That included Heat owner Mickey Arison, Jags owner Shahid Kahn, and some guy named Michael Jordan...but surprising to some, nobody from the Glazer family. And both Jeff Vinik and Stu Sternberg have a ways to go still.
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| Source: Forbes, Florida Trend |
I was recently asked on a radio show, hosted by former Congressman David Jolly and my former WTSP colleague Preston Rudie, if billionaire sports owners were the "new norm" and how that might affect the sports landscape.
My answer was that we'd likely see more Steve Ballmer's buying teams, but it doesn't mean they'll be willing to lose money on them.
A $5 million contract may be monopoly money to most of these billionaires, but realize that most of them got rich by being shrewd businessmen & businesswomen. And they don't like running businesses at a loss.
So while Tampa Bay is hoping someday for next Mark Cuban - a rich guy who doesn't seem to care as much about the bottom line as he does winning - the reality is, the best any city should hope for is more Jeff Viniks: owners who are shrewd enough to run their franchises as a loss leader, so they can advance their other business interests (real estate) while hopefully (most years) enjoying success on-the-field/ice/court as icing on the cake.
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The wealthy cashing in on stadium districts...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2017/03/29/architecture/red-sox-revamp-boston/index.html
Isn't their revival around the same time you worked for the Red Sox?