Latest on Angels sale

[Blarg]

Thurston can't make it, his rental yacht left him stranded. 

[Dtwncbad]

7 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Thurston can't make it, his rental yacht left him stranded. 

This is good news.  Now he doesn’t need yacht fuel.

[Pancake Bear]

19 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

At this point I am pulling for Thurston Howell III to buy the team just so I can read everyday about how much Taylor loathes him.

He'd undoubtedly loathe anyone with enough money to own the team.

[Rico]

Lacob's NW listed as 1.5 billion. Don't want no poor boy.

[Warfarin]

5 hours ago, Rico said:

Lacob's NW listed as 1.5 billion. Don't want no poor boy.

Pretty sure he'd come with a team of investors, as we did with the Warriors.  He wouldn't be running the show on his own.

[Rico]

Poor boy.  I want someone/group that can rival Cohen. 

[Rico]

The NBA and MLB totally different beasts.  There are stricter cap rules in NBA.  You can only offer the top players so much.  Lacob is not a guy that would drop 500 million on a single player.

[Jay]

1 hour ago, Rico said:

Poor boy.  I want someone/group that can rival Cohen. 

Agreed, we need someone with fuck you money to buy the Angels.

[Dtwncbad]

There were those reports a few months ago about Theo Epstein being a possible new owner partnering with investors.

That would still be the most appealing to me as there would be no way Epstein would be involved unless he had full control over the baseball decisions.

That structure would make me basically not care at all about who the money partners were.

So following this, what local money partner would have close to unlimited resources and also be interested in developing a new ballpark here in Orange County?

Months ago I brought up Donald Bren, the head of the Irvine Company with a net worth of like $17b.

I was corrected by somebody that Bren was likely not a good owner candidate because he is already 83 years old.

But now that I think about it, the Bren family is going to keep owning the Irvine company one way or another.  

Donald is too old to be a new owner in the traditional sense of owning and running the team.

But doesn’t it make sense for his family to be interested in owning the Angels for the pure investment and the maximization of that investment opportunity through what they are great at, real estate development?

The combination of the Bren family money and their real estate development capabilities and the baseball prowess of Theo Epstein to run the actual baseball part of it would be absolutely ideal.

But even if the Bren family isn’t interested, I am pulling for the new ownership to be Epstein fronting an investor or group of investors that will just give him all the financial resources he needs to run the club.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Dtwncbad

[BTH]

1 minute ago, Dtwncbad said:

But even if the Bren family isn’t interested, I am pulling for the new ownership to be Epstein fronting an investor or group of investors that will just give him all the financial resources he needs to run the club.

The concern I’d have with that is: what happens if, for whatever reason, the relationship between Epstein and the financial investor doesn’t work out?

We saw Jeter leave the Marlins, and now Bruce Sherman looks like an unqualified owner.

I’m not trying to compare Epstein to Jeter, as one is an established baseball exec and the other isn’t, but my concern is just what happens if the relationship between Epstein and the financial investor erodes?

I’d prefer that someone buys the team, hires a President of Baseball Ops (Stearns? Click?), and gives them full autonomy.

[Warfarin]

6 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

There were those reports a few months ago about Theo Epstein being a possible new owner partnering with investors.

That would still be the most appealing to me as there would be no way Epstein would be involved unless he had full control over the baseball decisions.

That structure would make me basically not care at all about who the money partners were.

So following this, what local money partner would have close to unlimited resources and also be interested in developing a new ballpark here in Orange County?

Months ago I brought up Donald Bren, the head of the Irvine Company with a net worth of like $17b.

I was corrected by somebody that Bren was likely not a good owner candidate because he is already 83 years old.

But now that I think about it, the Bren family is going to keep owning the Irvine company one way or another.  

Donald is too old to be a new owner in the traditional sense of owning and running the team.

But doesn’t it make sense for his family to be interested in owning the Angels for the pure investment and the maximization of that investment opportunity through what they are great at, real estate development?

