When Greg and Carrie Walton Penner acquired a 40% stake in the Colorado Rockies recently, there no doubt were many people who wondered why the Broncos’ owners would “waste” (or at least risk) a portion of their considerable wealth on a perennial loser like Denver’s Major League Baseball team.
A study by the Greenwood Village-based Common Sense Institute, released a week after the lifeline was thrown to Dick Monfort by the Penners, puts that transaction in a different light.
“A Top-Ranked Colorado Rockies Baseball Franchise Could Mean Economic Gains for Colorado,” reads the headline on CSI’s report, issued April 17.
Founded in 2010 as the Common Sense Policy Roundtable by a group of significant area business and community leaders, the Common Sense Institute (renamed in 2020) declares on its website: “We believe sound fiscal and economic research is essential to uphold Colorado’s economic vitality, future and individual opportunity.”
In CSI’s press release highlighting results of its study of the baseball team’s potential impact, the local think tank stated:. “The Colorado Rockies could generate thousands of jobs and bring hundreds of millions of dollars of economic activity to Colorado if they were Major League Baseball’s number one franchise.”
To back up that claim, CSI listed several “key findings,” including:
“A top-ranked Rockies team would generate up to $262 million more in Colorado consumer spending.
“Total home attendance would rise from 2.4 million to 3.5 million—a 44% increase.
“This could bring an estimated 55,000-275,000 additional out-of-state visitors. They could generate $35-$185 million in new direct spending during the regular season.
“A first-place finish could result in up to 11 home playoff games (which) could contribute $33-$55 million in visitor spending.
“Including indirect and induced effects from just out-of-state visitors, a first-place Rockies team boosts the state’s economy by 1,736-7,341 jobs, $193-$815 million in GDP, $120-509 million in personal income, and $318 million-$1.3 billion in output.”
Is owning the Rockies, whether in full or as the majority investor, really such a promising business move?
Denver is an indisputable major league sports town. It’s the smallest city in the U.S. with franchises in all four major sports. Yet all draw amazingly well.
The Broncos ranked second in the National Football League with an average of 76,585 fans per game. The Nuggets’ 19,286 fans per game ranked second in the National Basketball Association.
The Avalanche were eighth in the National Hockey League with18,067 per game. And the Rockies managed 26,751 per game despite losing 119 times, including 56 defeats at Coors Field.
Add to that, major league men’s and women’s soccer teams, each of which has attracted a crowd in excess of 60,000O for a recent game.
So, I agree with CSI’s premise that Denver COULD support a championship baseball team if the Rockies were to become one.
But I question its 3.5 million attendance projection.
The Rockies exceeded three million in home attendance for nine straight years after their inception. But since the proverbial bloom died, they’ve topped the three-million mark only once in 24 tries.
In the one year Colorado reached the World Series—admittedly in a late-season miracle—the club drew 2,376,250.
There’s also the question of stadium capacity. Major League Baseball says Coors Field seats 46,891. With Standing Room Only added, capacity is 50,144.
If all 81 home games were sold out, which isn’t realistic no matter how good the team is, total attendance would be 3,798,171. The SRO total (for all 81 games, also unrealistic) would be 4,061,664.
As for how many extra games a postseason could produce, it depends on how many the team would win.
I’m not an economist, so I can’t say whether CSI’s estimated job increases are realistic. Likewise, their projections for financial impact.
What I can say is that it will take ownership with virtually bottomless pockets to build the kind of team on which CSI bases its entire scenario—especially without a lucrative television contract.
And even then, there are no sure things. Just ask owner Steve Cohen who has spent a fortune of his fortune trying to turn the New York Mets into the kind of team CSI envisions—without success.
The Penners may fit the description. But they must first wrest control of the baseball team from Charlie and Dick Monfort. Dick will be the hardest sell.
And as someone close to the Broncos told me recently, “It won’t be at the expense of the Broncos.”
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Denny Dressman writes a weekly sports column for The Villager. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.