12/21/24
March 11, 2008
Mark Cuban asks: When will US pro sports get its Abramovich?: (I know, it looks like Mark Cuban day.) For a while there, it looked like North American sports teams owners were going to take over European Soccer. The biggest Premiere (sic) League names were getting bought up. Then a funny thing happened. The US Dollar turned upside down against major currencies making deals that once looked tenable, all of the sudden seem very, very expensive. Which US pro league and team, and which foreign owner is most likely to be the first? Why?
posted by worldcup2002 to business and law at 11:56 AM - 6 comments
Not sure about this, although it certainly could happen. Foreign ownership is big in the Premiership because of the huge global popularity of the league. Foreign ownership is much rarer in the other footie leagues, even though some of them can claim to be as high quality as England, because of the marketing power of the English brands. US sports franchises are massive, but really only in the US (and I guess Canada too). Certainly the MLB, NBA and NFL have increased in popularity overseas, but they still are relatively unimportant outside our borders. While part of the fun for these billionares is playing with a really expensive toy, I think the real draw is being seen playing with the really expensive toy, and I don't think there are enough people to oooh and aw in the non-US world for many foreign tycoons to buy up our teams.
posted by Chargdres at 01:15 PM on March 11, 2008
I would think the NFL would be attractive to any investor. The issue here is that the billionaire international class that is interested in sports-franchises-as-toys are almost exclusively Russian and Arab. They're not as interested in our sports accordingly. Though I would expect a Russian billionaire to own an NHL team at some point. Of course, that is if the entire league they own in Russia gets boring. But my assumption is that this is just a matter of time and opportunity. If Abramovich could buy the Yankees, don't you think he would? Expecially if it's simply all about prestige. The significance of the Yankees isn't lost on an international audience - even if baseball is.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 01:27 PM on March 11, 2008
In order to make a major professional franchise work, there have to be large concessions from the state, county, or municipal government involved. That is, there are usually some tax writeoffs granted, help with obtaining land, a portion of stadium construction and operating costs paid, and so on. At the very least, there is assistance given in the form of access roads and parking. For a local owner, or even one from out of town, these things are usually, albeit grudgingly, granted to some degree. I'm not sure very many government entities would be quite as willing to support foreign ownership. But then, I suppose that if they'll do it for automobile factories, they'll do it for a football team.
posted by Howard_T at 02:45 PM on March 11, 2008
Maybe if Abramovich throws a high-end escort service into the mix, he can get the guv'nor to push through a Yankees sale?
posted by worldcup2002 at 05:06 PM on March 11, 2008
How about them Cubs?
posted by worldcup2002 at 05:58 PM on March 11, 2008
Found this post after following curlyelk's post re: Cuban banning bloggers from the Mavericks locker room.