Q: What do you do when a sports teams' owners don't care if they win?...
In 2009, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed their 17th consecutive season below .500. This marks the longest consecutive losing streak in the history of US professional sports. The Pirates have not had a winning season since 1992. This unprecedented run of losing seasons has occurred despite the completion in 2001 of PNC Park, ESPN Page 2's #1 baseball stadium in America. The Pirates home, PNC Park, was paid for at a cost of approximately $230 million, by the City of Pittsburgh and its' taxpayers. In the 9 years since moving to PNC Park the Pirates have a combined record of 612 Wins & 843 Losses. A resoundingly bad investment in terms of performance.
Throughout the losing streak, the Pirates have been owned and managed by a consortium including Robert Nutting and formerly Kevin McClatchy. The current leadership headed by Nutting, has perfected the practice of fielding low paid teams because ownership is not worried about overall performance. In 2008-2009, the Pirates payroll was in the bottom 3 of the league according to USAToday. So what do you do when a teams' owners don't care about winning or about the city?
A: You Fire Them!