Despite this year being the team’s 18th consecutive losing season, a story by the Associated Press indicates the team has been profitable. 40 pages of financial documents were obtained by the Associated Press, and they indicate the Pirates profited nearly $29.4 million in 2007 and 2008, and the owners took a distribution of $20.4 million in 2008.

The Pirates were able to get slightly less than half of it’s income (about $70 million) from MLB sources – including revenue sharing, network TV, Major League merchandise sales and MLB’s website.

Economist Roger Noll, a Stanford University economist, said: “Probably the Pirates would be less profitable if they tried to improve the team substantially.”

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette breaks down the financials further from information gathered at a meeting with four media outlets at PNC Park and attended by owner Bob Nutting and team president Frank Coonelly:

• The profit for 2007 was $15,008032.
• The profit for 2008 was $14,408,249.
• The profit for 2009 was $5,409,087.
• Nutting took no salary or management fee, but the 2008 books indicate that the $20.4 million distribution was made to general ownership (mostly for individuals to pay taxes on team profits).
• No payments were made to the owners to cover taxes for 2008 or 2009 (the tax liability was the responsibility of the individual).
• Nutting wanted to keep as much of the capital as possible inside the organization.
• The club continues to invest in the club via capital expenditures. The expenditures included a $5 million baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, $2 million in improvement to the Pirate City spring and rookie training facility in Bradenton, FL and $2 million to purchase the new Class-A Bradenton Marauders.
• The team is not for sale.