How Joey Votto's brand transcends $20 million contract question for Cincinnati Reds

Now that Joey Votto has finally, publicly said he wants to play again next year, Nick Krall and the Cincinnati Reds have the easiest decision in baseball to make.

Or the toughest.

But make no mistake about that last part: It only gets tough if they overthink the baseball side of this.

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Because contrary to popular opinion, the easy part is the $20 million cost of the 2024 club option for a 40-year-old ballplayer who hit .202 in his half-season comeback from shoulder surgery.

It’s actually a $13 million decision, considering a $7 million buyout is required if the Reds decline the option.

And it’s not hard to make the case that one more year of Votto in a Reds uniform — an 18th for the six-time All-Star and former MVP — is worth more to the Reds’ bottom line in 2024 than the cost of the option.

Regardless of what he does on the field.

The converse is also true: When Votto leaves the organization, whether via retirement or free agency, the club loses a meaningful draw and revenue-enhancing player brand.

Even the club acknowledges that.

“Fans follow individual players as much as teams, especially in this day and age,” said Karen Forgus, the Reds’ vice president for business operations. “The equity for a Cincinnati Reds fan — what we hold to be true about our players, he is that guy: self-made, self disciplined, focused on the greater good, on winning. He’s a performer. He just fits everything our fan base loves.”

The Reds player of a generation, the franchise icon of this century, Votto is a brand so long and firmly attached to this franchise — and baseball at large — that his jersey sales were exceeded by only 12 players in baseball. And exceeded nationally those of 21-year-old Elly De La Cruz, who captured baseball’s fascination from the moment he debuted June 6 — the only other Reds player on the top-20 list released by official MLB partner Nike.

This despite the fact that Votto was hampered by a shoulder injury in 2022 until getting surgery and didn’t play this year until June 19.

He’s the oldest player on the list by six years.

That’s the kind of power and value his brand has, and those sales are part of his bottom-line impact on the club.

“The economics are there,” Forgus said. “They would translate to that.”

Exact numbers are harder to come by. But for the kind of difference it makes, think along the lines of the Cardinals’ loss and the Los Angeles Angels’ gain when Albert Pujols left St. Louis for Anaheim a decade ago, albeit with a bigger international profile.

Or closer to home: “When Pete Rose left the Reds for the Phillies,” Forgus said, “and people in Philadelphia said, ‘Lets buy a Pete Rose jersey.’

“Especially the way people follow athletes now,” she said, citing the NBA model.

In other words, if Votto leaves, so will some of the Reds’ revenues. And not imperceptibly.

“Absolutely. There will be change,” Forgus said. “If he wasn’t with us in ’23, there wouldn’t be a Votto City Connect jersey. The minute he leaves your arsenal, you lose your ability to offer that reason for people to come to the ballpark.”

That said, Forgus is quick to raise the counterpoint that the young, exciting group of players the Reds integrated into the roster over the past year-plus already is building a brand. And certainly is very marketing-friendly.

And De La Cruz merch outsold Votto merch locally.

The bigger point is that Votto is a local asset as a Reds player — literally, in the case of the team — and that transcends the pure ability on the field or even the sizable influence on the young players in the clubhouse.

Those in the game who know him the best also say, to a person, that he would not choose to continue playing if he wasn’t confident he can contribute on the field.

And teammates say they want him back.

“A lot of people think he’s done. He’s not done,” second baseman Jonathan India said. “I hope he’s in a Reds uniform next year.”

And whatever dollar value anyone wants to put on Votto’s off-field brand individual revenue potential, consider one more reason the financial side of the decision on his option should be a no-brainer:

The overall baseball budget is in position to grow, perhaps significantly, after massive attendance and broadcast viewership increases this season — driven largely by the successful arrivals of touted young players such as Matt McLain and De La Cruz and, yes, the celebrated return from a 10-month injury of Votto in June.

The Reds were among the top four teams in the majors in 2023 in percentage increase for local broadcast viewership over 2022 (62.5 percent), according to a Forbes report.

And the biggest, direct boost to the bottom line came from the highest percentage increase in attendance in the majors at 46 percent — from last year’s 38-year Reds low of 1.396 million to 2.038 million in 2023 once CEO Phil Castellini quit talking and the new kids started playing.

That’s an eight-year high that included more home sellouts than any season in a decade — and obliterated internal expectations, which bottomed out with the April 17 attendance showing of 7,375, the lowest in Great American Ball Park history.

“It informs it in every way,” Forgus said of that impact on the Reds’ eventual 2024 payroll budget. “This ownership group always puts gains back into the organization, the priority being the baseball operations side. The outcomes of this team this year expanded our enterprise across the board, and all of that found abundance will go back into everything from the pipeline on up.”

Forgus calls Votto a “unique person, who’s had a unique career.”

Krall, the baseball operations president, calls him a “franchise icon” Krall can’t imagine playing for another team. And unlike most players, "Everything factors in with Joey," Krall said.

For his part, Votto has embraced the fans and community as much as they have embraced him over the past 17 years, underscored with the unprompted ovation he received that delayed the game as he batted in the final home game of the season, nobody knowing whether that would be his last in Cincinnati.

“There’s no question this market loves him,” Forgus said. “Would this market love to have a season-long notice, like some of the other big names that retire, where they get season-long accolades?

“I’m not sure that’s how Joey rolls.”

In fact, Votto has essentially said that’s not what he wants.

But he also has made it clear how much he has valued his relationship with the only big-league organization he has known and its fan base.

“This is an extremely loyal market,” Forgus said. “Loyal people are in that room. Nick, ownership and Joey.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a bad outcome.”

Whichever direction that outcome might take Votto and the Reds.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Joey Votto's unseen value to Cincinnati Reds makes 2024 easy call