The combination of the Bren family money and their real estate development capabilities and the baseball prowess of Theo Epstein to run the actual baseball part of it would be absolutely ideal.

But even if the Bren family isn’t interested, I am pulling for the new ownership to be Epstein fronting an investor or group of investors that will just give him all the financial resources he needs to run the club.

One possibility of the above could be the Japanese group.  I think @Pancake Bear referenced them and that they were "looking for a good front man."  Conceivably Epstein's history of success would qualify him to be a front man for that group.

[Dtwncbad]

4 minutes ago, Trendon said:

The concern I’d have with that is: what happens if, for whatever reason, the relationship between Epstein and the financial investor doesn’t work out?

We saw Jeter leave the Marlins, and now Bruce Sherman looks like an unqualified owner.

I’m not trying to compare Epstein to Jeter, as one is an established baseball exec and the other isn’t, but my concern is just what happens if the relationship between Epstein and the financial investor erodes?

I’d prefer that someone buys the team, hires a President of Baseball Ops (Stearns? Click?), and gives them full autonomy.

Epstein would certainly be an owner/partner.  Your concern is valid, but no different than any partnership needing to be careful in choosing who they go into business with.

 

[gotbeer]

56 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

One possibility of the above could be the Japanese group.  I think @Pancake Bear referenced them and that they were "looking for a good front man."  Conceivably Epstein's history of success would qualify him to be a front man for that group.

Just throwing it out there.  But what if it's not a group, but a company?  Remember that Nintendo bought the Mariners.

And the company that comes to mind.  Honda.  American Honda is headquartered in Torrance.  Their biggest US market tends to be So Cal.  They have a huge sports presence in So Cal.  Honda Center, Rose Parade, they were title sponsor to the LA Marthon, Long Beach Grand Prix is sponsored by Acura.  Ohtani would be a perfect sponsor for them, both in the US and Japan.  Actually would fit their marketing that they are currently running.   And their original logo that they still use on motorcycles is a wing.  

A company also might be easier for a guy like Epstein to lead, than a group that is composed of different people that may want different things. I.E., you may have some that are worried about profit/loss, some that want to be more hands on, etc.  With a company, he would just deal with the company.  And what their goals are.  You would have to deal with budgets, but with the type of company Honda is, you could develop it into more of a marketing/advertising budget for all of Honda's ventures.  In 2021, Honda's advertising budget was $1.07 billion.  Which is down from the $1.39 billion they were spending pre pandemic.  If the Angels could get a part of that $300 million that they were spending before, on top of their other revenues.  That would put us in the big boy category.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

19 hours ago, Stradling said:

He’s not bringing back the money they are paying him unless they win. Not now and certainly not when he gets $42 million a year for 10-12 years. 

It would take 2 All Stars to replace Ohtani, maybe he deserves more than $50m/yr.

[Angel Oracle]

21 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

Yep, to be the man, you have to beat the man.

[Angel Oracle]

5 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

It would take 2 All Stars to replace Ohtani, maybe he deserves more than $50m/yr.

11 years/$500 million takes him to age 40.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

2 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

11 years/$500 million takes him to age 40.

I'm not sure on his being worth $50M/yr for ever. But for the first few he maybe worth $60M. After that his value will shrink. 11 year contract would scare me if l was 30 years younger, but I'm thinking I'll be very lucky to see the end of an 11 years contract.

[Dtwncbad]

26 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

Just throwing it out there.  But what if it's not a group, but a company?  Remember that Nintendo bought the Mariners.

And the company that comes to mind.  Honda.  American Honda is headquartered in Torrance.  Their biggest US market tends to be So Cal.  They have a huge sports presence in So Cal.  Honda Center, Rose Parade, they were title sponsor to the LA Marthon, Long Beach Grand Prix is sponsored by Acura.  Ohtani would be a perfect sponsor for them, both in the US and Japan.  Actually would fit their marketing that they are currently running.   And their original logo that they still use on motorcycles is a wing.  

