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DEL.ICIO.USDon’t give the Braves Liberty — please
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Let’s start with what the Braves don’t need as a new owner, and that is another symbol on the New York Stock Exchange instead of somebody that you actually can choke or hug depending on whether they keep flopping during the postseason.
In other words, Liberty Media Corp., get outta here. If this latest “thing” that wants to replace the Braves’ current “thing” called Time Warner wants something to give it a mighty tax break, may I suggest moving the home office to Bermuda?
Arthur Blank isn’t the best option, either, and you needn’t go further than the disaster that was Wayne Huizinga trying to run an NFL team and a baseball team in south Florida between doing stuff with his NHL team and Blockbuster Video. Now he’s just a Miami Dolphins guy. Blank needs to remain just a Falcons guy, especially since his team has to do whatever it takes this season to match reality with hype after jacking up ticket prices following last year’s underwhelming finish.
Those other locals who were in the mix to buy the Braves (real estate tycoon Ron Terwilliger and radio magnate Lew Dickey Jr.) reportedly aren’t key challengers anymore to this latest “thing” and Blank, which brings us to this: What the choppers and the chanters need to save their franchise is a miracle. They need a candidate in shiny armor to gallop out of nowhere on a white horse. Former Braves owner Ted Turner would do nicely, but he would prefer to make his dramatic entrance on a buffalo these days. Speaking of which, he’s more into bison now than baseball. So, given that, the Braves need their Arturo Moreno, the breath of fresh air in his fourth season with the Angels of Los Angeles, Anaheim, California or Whatever They Want To Be Called At This Moment.
In contrast to his faceless predecessor called The Walt Disney Company, Moreno mingles with the crowd, and he produces as many cheers around Angel Stadium as Vladimir Guerrero since he sliced ticket and concession prices. He also keeps his wallet open when it comes to acquiring whatever players his baseball people suggest are necessary. This is the same Moreno who wasn’t even mentioned as a possible Angels owner until five days before the deal was announced in April 2003. See what we’re hoping for?
Prior to Moreno, the Angels had their version of Liberty Media and Blank. There was a Boston group led by Frank McCourt, who later bought the Dodgers, and then there was a New York group led by Jimmy Nederlander, who gasped along with McCourt when Moreno dropped from the sky to get baseball’s approval to snatch the Angels away from Disney’s mostly indifference toward baseball. Soon after the Angels grabbed their 2002 World Series trophy, for instance, Disney already was looking to pull a partial Huizinga by getting rid off a baseball franchise that wasn’t as profitable as, say, selling Mickey Mouse ears or visually enhanced DVDs of “Animal House.” A full Huizinga would have involved Disney doing what Huizinga did after his Marlins won the 1997 World Series, and that is Huizinga shipped away nearly everything in the Florida clubhouse that could fetch a few pennies to add millions to his billions.
But back to corporations, baseballs and ruthlessness. In addition to the Angels, the Toronto Blue Jays also won a World Series (twice) under a corporation when they were owned by a Canadian brewery during the 1990s. Still, with “the bottom line” always more important to CEOs than “the pennant race,” corporations only win world championships by accident. Mostly, corporations don’t win world championships. All you need to know is that the Braves’ solo world championship during its current run to the playoffs of 14 consecutive seasons was in 1995. That was the year BEFORE Time Warner took over from Ted Turner.
Elsewhere, Fox hadn’t a clue of how to bring success to the Los Angeles Dodgers, only baseball’s most famous franchise not named the New York Yankees. It eventually sold the Dodgers to McCourt. As a result, Time Warner and The Tribune Company are the only corporations left with baseball franchises. The Tribune Company purchased the Chicago Cubs in 1981, and it’s a “thing” that cares more each season that Wrigley Field is stuffed every game (money, money, money) than that the team hasn’t reached the World Series since the end of World War II.
Just wondering: Does Arturo Moreno have a twin brother or sister?
Permalink | Comments (24) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
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By jonathan
April 25, 2006 06:58 PM | Link to this
Ted Turner sold us out when he included the Braves in his “get richer than sin” sell-out. Arthur Blank is the best option for Atlanta fans. Why can’t he buy the Braves from Liberty? Would that negate the tax breaks from money hungry Time-Warner? Hey, I’ll buy them if they will accept a check. May take a while for it to clear.
By Miles
April 25, 2006 07:00 PM | Link to this
so who exactly should own the team? You have just blasted corporate ownership as well as private ownership. So do you want the braves to be publicly owned by the city of atlanta? lol…they wont last long if thats the case.
By Michael A.
April 25, 2006 11:01 PM | Link to this
Huizenga.
By Ben Sutton
April 25, 2006 11:35 PM | Link to this
Terrence: The Braves and Cubs aren’t the only two teams left with corporate owners. Toronto- owned by Rogers Communications and Washington Nationals- owned by Major League Baseball
By Scott
April 26, 2006 01:27 AM | Link to this
Liberty would be an awful owner. But there are alot of reports and rumors saying that Liberty is going to turn around and sell the Braves to Blank. Hopefully they are true.
By Volunteer Editor
April 26, 2006 01:51 AM | Link to this
The term for Mr. Dickey is “radio magnate,” not “radio magnet.” A radio magnet is commonly referred to as a speaker. Good column, though.
