With Attendance Falling, Phillies Could Look to Cut Budget

It may not feel like it for Phillies fans, but October 27^th will mark the five year anniversary of their World Series Championship win. A lot has changed since that chilly fall night when the Phillies won in a three inning suspended game.

 

Brad Lidge and Pat Burrell were never the same and have long since retired. Jamie Moyer celebrated a 50^th birthday and President Obama is serving his second term in office. The Phillies have had some big names come and go such as Roy Halladay, Raul Ibanez, Roy Oswalt and Cliff Lee, twice.

 

Still, they declined in each of the next three seasons before missing the playoffs last year.

 

Even while falling short of goals, a core group of players such as Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Cole Hamels have helped Philadelphia to set a National League Record with 257 consecutive regular season sellouts.

 

That streak has long since ended and Phillies Concession Supervisor, Joe DiBello can see the difference. “Sales are way down and I only see concession numbers on my six carts each night. But, you can look around and see a lot of green (referring to the color of the seats) throughout the stadium. It’s not nearly as electric as it was say two years ago.”

 

The Phillies came into the season with the third highest payroll in MLB at a little over $165M. They trail only the huge markets of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers.

 

“Things just don’t feel the same in the park. It was a really disappointing season last year and this hasn’t started any better. It doesn’t surprise me that attendance and all is down. There’s times when this team can be painful to watch,” said DiBello.

 

Analysts have begun to question if the Phillies have gotten too old, as they have the 5^th oldest average age in the league. If players are producing, this doesn’t matter. However, a record of 9-14 and sitting in fourth in the NL East isn’t helping to prove these analysts wrong.

 

DiBello feels that “the team has lost a lot of confidence over the last year. I remember when you would watch games and just wait for the Phillies to come back from behind and win. Now I wait for the bullpen to come in and blow a lead.”

 

If the Phillies don’t start turning things around, the question becomes is it worth having one of the highest payrolls in baseball to go along with a losing record and declining attendance?

 

If Phillies General Manager Reuben Amaro decides against it, the team has already proven they are willing to be sellers at the trade deadline. Last year, the Phils shredded salary and got younger by trading away outfielders Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino, as well as pitcher Joe Blanton for multiple prospects.

 

Those moves may have put the Phillies in position to sell again this year. Rumors have swirled that one of the first moves could be Cliff Lee who’s making $25M this season. This would be the second time in Lee’s career that the Phillies would trade the All-Star, after shipping him to Seattle in 2009.

 

Reuben Amaro has proven that he wants to keep the big three intact multiple times over the last few seasons. However, it may be time for the Phillies to get younger and begin building for the future.

 

The good news for fans is that we are only 23 games into the season and the Phillies still have three months until the trade deadline is here and real decisions need to be made. However, if things don’t turn around soon, this core group of Phillies will be placed into the history books with the likes of the 1980 team. Unfortunately, they only captured one World Series five years ago.