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cherrycola27 · 9 months

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Star Spangled Seresin

Series Warnings: Language, alcohol consumption. Political situations. Unrequited love, one night stand, military and political inaccuracies. Smut. 18+ Minors DNI. Banner Credit: @thedroneranger

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Chapter 5: New Romantics

If you had asked Jacob Seresin what the best moment of his life was, you would probably expect him to say something about his Navy career, his family, or getting elected to the White House.

What you wouldn't expect him to say would was that the best moment of his life was right now, when his wonderful girlfriend, Jaycee, surprised him with tickets to the Eras Tour.

Jake was the second biggest Swiftie in the White House. You were the first. Just as Jaycee gave him his tickets, Bradley was giving you yours. Taylor was on her second North American leg of her tour and would be playing at FedEx Field.

It was a warm May morning, and you and Bradley were in a good place in your now, very real marriage. Jake and Jaycee had successfully been hiding their relationship for over a year now, with only a few "soft launch" photos on social media. Tonight, Jaycee and Jake planned to go public, and true to her journalism roots, Jaycee already had it planned out perfectly.

You had spent all day getting ready in your Miss Americana outfit before forcing helping Bradley with his Heartbreak Prince garb.

Jaycee had matching shirts for her, and Jake made. Hers read, "Karma is my boyfriend." While Jakes simply read, "Karma." He was so excited to put it on. His eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

The whole way to the stadium, the two of you talked non-stop about the set list and what you hoped the surprise songs would be. Bradley and Jaycee watched the two of you in adoration and slight horror. They were definitely not the die-hard Taylor fans like you and Jake were.

"So, Wise-woman, what are you hoping she does for a surprise song?" Jake asked you. "I would die if she did 'peace' it the only one of my favorite songs that isn't on the set list that she hasn't done. And I just know I'm going to cry when she does 'Wildest Dreams' and 'august'." You tell him. "What about you Jake?" You ask him.

"I will lose my mind if she does 'New Romantics.' It is hands down my most favorite song. I know she takes requests, and I tweeted her that we were going to be there, and I asked for it, so I mean, maybe she will?" Jake said hopefully.

Jaycee sat back in her chair and smirked. Little did Jake know, Jaycee had been planning this for weeks, and she'd already planted the seed with Taylor's creative team for "New Romantics" to be a surprise song. Sometimes, working in the White House had its perks.

To say that Jaycee was overwhelmed by the concert was an understatement. She couldn't believe the sheer number of people that were there or the number of friendship bracelets she'd been given. She also never would have imagined witnessing the vice president of the United States cry while scream-singing 'Enchanted' to her or seeing her best friend and the president slow dance to their wedding songs being performed live, but yet, here she was.

You and Jake were currently dancing to 'Shake It Off," while she and Bradley sat back and admired the two of you living your best lives.

"So he has no idea that she's going to sing it?" Bradley asked Jaycee as they sat back in their seats. "No clue." Jaycee smiled back at him.

Soon, the 1989 portion of the set had finished, and the stage was dark. Jake waited with baited breath as Jaycee came to stand next to him. They listened to Taylor talk about how she occasionally takes requests for this part of the set and how she had a very important request for tonight.

Jaycee couldn't hear anything else after that because of how loud Jake was screaming when the first few bars of "New Romantics" began to play. She quickly whipped out her phone and began filming him. She couldn't help but laugh when he sang the chorus and looked directly at her during the line, "The best people in life are free."

She couldn't help but smile, and it never left her face for the rest of the night. By the time the show ended, Jaycee had tons of photos and videos on her phone. On the limo ride back, she carefully selected a few group photos, one of you are her, one of you and Bradley, and one of her and Jake with their matching shirts on full display for an Instagram post. After selecting the pictures, she captioned them, "The best people in life (really) are free. #HardLaunch #J&J"

She made sure to tag the correct accounts before queuing the post to drop at exactly four in the morning before turning off her phone. She spent the night with Jake in his room in the White House. All night, he keeps telling her that she should just move in with him, but Jaycee likes the freedom of having her own apartment. It gives her a chance to still be independent. She knows that eventually she'll move in with Jake, but she just isn't ready to yet.

The next morning, when she and Jake turn on their phones, the news of their relationship is the first thing they see. Four media outlets have already reached out to both of them for an exclusive, but Jake and Jaycee have already promised an exclusive to one of her coworkers.

You and Bradley are abuzz now that the news has finally broken. You were sure that Bradley was going to slip up with every sligh comment he posted on their soft launch photos, but thankfully, he never did. You were, however, worried about Jaycee. She was very much like you in the fact that she didn't spend much time in the spotlight. She was used to reporting the news, not being in it.

