{"id":913413,"date":"2026-10-02T11:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/913413\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T11:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:50:10","slug":"momos-80-of-annual-revenue-would-be-jeopardized-by-long-mlb-lockout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/913413\/","title":{"rendered":"Momo’s: 80% of annual revenue would be jeopardized by long MLB lockout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many\u00a0San Francisco Giants<\/a> fans are relieved to have this dreadful season end. But for the small businesses around Oracle Park, the end of the season has brought sadness and major uncertainty, especially with the looming threat of an\u00a0MLB lockout leading to lost games<\/a> in 2027.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball is vital to our survival,\u201d Momo\u2019s owner Scott Morton told SFGATE by phone ast week.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Momo\u2019s<\/a>, an American grill, is one of the few businesses in SoMa that predate Oracle Park\u2019s opening, as its 1998 debut came two years before the Giants moved downtown. Ever since then, Momo\u2019s has been an iconic place to meet up before and after baseball games. (Unless Netflix buys out the whole place<\/a> for opening night, like it did in March.)<\/p>\n

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Morton worked at Momo\u2019s for years, starting as a seasonal employee and working his way up the chain to become general manager in the mid-2010s. When the previous owners decided to sell, Morton and his wife, Caitlyn, bought it in 2019, and have kept things humming through the years. And just how important is Giants baseball to a place like Momo\u2019s?<\/p>\n

\u201cEighty percent of our annual revenue comes within the 81 home games that take place during a baseball season,\u201d Morton said. \u201cI can speak on behalf of Momo\u2019s, baseball is our only lifeline for success, and I would probably venture to guess that many of our neighbors around there feel the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants fans pack outdoors patio at MoMo\u2019s, a sports bar and restaurant across the street from Oracle Park in San Francisco on Oct. 8, 2021, before Game 1 of the National League Division Series.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE\"MoMo\u2019s<\/p>\n

MoMo\u2019s owner Scott Morton poses with his wife, Caitlyn, outside the sports bar and restaurant that sits across the street from Oracle Park in San Francisco, on Oct. 8, 2021.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

While some of those neighbors around the ballpark have changed over the years, they all are still trying to capture that ballpark crowd \u2014 and either already were or have become Giants fans. In a two-block square \u2014 between 2nd and 4th streets and King and Howard streets \u2014 there are more than a dozen restaurants and bars that rely on games to keep their doors open, and the same is true for more food businesses along the Embarcadero, too.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat is our whole season,\u201d Pat Belding, manager and part-owner of Frankie\u2019s Java House, told SFGATE by phone last month. \u201cI mean, our season goes around the baseball season. It\u2019s not around the Warriors that are just a quarter mile away, or, you know, Fleet Week, or anything else along\u00a0Embarcadero. It\u2019s just all about Giants or activities at Oracle Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Frankie\u2019s<\/p>\n

Frankie\u2019s Java House in San Francisco depends on SF Giants home games for a large portion of its sales.<\/p>\n

Frankie’s Java House\/Yelp\"Bar<\/p>\n

Bar Via across the street from Oracle Park in San Francisco on Aug. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE\"Underdogs<\/p>\n

Underdogs Cantina across the street from Oracle Park in San Francisco on Aug. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the lockout comes into play. MLB\u2019s collective bargaining agreement with the players association expires on Dec. 1, and it\u2019s been widely expected that the owners will lock the players out in an attempt to install a salary cap in the sport. The players have stood firm against the salary cap, setting the stage for a prolonged tug-of-war. And the fears over lost games in 2027 are evident all across the sport.<\/p>\n

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Morton said he\u2019s been following stories about the lockout \u201cvery closely\u201d going back as far as spring training. Merkado owner Fabien Santos told SFGATE he\u2019s also been keeping tabs. And Belding?<\/p>\n

\u201cToo much, I\u2019ve read up too much,\u201d Belding admitted with a chuckle. \u201cAnd it\u2019s pretty frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belding sees this fight as \u201cbillionaires fighting millionaires\u201d over what to do with the sport\u2019s massive amounts of money, all done without considering the \u201cdevastating\u201d ramifications on stadium workers and peripheral businesses like his.<\/p>\n

Morton feels similarly, saying lockouts \u201ctypically put places out of business.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cAn offseason always means less foot traffic, less passerbys, just less juice in that China Basin, South Beach part of the city,\u201d Morton said, who also said they reduce hours and staffing in response to that. \u201cThat already lasts six months when the Giants don\u2019t make the playoffs. So anytime you tack on a seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th month onto that \u2014 God forbid they miss the whole season debating over whatever they\u2019re debating \u2014 it\u2019s going to be dire straits for a lot of people around that part of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The exterior of Oracle Park in San Francisco on Aug. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

