The San Francisco Giants have an interesting couple of years ahead of them. It looks like they’re prepared to go all in to avoid another rebuild
Susan Slusser of San Francisco Chronicle was recently talking to people around baseball of the to find opinions on how the Oakland Athletics playing in Sacramento will affect the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate. In doing so, one agent actually shared an interesting prediction for the future of San Francisco baseball thanks to the Athletics leaving.
“In 10 years, the Giants are going to generate more revenue than the New York Yankees,” said the agent per Slusser. “They’ll have all the Bay Area, and half of the state. They’ll have their Triple-A team in Sacramento, their (Low)-A team in San Jose. They own their stadium, they’re developing around it. San Francisco, Oakland, Silicon Valley, Sacramento — the Giants are about to become the monsters of Major League Baseball.”
It wouldn’t be surprising to see scorned fans of the Athletics switching their allegiance to San Francisco after how poorly they were treated by Oakland’s ownership team.
More money will be music to the ears of those at the head of the Giants ship, as it would be to pretty much anyone.
They’ve already taken steps to building the team’s brand in the immediate future while putting their money where their mouth is for the next few years.
As of a March study released by Forbes, San Francisco was already the fifth most valuable team in baseball sitting at a $3.8 billion evaluation. That was a three-percent raise over where they were a season before.
Looking at the revenue generated, the Yankees did sit atop baseball with $679 million while the Giants brought in $443 million. That’s a huge gap and New York actually finished $130 million ahead of the second place Los Angeles Dodgers.
Adding all of the revenue that the Athletics brought in still wouldn’t put San Francisco ahead of the Yankees.
Despite being so high in the revenue rankings, the Giants were still just inside the Top-10 in terms of payroll for 2024. Investing more of the revenue into the team could jumpstart that growth and go a long way, even if they don’t overtake New York.
They’ve recently handed out big money contracts to third baseman Matt Chapman and rookie outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, but fans still want more action.
Bringing back ace Blake Snell on a long term deal could be the first step in showing that they are serious about competing soon.