By Jason S.
April 26, 2006 09:50 AM | Link to this
Being a Braves fan in Illinois (I grew up in the South), I have seen what corporate ownership can do to a team. The first priority for the Tribune Company, because it is a corporation, is to report profits to its investors. This is not the ideal situation for a baseball team or its fans. For example, they won’t even sell single game tickets at Wrigley. All the tickets go to a third party retailer (also owned by the Tribune Company) and the already high price is marked up again. I would rather see our Bravos in the hands of Ted again than in the hands of an incorporated machine seeking tax breaks!
By DW
April 26, 2006 09:52 AM | Link to this
Hey Terrance…The word is MAGNATE not MAGNET.
By DW
April 26, 2006 09:54 AM | Link to this
Hey Terrance…The word is MAGNATE not MAGNET.
By Taylor
April 26, 2006 11:43 AM | Link to this
I think Bill Gates should buy the Braves.
By Hugh G. Rection
April 26, 2006 11:43 AM | Link to this
Thanks for not playing the race card Terence - you’re a very good writer when you resist that temptation to race-bait. Keep up the good work, you’re better than that.
By Taylor
April 26, 2006 11:45 AM | Link to this
I think Bill Gates should buy the Braves.
By paddyatl
April 26, 2006 11:57 AM | Link to this
How about Chief Knock-a-homa?
By Luke
April 26, 2006 11:58 AM | Link to this
By the way, Animal House is not Disney. It’s produced and distributed by Universal.
By Dave
April 26, 2006 12:07 PM | Link to this
Get Ted Back as owner. Dave
By Bo
April 26, 2006 12:53 PM | Link to this
WHAT ABOUT STAN IF HE DON’T GET NATIONALS?
By JMar
April 26, 2006 02:17 PM | Link to this
Bad timing, Bo: According to WUSA-TV Washington, MLB has chosen Washington real estate magnate Theodore Lerner as the new owner of the Nationals. The Lerner Group will edge out the groups led by Washington businessmen Fred Malek and Jeffrey Zients and Indianapolis radio tycoon Jeff Smulyan, which is probably good news. Former Braves president Stan Kasten is expected to serve as the team’s president after Lerner assumes control next month.
By Richard
April 26, 2006 05:31 PM | Link to this
So, because Huizenga blew as an owner, you think Blank would be awful as well?
That’s profiling, isn’t it?
By Phil
April 26, 2006 05:48 PM | Link to this
Hah, what does Terrence Moore know about whether or not Arthur Blank would be successful? Gee, I don’t know why I bother to write this…have any of you folks ever seen a positive article from “know it all” Terrence Moore?
By Ron Roberts (for real)
April 26, 2006 11:03 PM | Link to this
A few things, Terrence…
Lew Dickey (the radio magnate) and his brothers bought dozens of radio stations after the 1997 Telecom bill opened up the floodgates for mass ownership. Upon purchasing these stations (I worked for one) they cut jobs, scaled back promotional budgets, over-sold commercial inventory at cheaper rates (think “outfield walls COVERED with ads..not a square inch of Turner Field unscathed from marketing). They bought into radio at a time when they knew nothing about radio. They’ve learned since, then, and have righted their ship, but the same would apply to major league baseball. They’ve never run a team.
Moreno’s won how many World Series comapred to Disney, with teh Angels?
Huizenga wasn’t so much a bad owner for the Marlins as much as he was a bad businessman and politician when it came to getting a stadium deal done. He assummed a World Series “purchase” would be all it took to convince ‘em to build his field of dreams, and he was wrong. MLB should’ve never given Miami an expansion franchise without a long-term stadium solution in place.
Arthur Blank would be this franchise’s best boost. Fans would again be able to relate to a local owner who’d be actually physically in Turner Field sitting in his owner’s box, shaking hands with fans. He managed to fill the Georgia Dome (and still does, by the way) with a marginal playoff tease of a football team, and that’s what “allegedly” keeps Time-Waener from being able to invest more in team payroll. The steady decline of attendance in TW’s reign isn’t a fluke…fans aren’t connected to TimeWarner, or a team that TW doesn’t invest in to “win” in the sports page.
By Chris
April 27, 2006 12:29 AM | Link to this
If Liberty buys the team, it’ll likely only be for 2 years, since that’s the time limit under the tax statute and right now they’re only looking for a tax-free way to dump some stock and gain some cash. If they own the Braves, it won’t be for long.
By Gatorhater
April 27, 2006 02:30 AM | Link to this
If Liberty buys the Braves the payroll will continue to shrink over the next few seasons until the Braves are middle of the pack at best. JS and Bobby Cox will step away from management positions and it will be back to the 80’s. However, Blank could provide a much needed spark in the organization. He would bring in big name players and finally stamp the team with World Series Rings. Remember how fun it was when the Braves actually negotiated with the top notch free agents?
By Rick Riehl
April 27, 2006 08:46 AM | Link to this
They need an owner who’s willing to spend up to 100 million . Where thats Blank or whoever .
By Rick Riehl
April 27, 2006 08:47 AM | Link to this
They need an owner who’s willing to spend up to 100 million . Whether thats Blank or whoever .