Who is the worst owner in Boston?
Between Robert Kraft and John Henry- which of the Boston owners is the most frustrating?
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00:00Which, you look at on the one level and you go, my god, like how frustrating has this ownership group gotten?
00:06Where have they fallen to?
00:08And on the other hand, you could discuss what we were talking about earlier this week, Arkan.
00:12You owe us now.
00:13Now you owe us. You made your money, you made it hand over fist.
00:16Again, there are other outlets that you need to plug money into.
00:22I'm sure the upkeep at Fenway is astronomical.
00:25Like, I'm not telling you they made, whatever, approaching $300 million in profit.
00:29I'm not saying that's pure profit.
00:31It's not all profit.
00:32But the $500 million in revenue versus 2019 in payroll, 44%.
00:36It's a pathetic number.
00:37It's 20th in baseball.
00:39And, you know, the Yankees weren't much better, 47%.
00:42So if we were doing a show in New York, we'd be saying the same thing about the Steinbrenners that we're saying about FSG.
00:47But at least we can say for them that they're third in payroll.
00:50You know, like they're third in the league.
00:51It's still a bad percentage, but they're one of the highest spenders.
00:54The Red Sox are not.
00:55It's a good point.
00:55And they spend almost $100 million more on their roster than the Red Sox do.
00:59So fair point.
00:59It's a fair point, right?
01:00The ratio is poor, but they're spending way more on their roster.
01:04So good point by you.
01:05Okay, so there's that.
01:07Then, I'm reading pro football talk about it, so I set that aside.
01:10I go, that's interesting.
01:11I mean, we all know it, but here are actual numbers for FSG and John Henry.
01:15What they're investing in their team, what they're not investing in their team, revenue-generated.
01:19There's still a cash cow.
01:20People show up to Fenway Park and watch these games regardless, okay?
01:24So I don't want to hear about the model in baseball and how they're losing money.
01:27$500 million revenue.
01:30That's the number, okay?
01:31So I set that aside.
01:33Then, I'm reading Florio last night.
01:35Mike Florio has numbers from the Packers, who are publicly owned.
01:39It's a publicly owned team, so they have to open up their books.
01:42We know their numbers.
01:43We have no idea what Robert Kraft generates for revenue.
01:46We can guess, but we don't know.
01:48We know what Green Bay generates.
01:51The Packers had $403 million, almost, 402.3, I should say, in national revenue.
01:58That's the payment list that goes to every team.
02:00So we know what the Patriots generated in terms of national revenue.
02:03That's a shared number.
02:05Almost $13 billion divided by 32 teams comes out to $402.3 million per team,
02:12national revenue per year.
02:15That's a 7.5% bump from a year ago when the national revenue was just under $12 billion.
02:20It's also $127 million lower than last week's report of $13 billion,
02:24so a little under $13 billion.
02:26The Packers had total revenue of $654 million when you account for local revenue.
02:31And that's kind of the question mark for the Patriots versus Green Bay,
02:35or the Rams, or what have you, any team, versus Green Bay.
02:38We know what they made in local revenue, about $250 million.
02:41Still, despite a 44% million increase in revenue, profits dropped for the Packers.
02:46They spent more on their roster.
02:47They still made $60 million in profit, according to CEO Mark Murphy,
02:51which is, quote-unquote, fairly high range historically, according to Mark Murphy.
02:56So Patriots still have the most cap space in football.
02:59They barely spent on anybody outside of their roster.
03:02They make a ton of money.
03:04The Red Sox barely spent on anybody outside of their roster.
03:08They make a ton of money.
03:09Who's the more frustrating ownership group, Arkand?
03:12Is it Robert Kraft with his, oh, I don't know, 600-something in revenue last year?
03:16Who knows what in profit?
03:18Or John Henry, his 500-whatever revenue.
03:20Who knows what in profit?
03:22Neither one spends enough on his roster.
03:24We know they're both making money.
03:25Who's the more frustrating ownership group?
03:27I legit agonized over this, because they're both so frustrating.
03:30Like, it's hard to pick.
03:31It's hard to pick one or the other.
03:32And it took me a while to really come up with a reason here.
03:35But the reason I'm going with the Patriots is simple.
03:38It's because at this point in the respective ownerships,
03:42you're looking at, in the Krafts, a group that has had the team through good and bad,
03:48mostly good, and from the good times,
03:50they were considered the standard of the league for basically two decades.
03:54The Red Sox, you can't say that about.
03:55The Red Sox broke a curse.
03:57They won, you know.
03:58There was other teams that sort of won in between.
04:00They never were really a dynasty.
04:01There were other teams that were sort of dynasties around them.
04:04They did pass the Yankees, but it wasn't like the Patriots,
04:08where everyone sort of looked to them as the standard for how to run your team,
04:12how to draft players, how to do everything.
04:14I mean, it was really, they sort of set the bar.
04:17And the Red Sox never did.
04:18And the fact that the Krafts had such a slap-ass progression and plan,
04:26succession plan is what I meant to say there,
04:28of going from Tom Brady to whatever, and Bill Belichick to whatever,
04:33and now we're sort of left with this scrap heap of a team,
04:37at least with the Red Sox.
