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- The CubsJanuary 6
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With all the support and encouragement I got to buy the team, I think its appropriate to share the decision making process behind what happened and why. Buying the Cubs was a unique opportunity to own one of the most storied franchises in sports. Its a team that represents so much to so many, with such a unique legacy, that when the opportunity arose, I decided to go for it.
I’m not going to get into the numbers, or the people, or much of the process other than to say that the person I worked with at the Trib was great. The person I worked with at the Cubs did a great job as well. Nothing about the process was anything but positive when it came to the people assigned to work with me.
During the entire process I thought I had a very strong chance of being able to buy the team. I thought I could offer a competitive price. I thought I had the experience to come in and improve the business so that I could continue to invest in the product on the field without having to squeeze every nickel from Cubs fans. I also thought I could win over Major League Baseball. All told, I thought my experience in owning a team and most importantly, my commitment to always trying to win, would give me an important advantage.
From my perspective, the Cubs being a winning team was important to the seller, the Tribune company, even after they sold. When the Cubs won, the newspaper sold more copies, more people watched the games on WGN and listened on the
- Why Pro Sports Need NewspapersDecember 24 2008
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Pro sports, every single league, from the NFL to NBA to MLB to MLS to NHL need newspapers. This need exists because of what internet sports reporting has become, and how LOCAL team fans have evolved to use the net.
There is no shortage of coverage of professional sports on the webs. There is a long list of sites, large and small that provide the same “sports site essentials”. Scores, news, columnists/blogs, rumors, stats, video interviews and highlights, standings and discussion forums, with a focus on the “outrage of the day”. Then of course there are the league websites that provide much of the same in a sanctioned and sanitized version. In essence, the home pages of these network sites have become exactly what the 6pm CBS Network News was. A compendium of what the editors think are the major stories of the day. Just as reporters were assigned by CBS to cover “whats important”, the sites assign columnists to cover “whats important”. Unfortunately ‘whats important’ means we are condemned to T.O., Sean Avery and Stephan Marbury’s contract status all the time. Of course the net has the advantage of unlimited shelf space for each team, but the reality is that individual team or player coverage is nothing more than aggregation of other sources and stats unless something they consider newsworthy happens.
Bottom line is that despite the huge volume of sports coverage, the local coverage of teams for the most part
- What About the Bank BailOut Money ?December 23 2008
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Lots of articles in the past few days wondering what the banks are going to do with the bailout money. Its of course a legitimate question.
The response of the banks has been that the cash goes into a pool of capital and you cant segregate the new capital from the bailout capital. Fair point. You cant look at the cash in your wallet or bank account and know what the source of each dollar was. On the other hand, if someone offers you say 10pct of your networth in the form of a loan, don’t you immediately consider all you could do with the money ? Of course you do.
But you also try to figure out if it’s worth taking the money, and more importantly, how you are going to pay it back. The key to understanding how banks will use the money is understanding and having complete transparency about each bank’s capital structure and its impact on owners of the bank, its shareholders.
If you look at the actual TARP document for the loans to banks, it has a lot of detail about what will happen to banks capital structure. It also creates a ton of issues, that if not handled properly by the Treasury, SEC and the banks receiving funds, will lead to confusion, lawsuits and loss of investor confidence in the banks.
Here are the issues that I think will be raised over the next 24 months that are going to get people upset:
1. There are going to be questions abou
- You Know Chrysler is Toast Because..December 22 2008
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The CEO takes out a fullpage ad in the Wall Street Journal today to thank the American Public for “investing” in Chrysler.
Lets see, is there anything more idiotic than spending more than 100k dollars on a full page ad “thanks for letting me waste your money ” ad ? Does it make it worse that its a business publication where the readers might just recognize the stupidity of wasting money on ad dollars that doesn’t even try to sell the product ? How does it make the next unemployed Chrysler worker feel that their entire year’s salary just went for a single, ridiculous ad ?
Just one more example of how poorly run the car companies are. Note to the Big 3, spend money to make money. These types of ads have as much value as a Bernie Madoff account statement.
And while I am on the subject again, one last suggestion for the Big 3. Instead of determining the right cost structure for your company by working backwards from the salaries of hourly employees and how they compare to foreign owned competitors, how about doing what every successful business does ? Figure out what cars consumers want, and how much they need to sell for. Once you can establish the right selling point that will actually encourage people to buy cars, THEN work backwards to the cost structure you need in order to sell cars at that price point.
For those in Detroit who have never operated a lemonade stand, or any other business, the way profits are g
- Why Owning The Mavs Can Be AmazingDecember 18 2008
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20,000 people standing and clapping and cheering non stop, showing our appreciation. It rarely gets any better than this
To find out more about this great night. Click Here