You knew that there would be a learning curve. Thankfully, Jake was there to help her. Not that she needed much help. After years of working in the industry, Jaycee knew exactly what to say and how to say it. She just got a little freaked out when people wanted to take her photo or if paparazzi would show up.

The first few weeks were fine until one day, when she was out running some errands.

Jaycee had clocked the man in the dark jacket when he started following her a few blocks back, right after she'd gotten her morning coffee. She tried to brush it off, but every turn she made, he was there. She pulled her hat down further over her face and kept her large sunglasses on. When she made another turn, she could see that the man had a camera in his hands. She figured he was trying to a photo of her doing something scandalous for the tabloids.

Normally, photographers kept their distance, but this one didn't. And Jaycee couldn't shake the eerie feeling this guy gave her. So, she discreetly took out her phone and called Jake before ducking into a CVS on the corner.

"Jake." She breathed into her phone as she tried to hide from the man. "What's wrong, darlin?" He asked her, sensing the distress in her voice. "A paparazzo is following me. They have been for several blocks. He has a weird vibe, and I can't shake it. I'm at the CVS on the corner of 4th and West. Can you please come get me?" Jaycee asked him.

"Henry and I are on our way now." Jake replied. But before Jaycee could say anything else, she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder and spin her around.

"Ms. Marchetti, how are you doing?" The man who'd been following her asked as he held his camera up to snap a photo of her. Jaycee panicked. "Get away from me! Don't touch me!" She yelled. Jake was still on the phone. He heard her trying to run away while the man chased after her, asking questions and snapping pictures.

"Henry, step on it!" Jake yelled as his head of security raced through the streets. Jaycee tore down the sidewalk like a mad woman, running into people and bumping into curbs. The photographer still followed her and was shouting at her.

"I just want to ask you a few questions!" He yelled, but Jaycee didn't want to be anywhere near that creep.

She turned a few corners and ran down an alley. She thought she was safe until he spotted her. Jaycee didn't have anywhere else to go. She was at a dead end. She was just about to scream when Jake's voice rang out as he yelled for the man to get away from her. He and Henry quickly stepped in between them, using their bodies to block her from his view.

"Listen, pal, I don't know where you get off on following my girl through downtown and putting your hands on her, but I swear to God if you ever do it again, it will be the last thing you ever do." Jake sneered at him.

"I wasn't meaning any harm, Mr. Seresin. I was just trying to get some stuff for the Sun Journal. Honest." He tells Jake.

Jake isn't satisfied with his response. "That doesn't give you the right to put your hands on her or follow her." He tells the paparazzo.

Henry looks over his shoulder at Jake, who nods to him. Henry then reaches forward and grabs the man's camera. He snaps the lens off before ejecting the memory card and snapping it in and throwing everything on the ground and stepping on it.

"Well, you and I both know that the Sun Journal isn't exactly top news. I didn't think she's agree to a sit down with me. But even though she didn't answer my questions, I got some great shots of her running through the people looking crazy. And a few in the pharmacy. I'll just cook something up." He chuckles.

"What photos?" Jake says as he stares the man down.

"You can't do that!" The man screeches.

"And you can't grab people without their permission. Now, if I were you, I'd get the hell out of here before Henry causes you to meet the same fate as your equipment." Jake states.

The photographer opens his mouth to argue but runs away before he does.

Jake immediately softens and turns to Jaycee. "Darlin, are you okay?" He asks as he wraps her in his arms.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm glad you got here when you did, Jakey. I don't know what I would have done." A few tears slip down her face.

"I'll always be here for you, Jay." Jake reassures her. "C'mon, let's get in the car, I'm taking you back with me." Jake tells her.

Once the two of them are in the car, Jake let's out a long sigh. "Jay, I know you like having your own space, but I think it might be best if you moved in with me." He tells her.

"Jake—I don't think that is really necessary. Today was just a one-time thing. It just caught me off guard. I'll be more careful next time." Jaycee tells him.

"Jaycee, it wasn't really a suggestion. You're moving in with me." Jake says firmly.

"Jake, you can't tell me what to do. I'm an adult who is capable of making her own decisions." Jaycee shoots back.

"Jay, I understand that, but I need to make sure you're safe. I can't do that if you aren't with me. If you live in the White House, I can make sure you have round the clock security so nothing like this ever happens again. I mean, what if Henry and I hadn't gotten there when we did? Something bad could have happened to you. Jaycee, I don't want to take away your independence, I just want to make sure you're safe. I love you, and I care about you, and I would lose my mind if something happened to you." Jake explains to her.

