At the conclusion of last season, fans of the Arizona Diamondbacks were celebrating the Valley of the Sun's first major professional sports championship. Now they may be looking at the other end of the spectrum, and it has nothing to do with what happens on the field.
A baseball strike would hit the Valley hard, and the effects will be felt beyond the cozy confines of Bank One Ballpark.
Arizona baseball fans experienced the exhilaration of a World Series title for the first time last fall when the Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees in seven games.
Now it's another new experience - they're smack-dab in the middle of an all-out labor tug-of-war, one that will lead to a strike by the players on Aug. 30 if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't reached with the owners.
During the previous work stoppage, which began in August 1994 and lasted until the spring of 1995, fans here watched from afar and waited for their favorite teams to return to play.
This one hits closer to home, emotionally and economically. The field of dreams could become the field of nightmares....
It starts with the team itself.
After facing numerous financial challenges since becoming an expansion franchise on March 9, 1995, the Diamondbacks could lose an estimated $19.2 million in revenue should the players walk out and not finish the season, according to an Arizona Republic analysis.
Managing General Partner Jerry Colangelo declined to talk about potential financial losses in fear of violating baseball's threat of a $1 million fine for openly discussing the labor negotiations.
"We will not speculate on anything," Colangelo said from Chicago, where the Diamondbacks wrap up a three-game series against the Cubs today at Wrigley Field.
"I don't want to talk about what-ifs."
The team, which claimed to lose $44.4 million last year despite winning the World Series and had to make cash calls in prior years, would suffer extensive losses in ticket, concession and apparel revenue for its final 16 home games, which includes series against the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The team is averaging an attendance of about 39,643 a game, second best in the National League behind San Francisco, and the average ticket price is $19.50.
That translates into an average per-game ticket loss of $773,038 - approximately the same as outfielder David Dellucci's annual salary.
Concessions and apparel sales average about $10.80 a game, or $428,144 in per-game losses if there's a strike.
Add it up, and the losses are approximately $1.2 million per game, or $19.2 million for the rest of the season.
With a big lead in the NL West Division, the Diamondbacks could be headed for another championship run. But eliminate the postseason, and the losses mount, considering the team made at least $13 million from its World Series run last year.
Beyond the effect on the team itself, there are the businesses that are associated with the Diamondbacks, both directly and indirectly. This means everyone from concessions vendors inside the BOB to parking lots and restaurants outside.
Mike Haasch, general manager of Jackson's on 3rd, said a strike could hurt business into next year because fans could be so upset they might not come back next spring, even if there is baseball.
"If the month of September is gone, then I have serious issues," Haasch said. "You don't replace those dollars. There is no way to make that up."
Haasch said his establishment draws between 1,500 and 2,000 on game nights.
"We get a group that comes in before to eat dinner and drink and some to come in and celebrate or not be in traffic," Haasch said.
The sad reality of a possible strike is that the people most impacted will be those on the fringes. The players will eventually come back, but I wonder how many businesses will fall by the wayside in the meantime?
