, the teams had an operating loss of $363.8 million on revenue of $1.21 billion.

In the 1995 season, shortened by three weeks because of the strike, the teams combined for a loss $326.3 million on revenue of $1.38 billion, according to final figures recently given to teams by the commissioner’s office.

Revenue rebounded to $1.67 billion last year, according to preliminary figures, but expenses rose to a record $1.85 billion.

Players, in comparison, came out relatively well following the strike, losing about $333 million in salaries and bonuses. Their average salary, $1.17 million at the end of the 1994 season, finally surpassed its prestrike level, increasing to $1.38 million on opening day this year.