Just last week, I wrote about the impending flood of local TV moneys. Within, I suggested (by way of a hypothetical comparison) that the Padres might get $30 million per season in their next deal.
Well, they're going to get even more than that. As Jay Posner writes, it looks like their haul in 2012 will be significantly greater:
The Padres will receive a rights fee worth $30 million in the first year of their new 20-year television deal with Fox Sports, a source familiar with the contract said Tuesday.
The source added that when other factors, including a "signing bonus" and 20-percent equity in the new Fox Sports San Diego, are considered, the club could receive as much as $40 million this season.
The Padres were paid about $15 million last year in the final year of their contract with Cox Communications' Channel 4 San Diego.
From $15 million to $40 million ... You can buy a lot of baseball player with an extra $25 million. Of course there's one little problem with this mathematics: The Padres won't be the only team getting a big bump in TV revenues. They might get a little edge in 2012 -- though it's really too late for that, unless they're somehow contending in July and desire an expensive player on the trade market -- and perhaps in 2013, too. But it's just a matter of time until the Dodgers and the Giants get new deals that will dwarf the Padres'. And then everyone's right back where they started, except if the deals are big enough the Padres might find themselves even worse off, financially, than before.
My guess? Ultimately, the revenue-sharing system will be adjusted to account for the coming disparities -- I mean, the growing disparities -- in local TV revenues.