A company also might be easier for a guy like Epstein to lead, than a group that is composed of different people that may want different things. I.E., you may have some that are worried about profit/loss, some that want to be more hands on, etc.  With a company, he would just deal with the company.  And what their goals are.  You would have to deal with budgets, but with the type of company Honda is, you could develop it into more of a marketing/advertising budget for all of Honda's ventures.  In 2021, Honda's advertising budget was $1.07 billion.  Which is down from the $1.39 billion they were spending pre pandemic.  If the Angels could get a part of that $300 million that they were spending before, on top of their other revenues.  That would put us in the big boy category.

My personal feeling is it would be more complicated for a guy like Epstein to work for a huge corporation than to work for a smaller group of private investors.

[gotbeer]

30 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

11 years/$500 million takes him to age 40.

5 year $30 million a year.  

 

 

 

 

With a 20 year $20 million a year corporate sponsorship deal.

[Docwaukee]

14 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

My personal feeling is it would be more complicated for a guy like Epstein to work for a huge corporation than to work for a smaller group of private investors.

large corporations move slow.  can't imagine the red tape necessary for simple transactions etc.  Pass.  

[Docwaukee]

24 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

I'm not sure on his being worth $50M/yr for ever. But for the first few he maybe worth $60M. After that his value will shrink. 11 year contract would scare me if l was 30 years younger, but I'm thinking I'll be very lucky to see the end of an 11 years contract.

my guess is that they'll just pick a number and then spread it out over however many years to keep the AAV a little lower like 15/500.  Hockey got in trouble for getting a little too liberal with that method and I think they got rid of the personal services contract option.  

But it's essentially a lifetime contract so who cares about the number of years.  

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

2 minutes ago, Docwaukee said:

But it's essentially a lifetime contract so who cares about the number of years.  

That philosophy didn't work so well with Pujols' 10 yr. deal. After the first 5 or 6 years of that 15 years you're talking about you may begin to care a lot. It's not guaranteed he'll be worth the money long term. When was the last time a long contract worked out for the entire contract. Hoping for a player that's no longer earning his money, to retire is futile if Pujols is any indication.

[Pancake Bear]

20 minutes ago, Docwaukee said:

my guess is that they'll just pick a number and then spread it out over however many years to keep the AAV a little lower like 15/500.  Hockey got in trouble for getting a little too liberal with that method and I think they got rid of the personal services contract option.  

But it's essentially a lifetime contract so who cares about the number of years.  

MLB was gonna veto Judge's 14 year offer from San Diego if he accepted it. Since Ohtani will be 29 when he starts his new deal, I can't imagine them okaying more than 12 max. 

[Docwaukee]

2 minutes ago, Pancake Bear said:

MLB was gonna veto Judge's 14 year offer from San Diego if he accepted it. Since Ohtani will be 29 when he starts his new deal, I can't imagine them okaying more than 12 max. 

maybe.  depends if they can get a new group in there now and include this year.  

[Warfarin]

13 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

That philosophy didn't work so well with Pujols' 10 yr. deal. After the first 5 or 6 years of that 15 years you're talking about you may begin to care a lot. It's not guaranteed he'll be worth the money long term. When was the last time a long contract worked out for the entire contract. Hoping for a player that's no longer earning his money, to retire is futile if Pujols is any indication.

 

2 minutes ago, Pancake Bear said:

MLB was gonna veto Judge's 14 year offer from San Diego if he accepted it. Since Ohtani will be 29 when he starts his new deal, I can't imagine them okaying more than 12 max. 

There are other creative accounting tricks that can be employed to artificially lower the AAV.

So for example, Ohtani can be given a large signing bonus (which would be taxed at his place of residence, not where he plays) in exchange for deferred salary.  Salary deferrals lower the AAV for luxury tax purposes.  This way, Ohtani gets more money upfront immediately (signing bonus) in exchange for salary deferrals (which serves to lower the luxury tax AAV).