Profits high, payroll low for Pittsburgh Pirates

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette spent two months delving into the finances of the Pittsburgh Pirates, owned by a private company, to project “that the Pirates will make a $12.8 million profit in 2005.” The average Major League Baseball franchise generated about $4.4 million in profits last year, and the Pirates’ payroll has been among the lowest in the league – it increased by $1.4 million since 2004. The team’s managing partner said that “the team has chosen to apply most of that profit toward a debt that is estimated by knowledgeable sources at $110 million. The rest, he added, is being used for capital projects such as the $2 million scoreboard the Pirates bought for PNC Park this year.”