TV deal reflects Mariners' strength

When the Mariners acquired their first cable TV deal, it was for 25 games in 1994, only about half of which made the tube because tiles fell in the Kingdome and the players struck Major League Baseball. The sport, and Seattle baseball, couldn't have been much more dismal.

At the same time, the Sonics followed a 1993 season that ended in the Western Conference finals with a rollicking 63-win regular season featuring coach George Karl and a group of desperado players that was about one eye patch short of a "Pirates of the Caribbean" prequel.

With the Seahawks at the time in tatters under owner Ken Behring, there was no doubt which was the sexy local sports franchise.

Things, as you may have read, changed.

NBA commissioner David Stern has spent a fair part of the past month cheap-shotting the city and the state for their lack of obedience, while the Sonics, through no fault of the city or state, are off to their worst start in 38 years and threatening to become locally extinct.

Meanwhile, the Mariners, a franchise that MLB and a succession of owners tried for years to kill, have become so financially successful that the honchos seem almost embarrassed to admit it.

As hand-wringing commenced in earnest about a Sonics move to Oklahoma City, the Mariners and telecast partner FSN Northwest announced quietly Wednesday that they have extended their contract through 2020 featuring one of the great numbers in cable TV sports history.

The deal is so good neither FSN nor the Mariners want to comment publicly on the amount. But sources in the sports and broadcast industries say the total value is more than $450 million.

The current FSN deal, which was scheduled to expire in 2010, was worth about $300 million, which in 2000 was considered a breathtaking number. The new deal pretty much sucks the rest of the air out of the room.

"We continue to be amazed by it," Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said Thursday. "We were one of the last teams in baseball to have a cable TV deal (in '94). Our biggest worry then was that the TV games would take away from home attendance."

Instead, the telecasts over the years spread the Mariners gospel across a five-state, two-province monopoly that is MLB's largest. In turn, TV familiarity has helped draw regional vacationers to a pleasant ballpark that helps celebrate the world's greatest summers (except for the last one).

After projecting a net operating loss for the 2007 season with an attendance of 2.3 million, the Mariners instead drew 2.67 million. As has been the case for every full season at Safeco Field, the Mariners were profitable, although Armstrong wouldn't divulge the amount.

The Mariners budgeted a $99 million major league payroll in '07, but ended up spending about $113 million (lucky guy, that Jeff Weaver), and they still made money. Imagine how it would have worked if they spent the $113 million wisely and made the playoffs.

Granted, the FSN deal isn't as glamorous as acquiring a good starting pitcher. But it's a development that improves the chances of getting one -- you know, the elusive Mariner who can pitch into the seventh inning with an ERA under 5.00.

"This is the kind of deal that allows us to be competitive in player payroll," said Armstrong, who cited the fact that at the All-Star break the club was seventh in MLB payroll, compared with being 14th in national market size. With that kind of money, a team can afford to pay Arthur Rhodes $1 million not to play and Richie Sexson $15 million to play poorly.

The P-I first reported the deal in March, but the contract was not signed until late September, partly because of an ownership change at FSN and partly because of the complexity of the deal that required heavy lawyering, according to Armstrong. And the original reported contract value of $300 million turned out to be considerably shy.

The fact that big TV revenues failed to translate into a postseason appearance didn't bother FSN. For a 24/ 7, year-round sports network, it's all about programming -- the 150-plus events are gold.

As to why FSN, which has contracts with 17 of the 29 U.S. MLB teams, would deal in half-billions in the game's most remote outpost, the Mariners' average rating of 9.0 after April was the highest number for any program in the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett market, topping all broadcast competition as well as cable.

The overall rating of 8.2 was second in MLB to Boston's 12.2. From 1996 to 2003, the Mariners led baseball every season.

Ratings are so good that the Mariners considered creating their own regional sports network, pursuing other programming (Sonics, Pac-10 and high school sports) that FSN uses to fill around baseball season. An RSN, which has worked in a few areas nationally, was seen as a threat sufficient to move FSN into the big-boy club.

"We're thrilled, (but) we had to make a really significant investment," said Mark Shuken, FSN Northwest's senior vice president and general manager. "We had to come up with a figure that was fair for the Mariners and that our new owners (Liberty Media) would abide.

"We knew our new owners aren't acquiring us to lose money, and we knew the Mariners had other options. So we came up with a thin margin, but it makes both sides happy."

It's a giant commitment, but FSN probably looks at it this way: If the woebegone Colorado Rockies can reach the World Series, the Mariners by 2020 figure to land one other starting pitcher besides Felix Hernandez.

That means they'll stay in a pennant race until at least mid-September.

Yow. Imagine the ratings then.