"Jake, I hear you, and I hear your concerns, but—I just—moving in together is a big step. And the White House? If I live there, I have to give up my job at The Post. My journalistic integrity goes out the door. I mean, I'm up for a Washington Women in Journalism Award for my piece on the treatment of the modern woman in the workforce. I knew dating you would come with sacrifices, but it's still hard. She tells him.

"I know. And it's not fair. We knew that there would be struggles going public. I just didn't expect them to happen so quickly. Jaycee, you know I'd never ask you to give up your life for me. I couldn't do that to you." Jake takes her hands in his. "Maybe I jumped the gun with the whole living together thing. Maybe we could—"

"You're right." Jaycee stops him with a long. "What?" Jake looks at her confused. "What you said about safety and privacy and protecting me. You're right. As much as i hare to admit it." She explains. Jake softens. "What if we did a trial run. A few weeks, maybe. Just to see how it goes. Can we compromise at that?" Jake asks her.

"No. I want to move in with you, Jake. I love you, and I know that you really do want what's best for us—for me." Jaycee smiled at him.

"Really? Are you sure?" Jake checks with her.

"Yeah, I'm sure Jakey. Y/N has been trying to convince me for months. She wants me to be the head of White House PR anyway." Jaycee laughes

Jake joins her and laces his fingers through hers. "So this is a big step." He sighs out.

"I know. But it's a good big step." Jaycee assures him.

The next few days are spent getting her belongings collected. You're over the moon that Jaycee is going to be living in the same space as you again. The day she officially calls the White House home, you pull Jake aside and remind him that even though he is the vice president, you'll kill him if he ever hurts your best friend He knows you aren't kidding.

Later that night, the two of them lay in bed, making small talk. And in that moment, both of them realize that any reservations they had are gone. This is it for them, and right now, they are exactly where they want to be.

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phoenixyfriend · 6 months

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Ko-fi prompt from Becky:

I actually would love to hear where ticket/concession/merch money for concerts go. If someone has already asked about that, can you do something similar for a sports game of your choice?

Already got a request for concerts, but I can do the sports game!

So, let's go with... baseball. I've been to professional baseball games ('twas the Ducks), even if it's been a Very Long Time, so that's the one I have some perspective on. Who is in control of the money any given game (as in, who owns the stadium and the home team) varies by place and sport, so let's use the Mets and Citi Field as our example when we need a specific.

Mostly, this is because I'm in New York and so it's down to either them or the Yankees, and between the two... the Mets, through a wholly owned subsidiary, Queens Ballpark Company, are the ones that actually own their ballpark, which makes a few things easier and includes a Fun Fact about the naming. It also means that I can treat the team and the stadium as one singular entity instead of waffling over who gets to be the Main Character of this simulation. It's not exactly uncommon for teams to own their own stadiums, but it's not most of them.

(The Mets, btw, are owned in large part by a hedge fund manager. Like, 95% of the team stock is owned by this one guy. Why can't more sports be like the Packers and just belong to the city.)

In this case, I will be referring to the Forbes article on Citi Field's revenue for 2022 as a guide or framework, as they have an actual image of the financial report; they don't do much explaining of the actual data, though, so my part will be explaining the less-obvious things and doing some maths. A few other articles will also be cited as they come in useful.

I'll also note that the Mets are a very expensive team operating at a loss, but they still work for our purposes.

MONEY COMING IN:

Tickets, most obviously

To quote the wiki article on Major League Baseball:

"MLB is the second-wealthiest professional sport league by revenue after the National Football League (NFL). [...] MLB has the highest total season attendance of any sports league in the world; in 2018, it drew more than 69.6 million spectators."

I didn't know that until I started researching for this post, but it makes sense. After all, baseball is "the American pastime." The Forbes article cites average attendance of 33,000 per home game. The stadium seat about 41,900, so we're looking at roughly 79% attendance. This is fine, because attendance is not the only stream of revenue.

Advertising

If you have seen a professional sports game in the past however many years, you have seen that, depending on the type of court, they are plastered in advertising. Let's take a look at Citi Field:

(Image Source: MLB website)

The Forbes article states that the stadium makes about $48.5 million per year from advertising. About $28.5 million of that comes from the various 'temporary' and long-term ads, the Nikon and Geico and Toyota and Coca Cola, etc.

$20 million of it comes from one company. I'm going to quote Wikipedia again:

The naming rights were purchased by Citigroup, a New York financial services company, for $20 million annually.

This is not uncommon! ESPN has an article about it, and some standout examples are Bank of America Stadium, Coors Field, Delta Center, FedEx Field and FedEx Forum, General Motors Place, Gillette Stadium, Heinz Field, and the list just goes on. I'm not even sure if the list is up to date, because I'm seeing even more articles elsewhere with higher figures.