The lockout also won\u2019t allow any of the businesses a chance to find too many alternatives. In the last lockout in 2022, a deal wasn\u2019t made until early March, early enough to keep all the games but forcing the first week of the season to be rescheduled to the end of the year. Just like the Giants have to save the ballpark for the chance of baseball, local businesses won\u2019t want to miss out on the revenue from baseball games that could happen. But that causes a ton of uncertainty and stress \u2014 which they will have to pass along, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we are going to get treated by the Giants or by Major League Baseball is the same way we\u2019ll have to treat everybody else,\u201d Belding said, referring to vendors, employees and other partners. \u201cEverybody will just have one one hand in and one hand out, and just kind of waiting to see what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Morton added that while they do their best to forecast and budget, every offseason is a gamble due to the significant drop in revenue. \u201cIf you start tacking on weeks and months onto that, it becomes really a game of financial Russian roulette every single day that you\u2019re open,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Having a good landlord helps, too. Morton said he has a wonderful relationship with his and that they\u2019ve helped in previous tough times, like the 2008 financial crisis and during the pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re prepared to see Momo\u2019s stick it out and fight the good fight once again,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the key to survival? \u201cIt\u2019s about being an adaptable space because everything changes in the wind,\u201d Santos, of Merkado, said. \u201cSo yes, the lockout is in the back of my head, but I already know what that\u2019s going to do. It\u2019s more about, \u2018Are we capable to kind of recover from a lockout?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Santos said he hoped to do community events, like a semiregular day market, to rally everyone together. And several restaurants have found good business with private events (Momo\u2019s hosted Mike Krukow\u2019s family for a night during his final weekend<\/a>) and buyouts from the tech community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But everything comes back to baseball, in the end. When the Giants are rolling \u2014 like, say, back during the World Series title runs in the 2010s \u2014 things are great for everyone. Santos told SFGATE earlier this month that, even giving conservative estimates, his business increased by at least 40% to 50% in those Octobers. Morton directly tied those runs to his decision to buy\u00a0Momo\u2019s himself and admitted he\u2019s \u201calways chasing that high.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants fans Vic Gets (left) and Jeff Markley (center) grab a drink on the packed outdoors patio at MoMo\u2019s, a sports bar and restaurant across the street from Oracle Park in San Francisco, on Oct. 8, 2021, before Game 1 of the National League Division Series.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants fans share a laugh under a picture of Giants hall of famer Willie Mays at MoMo\u2019s, a sports bar and restaurant across the street from Oracle Park in San Francisco, on Oct. 8, 2021.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants fans sit at the bar at\u00a0MoMo\u2019s, a sports bar and restaurant across the street from Oracle Park in San Francisco, on Oct. 8, 2021, before Game 1 of the National League Division Series. Many watched the Atlanta Braves play the Milwaukee Brewers on the television.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously there was some financial review and business acumen that went into buying the business,\u201d Morton said. \u201cBut I\u2019d be lying if I said there wasn\u2019t the nostalgic elements of, \u2018Man, if I could keep this place going and be there for another Giants World Series, it would just be so fun to share that with my staff, share that with my family and and have Momo\u2019s be around through another great run of Giants baseball.\u2019 So to have the good fortune that we had of the 2021 season, especially coming out of COVID, was extremely special.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But since that 2021 playoff run, the Giants put up four straight mediocre seasons and then, this year, had an all-out disaster. Not only did the team lose 97 games, but the litany of off-field scandals \u2014\u00a0led by the team\u2019s Pride Night fiasco<\/a> \u2014 had a direct impact on local businesses.<\/p>\n

Morton has big-picture concerns about a prolonged lockout knocking out most or all of the 2027 season. He fears it could push fans away for good, like the 1994 strike did for many baseball fans at the time. But even if the 2027 season goes on as normal, there still is a lot to be desired out of the Giants from his perspective as a business owner and a fan.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Willie Mays Jr. sign in front of Oracle Park in San Francisco on Aug. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we really want is a full ballpark run by a competent ownership group who believes in putting a competitive team on the field,\u201d Morton said. \u201cAt this point, while we might try to achieve greatness and hope for it, we\u2019re really just hoping that they can keep the place full for a six-month season\u00a0\u2014 which they seem to have had some trouble doing the last couple of years.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo lockout or not, the Giants have a lot of work to do moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many\u00a0San Francisco Giants fans are relieved to have this dreadful season end. But for the small businesses around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,288679,85],"class_list":["post-913413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sfgsports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}