OT: Selig to sell Brewers

[SackAttack]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/01/16/brewers.sale.ap/?cnn=yes

I'd wager, though, that the Commish has probably never quite grasped the concept of selling your product when its value is at its highest, not its lowest. Wonder if the price will even crack triple digits.

[Ksyrup]

Since he's had it since 1970 and it includes the stadium (I assume), he won't be hurting after the sale is finished.

Maybe the community will buy them, like the Packers...

[SackAttack]

I don't think it includes the stadium, since the county financed Miller Park, and there's a 30-year lease involved. Selig's got a thing against owners financing their own parks (He wasn't too happy with Magowan for payin' for Pac Bell all by himself).

But yeah, he'll realize an appreciation on the sale, but I chalk that up more to inflation than anything else. I'd be surprised if the sale price reached 100 million, and shocked if it hit 150 million.

[Fonzie]

Brett Favre could probably give Selig some tips on moving merchandise via online auctions.

[Mustang]

As a Brewer's fan...

About Freakin Time

[Ksyrup]

I realize this doesn't take debt into consideration, but as of April 2001, Forbes showed the following:

Milwaukee Brewers Franchise Value:

$228,444,000 (Selig Formula)

$238,000,000 (Forbes Estimate)

[Fonzie]

I realize this doesn't take debt into consideration, but as of April 2001, Forbes showed the following:

Milwaukee Brewers Franchise Value:

$228,444,000 (Selig Formula)

$238,000,000 (Forbes Estimate)

Are you sure that wasn't an April Fool's joke? ;)

[SackAttack]

Yeah. That was two years ago, right around the opening of the new park. Attendance has been abysmal since, and there isn't enough of a talent base close enough to being major-league ready to rectify that any time soon. I'm also curious to know if revenue sharing is influencing the 'value' of the franchise.

Jeff Loria sold the Expos to Major League Baseball for $120 million, and that's a team that, at least in recent years, has been a legitimate playoff contender. I don't know how much will change now, without Vlad, but *with* Vlad, he sold them for $120 million.

He bought the Marlins, who quickly won their second World Series title, for just $150 million. Neither team owned its stadium, for what it's worth, and both had similar attendance problems, so those figures are likely representative of an equivalent amount of assets to what the Brewers bring to the table.

I think the Brewers were held responsible for cost overruns on Miller Park, but that's all they paid, I think.

At any rate, I stand by my assertion - I doubt very much whether the sale price will hit triple digits, and I'd be stunned if Selig got more for the Brewers than Loria did for the Expos.

[Ksyrup]

Actually, Milwaukee's farm system is rated quite well at this point. I think Gammons mentioned it in one of his recent columns. They've got some good prospects (Prince Fielder for one), and the Sexton trade brought some more depth as well. They are a few years away, but they're in a better position than a few other teams.

[Ksyrup]

Dola.

One of the most amazing stats I read recently is that during Paul Molitor's career, Milwaukee had 4 losing seasons. Since they became the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970 (71?), they have not had a winning record in any season in which Paul Molitor has not been on the team.

Incredible, isn't it?

[Booj]

I have a strange feeling that, with MLB announcing a date for the Expos' future, if Selig can't find an owner, he will buy the team. Who knows... but anything is possible, especially since without Vazquez and Vladdy to the non-Expo follower they have no one of big value. It's just a suspicion I have...

[Ksyrup]

No, I think this paves the way for him to be commissioner for the rest of his life.

[corbes]

I thought I had read (perhaps in S.I. Rose article) that Selig wanted to step down as commissioner whenever his term is over. ('05?)

[sterlingice]

You know, at this rate, FOFC may be able to take up a collection and buy the Brewers (much like that aircraft carrier a while back). Then again, you have to ask yourself- do you really want to own part of the Brewers?



Homer: [reading] "Project Arcturus couldn't have succeeded without you.
This will get you a little closer to that dream of yours. It's
not the Dallas Cowboys, but it's a start. Drop me a line if
you're on the East Coast, Hank Scorpio."
[a whole football team is on his lawn]
[disappointed] Aw, the Denver Broncos!
Marge: I think owning the Denver Broncos is pretty good.
[a player tries to catch the ball, but falls]
Homer: Yeah, yeah.
Marge: Well, explain to me why it isn't.
[another player tries to catch, but hits the ball with his head]
Homer: [sighs] You just don't understand football, Marge.


SI

[mckerney]

You know, at this rate, FOFC may be able to take up a collection and buy the Brewers (much like that aircraft carrier a while back). Then again, you have to ask yourself- do you really want to own part of the Brewers?

Well, we could try and move them out of Milwaukee and to a much better city in that general area. Like maybe Duluth or Fargo.

[Fonzie]

Well, we could try and move them out of Milwaukee and to a much better city in that general area. Like maybe Duluth or Fargo.

Sadly, they're tied to their 30-year lease at Miller Park. No Duluth Brewers.

However, we could always rename them to something like the Milwaukee Rectal Trout. Or the Milwaukee Colossal Squids. Or the Milwaukee Monkeys. Or...

[Fritz]

You know, at this rate, FOFC may be able to take up a collection and buy the Brewers (much like that aircraft carrier a while back). Then again, you have to ask yourself- do you really want to own part of the Brewers?
SI


DUDE! I have these Papa John's coupons good for free pie, and they never take em when the pie gets delivered. If we can resell the pies at a discount, the team could be ours in a matter of (ack, numbers - HELP) days!

[SackAttack]

We could always whore out Marmel and Subby...to each other.

[timmae]

sadly enough the team won't be sold anytime soon. The current morons in charge aren't likely to take a lowball offer. The fact that they are so set on keeping the team in Milwaukee means they will probably shun any over-the-top outside offers. No one in the community who has the dough will get close enough to be hit by a Juan Nieves changeup. My prediction... we'll still be talking abut the "sale" of the Brewers after GW's second term is over (how's that for hell freezing over!!)!!

[Shkspr]

We could always whore out Marmel and Subby...to each other.

We're going to need a lot more than $1.98.

[SackAttack]

We're going to need a lot more than $1.98.

C'mon...it's the Brewers.

[SackAttack]

Dolabump - the following blurb is taken from this (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBqdjIzNzFqBF9TAzk1ODYxNzc3BHNlYwNlY2w-?slug=insidedishrangersprovead&prov=tsn&type=lgns) article on Yahoo! Sports. I don't know what sort of credibility Zimbalist has in the field of sports economics, but if I'm reading it right, he seems to be sayin' basically the same thing I was about the Brewers and fair market value:

Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist, author of Baseball and Billions, on whether teams such as the Brewers and Pirates could be sold: "It would be difficult only if the owners ask for an above-market price. At the right price, either will sell. They both have new parks, a fat wad of revenue-sharing transfers, and they've done well in the past. Hence, they have potential." Zimbalist says a fair price for the Brewers would be in the range of $180 million, minus team debt that he estimates is between $110 million and $120 million. . . .