Concessions

The financial report that Forbes cites has $22mill in concessions. This is not entirely surprising. Going by this page, we're looking at... 84 home games in that 2022 season. Let's assume that 33,000 average cited earlier. That's 2,772,000 attendees over the course of the season. So, what, a little under $10 per attendance tick? Entirely plausible. A hot dog plus a soda is $15, so... that tracks.

Parking

Apparently parking is, collectively, about $13mill annually. That's... genuinely a little concerning to me, for uh. Reasons. Also parking is $40.

(A lot of people go to games via train, if anyone's interested.)

Luxury Suite Premiums

I had to google this one, but uh. Turns out those fancy private box seats are even fancier and more private than I thought, bringing in over $10 mill a year.

Other Revenue - Stadium, undefined

"Other Revenue" and "post season revenue" are not given any further information, but they're about $16.5 mill so. They're definitely doing their part? Wish we had more information.

One guess is that there are events in the vein of the Citi Field Spring Carnival that contribute to the revenue through either fees to the stadium (if this is a carnival that rents the parking lot) or concessions and tickets (if the stadium rents a carnival).

Other Revenue - to the team that is not direct operating income of the stadium itself

Not counting the "other revenue" section of the financial statement, the Forbes article tells us that:

National broadcasting deals with Fox, ESPN and TBS that pay over $60 million a year to every MLB team, as well as the local cable fee the Mets get from SNY, which is over $80 million a year.

That's another $140mill in addition to the $244mill that the financial report cites.

Merchandise - not direct stadium revenue.

Get your Mets hats here! And your jerseys! And your logo bats! And your commemorative plushies! And--

MONEY GOING OUT

Operations

This one's easy: you have to pay wages to your employees, from the players themselves to the food sellers to janitorial to security to field maintenance, etc. Also, you have to pay for utilities (those billboards and floodlights aren't cheap), product to sell (frozen hot dogs), supplementary materials for products you sell (plastic cups, paper for the ticket machines, bags for garbage cans, and so on), and repairs/maintenance for the stands themselves (can't imagine they get through a season with all 41,900 seats intact).

Player salaries (and a few others, like the coach) aren't actually included in stadium revenue, but since the stadium is owned by the team, we're bundling them together for the sake of this case.

Payment in Lieu of Taxes

So this is an interesting one, and while the Forbes article does touch on it, there's a bit more detail to the story.

Citi Field was built in 2009, and the process cost $850 million. Of that, $615 was public subsidies. A lot of this was municipal bonds, which the Mets have to pay back with interest for the lifetime of the park; those municipal bond repayments are an offset, and in return for paying tens of millions in municipal bond repayments each year (the 2022 report shows about $43.5 mill), Citi Field does not have to pay property taxes.

Wikipedia only cites property taxes, but the financial report doesn't include any other taxes, so I'll assume the only other taxes they're on the hook for are sales and payroll, which aren't displayed in the financial report.

Parking

Right, so, parking as a bundle is about $7.5 mill in expenses, which means that parking alone has a marginal profit of about 42.3%, given the earlier figure of $13mill in parking revenue. I'm not finding any solid information on where that money goes, but it seems very like that New York City's taxes on land use for parking is not included in the property tax exemption we discussed above, and that most of the $7.5 mill is in that regard.

Post Season Expenses

I'll be honest, they don't define this $1.8 mill, but given what is and isn't included in the other sections, I'm going to hazard a guess that this may be about upgrades (more than maintenance) or replacement of physical billboards that are also not included as regular maintenance but require a lot of manpower to get up and set if complicated enough.

General and Administrative

This is the other possible allocation of the utilities and related payments. This is also where back of house activities like accountants, lawyer fees, payroll clerks, facilities managers, and so on are bundled in. It's about $5.5 mill.

Publicity and Promotions

This one's easy, it's just marketing that doesn't fall into General Mets Things and is rather for home games specifically.

Depreciation and Amortization

Bit trickier, but you know how a car loses value the second you drive it off the lot? That is depreciation. You paid $20,000 for a car, but two years later it's worth $16,000; on a financial report, you put that down as a $4,000 loss to depreciation. Amortization is similar, in that it lowers values of various assets in relation to time and relative value to what it was when new.

Interest Expenses

Expenses related directly to interest rates tend to get their own line separate from regular debt repayments. This isn't really relevant beyond 'loans are more expensive than when you first get them.'

