Just Win, Baby

Consider, if you will, the Tampa Bay Bucs.

From their entry into the NFL in 1976, the Buccaneers suffered twenty years of spectacular ineptitude. 17 times during that span, the Bucs recorded double-digit losses. The pendulum finally began to swing in the other direction in 1996, when Tampa Bay scored two of the most important victories in franchise history: voters in Hillsborough County approved a tax to fund a new stadium, and the Bucs hired Tony Dungy as head coach.

From 1997, when Dungy orchestrated just the second 10-win season in Bucs history, until today, Tampa Bay has recorded all of two losing seasons. Jon Gruden brought Tampa Bay a Super Bowl title following the 2002 season. Raymond James Stadium is a comfortable, well-appointed, family-friendly place to watch a game, and the Bucs are finally replacing the embarassingly outdated offices at One Buc Place. And more to the point, according to the Bucs' website, all season tickets are sold out.

Imagine that. A waiting list for Buccaneers season tickets. Winning, you see, solves everything.

Ran into one of the ticket sales reps for the Orlando Magic the other day and asked him if the Magic's recent winning jag had boosted his business. With a relieved nod, he informed me that compared to the same time last year, season ticket deposits have doubled.

Within Tuesday's Orlando Sentinel was this note from NBA writer Tim Povtak: as part of a promotion, the Magic sold 40 new season tickets for the 2006-07 season on Monday morning - the day after the Magic were eliminated from playoff contention.

Intriguingly, an editorial ran in the same Tuesday edition of the Sentinel suggesting that the much-discussed extra penny added to the Orange County hotel tax would be an excellent method of generating funds toward a new arena in Orlando. More on that in a moment.

The lesson: winning solves everything, and I mean everything.

The great majority of sports fans who have never worked inside a front office simply cannot comprehend the magnitude of that fact. Sure, it's a clever bromide to toss out in conversation, the kind of thing you'd say in a bar, generating nods of agreement from your buddies, but you really have no idea. Personality conflicts between coach and general manager, questions of work ethic among your star players, lagging ticket sales, a frustrated and vocal fan base - it all melts away with the W's. When I was working for the Magic, I struggled to explain how the morale of the staff rose and fell with wins and losses - and remember, this was 1993 through 1997, when the Magic never missed a playoff berth. The bottom line: winning is good. Losing is bad. Really bad. Ask anybody who worked for the Bucs from 1976 through 1996.

How good is winning? So good that it can completely change the perception of a franchise among its community - and as all sports fans know in this saturated media age, perception is reality.

Case in point: in this space, I took two Orlando Sentinel writers to task regarding their editorials on Orlando's plans for a new arena for the Magic. While Scott Maxwell and Mike Thomas don't represent every opinion at the Sentinel - and Scott sent me a note to assure me that he was, in fact, a basketball fan - their columns did fuel a quiet sentiment among some Magic insiders that the Orlando Sentinel isn't exactly on the team's side on most issues. Hometown newspapers aren't necessarily supposed to be fans; they're supposed to ask tough questions in order to best serve their readers. Which brings me back to the Sentinel editorial from Tuesday:

"In the coming months, Central Florida's leaders could act to secure the Magic's future in Orlando by making the commitment to invest in a new arena. Raising Orange County's tax on hotels by a penny could generate funds to help replace the outmoded TD Waterhouse Centre, with money left over to contribute to a performing-arts center, remodeled Florida Citrus Bowl and more marketing for the region's attractions and hotels.

The Magic are back. It would be nice to keep them around for a long time." (Orlando Sentinel editorial page, April 18)

What prompted this? "Average home attendance rose from last season by about a thousand fans a night," according to the same editorial. In other words, the Sentinel's readership has responded to the Magic, and now the Sentinel is responding to its readership. And what prompted the renewed interest in the Magic?

Sixteen wins in 21 games. Winning solves everything. Al Davis knew what he was talking about.

The apparent caveat to this (otherwise brilliant) piece of insight is the Florida Marlins, who find themselves seriously considering a move to San Antonio, or Las Vegas, or Portland, or any city that will build them a stadium. It's early, but the Marlins rank dead last in average attendance this season, drawing 14,561 fans per game at Joe Robbie Pro Player Dolphin(s) Stadium, which holds over 34,000 for baseball. In fact, the Marlins have ranked in the bottom five in MLB home attendance for five years running, a stat that Marlins ownership keeps handy when arguing for a new ballpark.

Mind you, the Marlins have won two World Series titles in the last nine years - one less than the almighty Yankees over the same span, and twice as many as the Braves have won in 30 years in Atlanta. What's happening?

Cynics love to lament the notoriously fickle South Florida sports market, the one that cannot fill the Orange Bowl for a Miami Hurricane football program that is 64-10 since 2000. It's a "celebrity culture," they say, pointing to April 11th, 2003, when a franchise and arena-record 20,152 fans packed the American Airlines Arena for a Miami Heat home game against the Washington Wizards - Michael Jordan's final appearance in Miami. The Dolphins, Miami's oldest and most storied franchise, can still pack 'em in to the tune of 71,907 per game last season, 8th-best in the NFL (although that was only 95.6 percent of capacity, 22nd in the league - compared to top-rated Green Bay, which somehow was 15.6 percent OVER capacity at Lambeau Field last year). Point being, there are plenty of South Florida stereotypes to apply, but I think they miss the point.

Remember, it's about the winning.

The Marlins practically coined the term "fire sale" following their 1997 World Series season, dumping salary en route to a 108-loss year in '98. This time, the Marlins waited until the stadium issue was front and center: 83 wins in each of the last two seasons following their 2003 title, now on pace for another year-long stinker after another housecleaning, and just in time to reduce the red ink before a potential move.

Say what you will about the moves made by the Magic over the last few years, but at least they were trying to win. Maybe some bad decisions were made, and perhaps poor judgement was on display, but there was always intent. Same holds true for the Heat - they traded three-fifths of a starting lineup that made the playoffs just to get Shaq, for Heaven's sake. Even the Devil Rays were trying to win, albeit with a payroll commitment that placed them at baseball's kiddie table. They were all trying.

Perception is reality, and the Marlins cannot convince their fans that they're still in it to win. That's a much stronger deterrent than the two World Series rings are a comfort. Winning is not yesterday, or tomorrow. It's right now and always.

If the Magic can capitalize on the good vibes of a stirring finish, they'll get an arena deal done. If the Marlins get some guidance from Major League Baseball, which wants the game in Miami the way the NFL wants football in Los Angeles, they may get their new stadium as well. In all cases, the lesson is the same:

Winning solves everything.