Fans would have given big bucks to Ryan Howard, too

The Phillies beat us to this one by signing Ryan Howard to a 5-year, $125 million extension last week.

In a Daily News fan survey conducted with the Sport Industry Research Center at Temple University, respondents who identified the Phillies as their favorite team were asked if they were willing to spend $2 more per ticket if the money went to signing the slugging first baseman to a long-term contract.

The results: 68 percent said they would be willing to pay extra, 17 percent said they would not and 15 percent said they were not sure.

A majority of Phillies fans are willing to put their money where their hopes are when it comes to keeping a homegrown star.

"I'm pleased that the fans see that it is their support that enables us to do this," team president David Montgomery said. "We try very hard to have a long-term relationship with our fans as far as ticket pricing is concerned."

Montgomery laughed, "Unfortunately, $2 times 3 million doesn't quite get it all. Maybe if we got a number that was more realistic as far as Ryan's compensation I'm not so sure we'd get the same favorable response."

So, what would the number have to be?

"If you assumed that we got to keep all the revenue that comes in, which we don't . . . to get to $20 million for 3.4 million [in attendance] it would be $6 a ticket," Montgomery said. "This is really a $23 million deal so . . . it would be $6.50." *

Daily News sports writer Mark Kram contributed to this report.