Travel and League Expenses

Since this is a traveling team, being professionals, and a Major League Baseball Team in particular, money has to be spent on the plane rides, team bus, and of course, the league fees. I wanted to end that a bit more pithy, but it turns out it's not easy to find league fees for the MLB.

(A new team joining would have to pay about $2.2 billion, according to one article, while previous new additions were a couple hundred mill, so... 100 mill? Maybe?)

Hope that answers your question!

#economics #capitalism #phoenix talks #ko fi #ko fi prompts #research #baseball #the mets #citi field #sports #business #financial reports

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simplysnaps · 5 months

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Sorry if this is a dumb question but as someone who's kinda dreading the career they went to school for (I went for art) and kinda just wants a stable desk job with benefits now: do you have any advice on how someone looks for them? Like, what even IS a desk job? (Again sorry if this is stupid but I have deadass no clue how or where to get a job that's not retail 🥹)

I've gotten a few asks like this, so I figured I'd answer one for everyone. The short answer is: No, I don't have a magic bullet that will land you a desk job making $50k/year with a 401k and benefits. I wish I had an answer, I wish there were safeguards in place that protected everyone from asking a highly unqualified 24-year-old girl for career decisions. I wish you all could get/have what you need. But since y'all asked for my advice, here's what I have to offer. Once again, I am just some girl, I'm not a business-god:

#1: The website I found my job on is https://otta.com/. It's a great place to find jobs in the tech field. It's where I found the job I'm currently working at!

#2: It's easier to find a job when you have a job. I know this seems like old-fashioned advice your racist uncle gives you at Thanksgiving, so lemme reiterate it as a socialist trans girl you follow. This advice is TRUE. You are less desperate and less inclined to make silly decisions/concessions if you're currently employed. Our existing system is literally designed from the ground up to exploit desperate workers who are given the decision to either work or DIE, so yes... In our current system, being employed PERIOD is preferable to not being employed. There will always be someone to work harder for less compensation, so you have to make yourself "worth something" by having additional options. This is fucked, and I wish it weren't the case, but the way to gain "capital" as an employee is to have mobility and options. Be in a position where you're able to tell someone "No, I'm better than that. I'll find something else." If you're not in that position, I'm truly sorry. I wish I had more advice for you. Like I said, I'm not an expert at job-matching, I'm just a girl who's been asked by dozens of people at this point for direction.

#3: Be kind to yourself. If there's anything I've learned in the last year+ of therapy, it's that we have to be kinder to ourselves. None of us are "where we want to be." Trust me, I know. I was in a terribly abusive situation far too recently, but now it feels like such a distant dream. So if you're currently in that position, I have a few things to say to you: Firstly, it gets better. I know that feels like something better-off-people say to us just to make themselves feel better, but I can personally confirm this. Unless you're literally dead, there is the possibility that things get better than they currently are. It can happen. I was once hopeless, thinking life could never get better. Now I'm financially independent with savings and a nice apartment. It's POSSIBLE. If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. Just try to believe it can. Secondly: Be willing to endure the shit jobs until you find a job that you can actually tolerate. Endure/tolerate are two entirely different things. I once endured my job. Now I tolerate it. Do you think I love working customer support? No! But I'm fine with it! I like it some days! That's what's important! Just... not wanting to unalive yourself at the end of the day!

#4 is for the folks who can MOVE: I can't relate to this one as an asthma disabled gal, but I have heard that it's quite simple to "sell your body" for money. This isn't sex work, it's actually factory/shipping work. If you're able-bodied and can work exhausting hours, maybe consider a job at a FedEx joint, or an Amazon warehouse. Like I said, this isn't advice for getting a great job, it's advice for getting enough money to survive. If you are physically able to lift/move stuff without collapsing/dying, maybe consider this option! It is grueling and draining, but it pays a fat check for the damages. This isn't ideal for the long-term, but can serve you well for a hot minute if you have the physical health to survive it.

#5: Just hang in there. You're beautiful, and I know everything feels like hell at the moment, but please trust me as someone who's been there that it can get better. It did get better. Someday, everything you're enduring will be a story you tell your loved ones, a tale of what you used to endure. It will show them where you came from, but it won't be where you are. You can beat this. You will beat this. I know you can, because I truly believed I was doomed to my place in the world. I hope you understand that I'm not a grifter, I'm not trying to sell you a magic solution to your problems. I'm openly admitting that I cannot help you. But what I can offer is a promise that it can get better. Not that it will, but that it can. And that's worth pushing through, right? I know it can, and I know it will. The alternative is death, which is oblivion anyway. That means, statistically, it must get better! Otherwise it'll be "nothing," which is null and void!

So get out there, champs! Or hang in there! Either, or! Try to focus on #1, it's the most important! I love you all.

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