Texsox

I believe the most likely scenario is that in the beginning everyone knew who was involved in putting together the bid that ultimately was successful in buying the team. Iirc there were about thirty civic minded investors. Could some shares have changed hands and the buyers identity kept secret from the other owners? Possibly. But not likely. There is a board of directors which is public. Each of the owners would have access to them at the very least and they would have access to each of the owners. Do they get together for a pre season pachanga? No.

The stadium could be a completely different group of investors, it could overlap. The problem is stadiums don't seem to be a money maker or every team, every city, every PE group would be jumping at the chance to build one.

JR "For $500,000,000 in ownership you get all the financial upsides of owning a MLB team without the hassles of running it. It's the best possible deal. And no one will be buying billboards demanding that you sell."

As much as I would love to see a team in the San Antonio/Austin region I don't think it will happen. While San Antonio is a large city, it doesn't have the corporate presence that other cities have.

I've been trying to find an article that links winning with a higher valuation. All baseball franchises have increased tremendously in value. I wonder if someone looks at the purchase price and thinks they would spend another 100 million if the team won 70 games. Maybe 200 million more if they won 90? It seems like stadium deal, TV revenue, salaries, etc would have as much, or even more, affect on the sales price. Now a long tradition of success has a value, I'm not certain a couple winning seasons would get a buyer to forget the past 125 years.

I spent a lot of time in Santa Fe when I was working on my masters. I heard more than a couple people talk about what a nice couple they were.

Dick Allen. Nice read. https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/a/dick-allen-hall-of-fame-hometown-wampum-phillies-20250226.html

I've often said that in real life we would be looking around at who hangs together with a wtf reaction. People are so different on message boards, especially arguing about niche subjects.

No. I believe if baseball started in the 21st century there wouldn't be an extensive minor league industrial complex that needs warm bodies. Let's agree that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing in sports. These players have been hitting balls for ten years or so when they get drafted. Do they really need 12 or 14?

I have a couple ideas. Because baseball is mired in preserving how it was done when granddad was alive. There is an intensive minor league structure that needs athletes to work at minimum wage for lots of people to make money off of. Somehow the athleticism that baseball requires takes longer to develop than literally every other sport invented by humans.

I think this is the only one field answer that isn't a stretch of the imagination.

It certainly is the fastest route to winning. After buying the team is there still money in the budget for a half a billion dollar payroll? I don't know. So I don't believe it's a guarantee.

As the sell price of these teams increases to the ten billion dollar plus range it will make sense at some point to take them public. What we are nearing the end of, if we haven't already, are the civic minded hobbiest owners.

It certainly isn't guaranteed.

When we "forgot our IDs" and had to find someone to buy us beer, we always went to the reasonable drunk. Back before folks would be arrested for helping a kid out.

How the hell does this post not have twenty laugh emojis? It may be depressing as hell that the meetings have to be between their doctor's appointments and nappy time, but jersey numbers of non-roster invitees is comedy gold. BTW being on the board isn't much more than an honorary title the way the club is organized. He can be on the board but his would be a lone voice that the others can just turn off their hearing aids to avoid.

They actually use the price to moderate drinking. I read a paper that showed how increasing the price decreased the number of problems with drunk fans. We wouldn't have to pay sky high prices if dumbasses would stay off the field, stop groping, puking, etc,

This also highlights the reality of owning a sports team. Your investment isn't dependent so much on the standings. Many of the investors are just looking for an opportunity to increase their net worth.

Great point. Basically anyone that JR listed to *and* follows their advice has an impact on the operations of the club. But it's strictly voluntary on JR's part.

I'm not either.

I can't think of Castro without thinking of Ozzie.

Do you feel that way about all stocks or just baseball teams? I don't look at it much different than buying shares in any other company.

It's certainly possible. I'm just conditioned as a Sox fan to not get excited while reading the tea leaves. Plus Occum's Razor. The simplest answer is usually the correct one. The other issue that makes me doubt there is a "spitshake deal" is who here would accept a verbal promise from JR to eventually take controlling interest? That doesn't seem likely. But he did give fans free antennas to watch the Suns play. So he and JR can bond over that. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but I didn't believe it is as likely as some posters seem to believe. But it is interesting to ponder why. Perhaps after his people completed their due diligence he decided Minnesota wasn't a good investment. He wouldn't be the first person to back out of a purchase after getting a better look at the books. And there probably is a confidentiality agreement in place to prevent him from stating that.

💯 Always expect the worst as a Sox fan.

All of the shareholders are getting older and have different issues with estate planning. JR could simply be helping one of the shareholders in their transition by controlling who buys in.