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August 13, 2012

Bizball

The Kitchen Sink (A Roundup of Baseball Biz)

by Maury Brown

The conversation often starts innocently. I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked, but to date, I haven’t been able to answer completely or in under a half-hour. The question is: What does sports business involve?

On the face of it, it looks pretty easy. I always grab the path of least resistance on the query and reply, “It’s sports outside the lines.” If you’re pressed to provide added detail, the conversation explodes into everything from labor to PEDs to stadium construction to sportswear to… to… well, you get the picture. When I write for Baseball Prospectus, it makes sense to pick a topic each week and dig into it. But, for every topic covered, there’s a cornucopia of them that don’t get covered.

So, today, it’s not about one thing. Today, we’ll hit the stops along the way. Today is more fun than serious, so sip your coffee and enjoy the kitchen sink.

The Sale of the Padres Is (Finally) Going to Happen
Baseball’s owners meet in Milwaukee this week, and number one on the agenda is the sale of the San Diego Padres. Current owner John Moores has been trying for years to unload the club after he and his wife divorced (sound familiar, Dodger fans?). Since February of 2008, Moores has tried to unload the club to no avail. Former Arizona Diamondbacks owner and player agent Jeff Moorad was trying to close the deal. In 2009, Moorad’s group didn’t have funding lined up 100 percent, so the deal (in-principle) allowed Moorad five years to get it all completed. The group would need to provide $100 million in 2009 (for a 35 percent interest stake) and additional funds to push it to 49 percent in 2010. In the midst of it all, the Dodgers sale happened, and when that occurred, the market for MLB clubs skyrocketed.

Now, a sale to Ron Fowler, chief executive of Liquid Investments; members of the Peter O’Malley family; PGA golfer Phil Mickelson; and others is about to be approved this week. The sale will be for $800 million with $200 million of that being upfront money as part of the Fox Sports San Diego media rights deal that’s going through. That deal is $1.2 billion over 30 years.

Like the sale of the Dodgers, the new owners will be spending quite a bit of energy building the public’s trust back up, but never—and I mean NEVER—confuse John Moores with Frank McCourt.