The mag also reports that while the absentee owners have cut payroll, the club’s revenue and profits have climbed, a lot.
Braves prez Terry McGuirk is shocked, shocked. He tells the local organ’s Jeff Schultz he has heard no such thing from Liberty. Schultz quotes McGuirk calling the Forbes report “amateurish,” even though he also tells Schultz he has not seen the report.
It is, of course, no revelation that Liberty might be looking to unload the Bravos. That was supposedly the plan from the start. Cash in on the tax benefit, then move along. Schultz notes that Liberty CEO Greg Maffei “earned” $87 million last year, more than the entire Braves roster.
Liberty would not be looking to sell our Bravos until 2012, according to Forbes. If the team fetches what Forbes says it is worth — about $480 million – that would be $80 million more than Liberty paid. So the absentee landlord would make a tidy profit on the sale as it’s making tidy profits operating the team, as it’s saving a shitload of money on taxes.
Pity the poor American corporation and the awful tax and regulatory burdens it must bear.
Paging Mark Cuban. The Cubs might not want you, but ATL sure as hell does.
But would Bud allow it? He seems to prefer leveraged, out-of-town corporate ownership.
Cuban has as much of a shot to buy the team as I do. Bud would never allow it.
Hate is not too strong of a word to describe my feelings for the Used Car Salesman.
Bud only likes stable, sensible, committed owners like the Wilpons and McCourts.
So is McGuirk a shill?
This may sound stupid but I’ll throw it out their. How ’bout a group led by Jeff Foxworthy. He’s a Braves fan and he’s got to have a ton of money. Just putting it out there for discussion….good or bad.
This may sound stupid but I’ll throw it out there. How ’bout a group led by Jeff Foxworthy. He’s a Braves fan and he’s got to have a ton of money. Just putting it out there for discussion….good or bad.
How about a group headed by Jeff Foxworthy, Andre 3000 and Elton John?
Elton John’s a bigger fan, and if he’s the owner we wouldn’t be subjected to that godawful modern county rock crap that plays between innings.
Charlie Sheen would be more fun.
Fuck Charlie Sheen — no thugs who beat up women or fucked-up conspiracy theorists who think 9/11 was an inside job.
I doubt Foxworthy has anywhere near the money to become even a minority owner.
Ted Turner could put a deal together. He has some of the money, and he has rich friends and acquaintances. At his age, he probably doesn’t want to get involved.
Maybe Mrs. Chambers would buy the team and let Henry Aaron run it. She has the money, she is a big fan of Aaron, and Aaron knows the operation inside out.
I don’t want Mark Cuban anywhere near my team.
‘So is McGuirk a shill?’
Ummm, you’re just figuring this out? Oh well, at least Derek Schiller still has his standards.
I would like to add Lil’ John and Early Cuyler to the Elton John, Andre 3000, and Jeff Foxworthy celebrity ownership group.
Paging Arthur Blank…
I forgot about Elton John being a big Braves fan. At least management is bring in The B-52′s and Ludacris for post game concerts this year.
Why is Elton John a Braves fan? Not complaining, mind you, just find it weird.
I don’t know if he still spends time here, but Elton had a deluxe Buckhead condo and used to spend a chunk of his Springtime in ATL back in the Braves 90s glory days.
Elton came out as a Braves fan (sorry couldn’t resist) about five years ago. It seems that he started learning about baseball in the Murph years, and of course adopted the Braves because of the Superstation. He said in an interview that I read, that this was in the days of the Braves drawing about 3,000 people at Fulton County. He has become a very close friends to Bobby Cox and Phil Niekro over the years. Forget Mark Cuban, if you’re looking for a celeb owner, in this case Elton is probably the man. Just his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road money should get him in the door.