Moorad Interview

Good interview with Jeff Moorad at bizofbaseball. To find the Q&A, scroll past Jeff's bio, which is slightly longer than Leonardo DaVinci's.

I especially liked Jeff's response to this rather leading query:

Q) When you joined the Diamondbacks in 2004, how would you best describe the state of the organization?

A) "...the franchise had enjoyed tremendous success, and at that time was experiencing significant financial challenges".

Wow. Not even a whisper of the 111 losses?  Nor does he brush aside the broad-based, historic run of expansion franchise triumphs, with "Well, the World Series was nice, but..."  Even though a strong case can be made that several of Colangelo's less heralded squads were superior to the best Red version to date, it's okay Moorad later pats his own group on the back, because unlike many Sedona stylings which mischaracterize the state of the franchise when usurped, at least here Moorad gives Colangelo his due. Jeff called it "tremendous success" - and it was.

Significant financial challenges? That's fair and non pejorative. Not, " the franchise was in complete shambles and we rebuilt it from scratch because we were the only people capable of doing so."  Regardless of who our fractured fan base thinks should be running the franchise - or exactly how - we should all recognize that the large deferred contracts had to be curtailed and the resulting debt incorporated into the club's cost structure.

Biz then asks Jeff about whether increased revenues (ie FSN contract) and most of the deferred money coming off the books will make Arizona more of a player in the free agent market.

Predictably, Moorad says no, suggesting reluctance is more a structural function of being a mid-market club - but that's not what I want to zoom in on. He also said this:

"We do have a unique ownership situation, in that it's a community based ownership group that's not driven by annual profits."

Gee, one might almost think the cabal is running the club as a non-profit or public service.  According to Forbes, this group has realized a profit every year, win or lose, despite suppressing single game ticket purchases. This profit thing isnt a coincidence, folks - that's the model.  I'm not saying profit is the sole endgame, to the exclusion of all other goals, or that it's magnitude or singlemindedness rivals that of Jeffrey Loria - but it's a bit coy for an owner who's turned an operational profit every year to claim his group is "not driven by profit."

In addition, the market value of the franchise is growing by leaps and bounds, apart from annual profit and loss.  According to Forbes, the team Jeff's partners bought for $238M in 2004 was valued at $339M after the dismal 2006 season, and is sure to be worth closer to $400M today. The truth is, these guys are making a mint.