04:39I don't feel great about them eventually reloading,
04:41but that's sort of what they've done over time.
04:43Like, they've cheaped out, then they reloaded,
04:45then they let someone spend, and they sort of cheap out again,
04:48and kind of run like the Marlins used to do back in the day, you know,
04:50like when the Marlins win the World Series and then trade all their good players.
04:53Like, it was that kind of crap, which I don't like.
04:56But at least I'm like sort of used to it and accustomed to it.
04:59I'm not accustomed to this yet with the Patriots.
05:01And because of that, you still have Robert Kraft coming out like he's the everyman fan.
05:05Like, he really cares about the team, and money's no issue,
05:08and we didn't get Calvin Ridley because of finances.
05:10No, of course not.
05:11It's his girlfriend wanted to live in Tennessee or whatever the hell he said.
05:14And like, you know, stuff like that.
05:15So when you sort of see one group disappear from that and back away from that whole thing,
05:21which, let's be honest, John Henry never really was about that stuff to begin with.
05:25He was always riding in to save the day.
05:27He wasn't a Boston, like a fan of the Boston teams.
05:30He said as much.
05:30He was a Stan Musial guy.
05:32With Kraft, he really tries to make that connection.
05:35He tries to make that connection with the fans.
05:37He tries to draw you in with it.
05:39It's a big part of that entire presentation.
05:41And to see the way that he's running the team with that as his sort of,
05:44hey, look at me.
05:45This is how I'm running the team.
05:46This is what I'm all about.
05:47This is who the Krafts are all about.
05:49That's more frustrating.
05:50I don't know if it's worse, but it's more frustrating.
05:52I'm more frustrated with the Krafts too.
05:54And Arkan, you said you agonized over it?
05:56We are once again.
05:57We find ourselves in the extreme minority.
05:59Really?
05:59It's been going on all week.
06:00I've been not looking at the poll results because I want to be surprised by them.
06:03Whose ownership group, or who, which owner in town rather,
06:07are you more frustrated with?
06:08Robert Kraft or John Henry?
06:10It's a runaway more frustrated with the Red Sox.
06:13I can't believe it.
06:14And I'll tell you, and we'll update specific numbers coming up and give you
06:17some, you'll hear from people coming up as well.
06:20But at bare minimum, it shouldn't be that big of a gap.
06:24It is an agonizing decision.
06:25Again, there's, I'm sure, 600 plus million in revenue last year for the Patriots.
06:30Bare minimum.
06:31Who knows what their profits are?
06:32The Packers made over $60 million in profits last year.
06:35They spent more on their roster than the Patriots did.
06:39And so, I'd imagine the Patriots made more in profits.
06:42And yet, they tell you it's not about finance, not signing Calvin Ridley.
06:47They'll tell you that, oh, well, you know, football's a hard business and this and
06:50that, and we have other businesses to worry about.
06:52Same thing with John Henry, who made over 500 million in revenue last year and
06:56his 12th in payroll, despite being fourth in revenue generated.
07:00And so, they're both frustrating.
07:02It should be close.
07:03So, my real gripe would be with the gap in those results.
07:07But I'm more frustrated with Robert Kraft right now, right now.
07:12If in two weeks, Arkan, the trade deadline hits and
07:14the Red Sox have done nothing, and I mean nothing, or they sold or
07:18something like that, then I reserve the right to change my mind to be outraged at
07:22what they do at the deadline.
07:24And maybe I'm giving them too much of a benefit of the doubt.
07:27Maybe I'm high off the fumes from the All-Star game last night.
07:31I'm loving Jaron Duran, taking home MVP.
07:33The team's been playing well.
07:34Maybe I'm blinded by that.
07:36I admit that, maybe.
07:37But right now, I feel better about Red Sox ownership than I do about Patriots
07:41ownership, and I'm more frustrated by Robert Kraft,
07:44who did nothing this offseason, than I am about John Henry,
07:49who did nothing last offseason.
07:51But now I look at the team and I go, all right, maybe they were onto something.
07:54I'm frustrated they didn't pay, but at least their team is good.
07:58Yeah, I don't know that Robert Kraft's plan is gonna work.
08:00I don't know that his team's gonna be good.
08:02I'm more bullish on him the most, and I have him for six effing games.
08:07So I'm more frustrated with Kraft than I am with Henry.
08:10It definitely shouldn't be that big of a gap.
08:12You can vote at Jones and Meggo.
08:14You can dial us up, 617-779-7937.
08:18And I wanna know, will you flip if the Red Sox make a big move,
08:22like the inverse of what I just said?
08:24For all you voting Red Sox,
08:25will you change your mind if Henry invests at the trade deadline?
08:29Again, 617-779-7937.
08:32Real quick, Arkan, cuz we got a lot of this on social media, various feedback.
08:35Matt says the Patriots for sure.
08:37At least John Henry has told fans he's not spending money.
08:39He's been honest.
08:41Jason- It's true.
08:42I mean, again, that's what makes it more frustrating.
08:43Maybe that's not worse.
08:44Like it's worse to just say I'm not doing this.
08:47But what's more frustrating when you act like