There are no arguments that this year’s World Series ranks as one of the most exciting and incredible of all time. Every game may not have been like the 1991 Series, where every game went to the wire, but in the context of seven games, this one had “unbelievable” written all over it.

The reality of the greatness of the Series now gives way to the reality of the business of the game. It is not a pretty landscape.

For the World Champion Diamondbacks, all is not well on the financial front. The team’s ownership is reportedly in debt to the tune of some $170 million. This huge number comes from tens of millions of dollars of cost overruns in the building of Bank One Ball Park that had to be paid for from the owners’ pockets.

Another chunk of the debt is from the 180-degree turn in management philosophy the owners took when they went from building a team from within the organization to buying one from the free agent market. That is exactly what they did, epitomized by the two stars who led them to the Promised Land, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson.

The extent of the debt forced the team to get 10 of its highest-paid stars to take deferred contracts. That means the salary debt is long term for an old team and those players won’t be tradable unless the D-Backs keep the deferred salary debt on their books.

Like the Marlins of 1997 and the Padres of 1998, winning years were bought, but the cost couldn’t be paid and the clubs were dismantled. Arizona owners say that won’t happen. It might not, because those deferred contracts aren’t going anywhere.

The Diamondbacks were forced to take what is the first team loan from Major League Baseball in order to meet their obligations this past year. In addition, they have an agreement with the local government of Phoenix to open their books since there are local government bonds that were used to help build the swimming pool park.

The Diamondbacks have reportedly refused to open the books since 1999. One need not be a genius to realize if the books aren’t looking very good, the last thing the team wants to do is open them to the local governments, because that would publicize the tale those numbers tell.

Right now, all the owners of this team want are the hype and dollars from winning. That wish does not solve the financial problems.

Attendance has gone down in the past two years. People bought World Series tickets to scalp, not to go see the game. Even for Games 6 and 7, scalpers had to sell the tickets for less than face value on the street as game time approached. Those are the warning signs that the hype to come with the championship may have a foundation of desert sand.

Two days after the World Series ends comes word from the owners that two teams are going to be eliminated from the majors and that MLB hopes to have that done by spring. Good luck.

Player organization head Donald Fehr said Tuesday the announcement was “imprudent and unfortunate.” He views the decision of the owners to be “inconsistent with the law, our contract and perhaps most important, the long-term welfare of the sport.” He said he had hoped MLB and the players’ union had entered a new age of cooperation, but that this sure didn’t look like it.

Even the owners admit they have to negotiate with the players over how such contraction affects the players. What happens to guaranteed contracts? Where do the players play? What happens to the minor league systems of the teams eliminated?

The union is researching the law on whether owners may even have to negotiate the very idea of contraction with the players before it can occur.

Spring training starts in 100 days. Maybe.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.