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San Diego
March, 2009
Gene Perkins was in a cold sweat when he entered Franklin's office. Obviously, last year's spending hadn't done much for the financial condition of the Chargers.
Franklin gestured toward a chair. "Sit down, Gene. What's the bad news?"
Perkins handed him a financial report. "I just got off the phone with the bank. They're very unhappy."
"I imagine they would be. How bad is it?"
"We had a deficit of $118 million last year."
That wasn't really a surprise. Franklin had kept track of what he had spent. $43 million in player salaries, up from $29 million the year before, $93 million in signing bonuses, and an additional $38 million in coaching and scouting costs from the previous year. It could have been worse. Unfortunately, the expense only amounted to a 7-9 record - a big improvement, but not enough.
Franklin spoke. "Alright, well, we took the biggest hit from all those signing bonuses. The roster we have is the roster we'll have to live with for a while. We'll stick with what we've got, and keep the spending down this season."
"We have to stay in the black next season - or at least as close to it as possible. The bank won't let us borrow much more - they'd have forclosed on us by now if it weren't for the fact that the new stadium is on the way. What about Triveri?"
"Triveri knows he's not getting any money this year."
"Yeah, but does he know how overdrawn we are?"
"He's not stupid. I'm sure he's done the math. He knows our revenue sucks because we have an old and empty ballpark. When we have the new park and a winning team, the revenue will increase - but we're going to lose a little money to get to that point."
"We can't lose much more, or the bank will force the sale of the team." Gene left the room.
Franklin was hoping to sign a big-name tight end, and maybe another good wide receiver, but those plans would have to wait. Hopefully, the team they had would be capable of continued improvement. A playoff appearance would do wonders for the fan base.
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