"Choose or Lose The A's" Meeting - June 20th 2006  Watch the video While many -- probably you -- were watching the epic Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks NBA Finals game, a giant handful of Oaklanders were holding the third meeting of a group called "Choose or Lose The A's". Hey, I didn't make up the title. That honor belongs That honor belongs to Robert Limon, who organized this effort which has picked up steam and will be marked by it's first event, a July 7th tailgate party at the Oakland Coliseum in the "B" parking lot. The group's idea is to drum up enough fan support to encourage elected officials to pay attention to and take real action leading to the retention of the Oakland A's in Oakland. This vlog shows one of the planning meetings of the group, of which I'm a member. But we encourage you to get involved in any way large or small -- even if it's just sending an email link to this vlog to someone you know anywhere in the World who's an A's fan. Drop me an email at zenabraham@aol.com
Oakland A's Posted $16 million Net Operating Income In 2005 - Sacramento Business Times
Oakland A's value improves, revenue at $16M Sacramento Business Journal - April 22, 2006 The Oakland Athletics -- the major-league parent of the Triple-A Sacramento Rivercats -- is valued at $234 million, No. 27 of 30 teams. Only the Florida Marlins, Minnesota Twins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays rank lower, with each below $230 million. But the A's are doing better, gaining 26 percent in market value from last year, according to the recently released report. The magazine says the ballclub's annual revenue is $134 million, the 24th-lowest in the majors. However, the A's enjoyed operating income of $16 million, about half of the major-league best of $34.6 million for the Cleveland Indians but far from the money-losing operations of the free-spending New York Yankees ($50 million operating loss), Boston Red Sox ($18.5 million loss) and New York Mets ($16.1 million shortfall). Despite the operating loss, the Yankees have the highest market value at $1.03 billion -- or about $400 million more than the Red Sox at No. 2. The San Francisco Giants, the Bay Area's other major-league team, finished at No. 11 with a market value of $410 million. The Giants enjoyed operating income of $11.2 million on revenue of $171 million in 2005. Team values increased an average of 15% for the second-consecutive season, with revenue of $12.1 million per team.
What do you think of the Oakland Baseball Simworld?
Hi, Please take time to give SBS and I your feedback on the sim. How do you like it? What changes can we install to make even better? Also, did you find the sim easy or hard? Why? Does it change the way you think about the business of baseballl? Thanks, Zen
 The Oakland Baseball Simworld was originally created as a tool to evaluate how new stadium proposals would impact the business of running the Oakland Athletics.
The equation base was developed when Zenophon Abraham, its creator, was Economic Advisor to Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris in 1998.
That year, the Mayor asked Mr. Abraham to find potential buyers for the A's franchise. At the request of one of the potential owners, Mr. Abraham created a five-year system
dynamics model of the Athletics organization.
That simulation, far beyond a spreadsheet, became the basis for the Oakland Baseball Simworld.
The simulation that you're about to use came to life after Mr. Abraham established a relationship with Forio Business Simulations. As both Mr. Abraham and the Forio principals
know, System Dynamics, and live in the San Francisco / Oakland Bay Area, they created a strategic alliance. When Mr. Abraham met University of San Francisco Professor Dan Rascher in June of 2002,
he also expressed an interest in Abraham's simulation work. When Abraham and Rascher met again after the Oakland Baseball Simworld was finished, they established Sports Business Simulations.
Simulation Objectives
The simulation has over 90 decisions that impact the baseball organization. What you're trying to do is "grow" the business of the baseball firm over a period from 2003 to 2018.
(SBS changes this each year to maintain a current base of team information and a 15-year play period into the future). Your objective is to achieve constant increases in franchise value,
without causing the firm to lose money in any given year, and maintain a competitive team on the field, winning playoff and World Series games‹if you get that far. You must do this within the
overall economic structure currently presented by Major League Baseball. The recently passed Collective Bargaining Agreement is represented here. But you can try different CBA agreements, too.
All of the observed macro fiscal patterns common to the A's organization are replicated here. Thus, this platform is perfect for evaluating different new stadium financing options and baseball
economic strategies, from high-payroll teams to low-payroll teams and other considerations.
To understand how to use the Oakland Baseball Simworld for your class, just read our curriculum section by clicking here.
MoneyBall and the Oakland Baseball Simworld
Michael Lewis wrote MoneyBall, a very popular book on the player selection and development process used by the Oakland Athletics. The Oakland Baseball Simworld is designed to permit the player to
mimic the high-player-development expenditure, low-payroll spending dynamics of the Oakland Athletics as one possible way to run the team and achieve good
results. You can better understand how team business models like that used by the Oakland A's work, using the Oakland Baseball Simworld in conjunction with the book MoneyBall. You can order MoneyBall here: |
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To try the Oakland Baseball Simworld over a one-day free trial, just click here: START SIM TRIAL. To buy an account for use in your class, just click here: BUY AN ACCOUNT.
It's $12.50 per student per class. Please e-mail SBS at info@sportsbusinesssims.com with other questions.
You may also contact Professor Dan Rascher and Professor Rod Fort of Washington State University, for questions on how they used the Oakland Baseball Simworld in their classes.
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