Smulyan

[Nationalzfanatic88]

Excuse my naivity(naiveness?) but I really dont know anything about this Smulyan guy. He is the only one of the eight candidates I have heard of. It seems to me like there's a good chance he might be our owner. Could someone explain to me why he's so bad? And if he becomes our owner, is he that bad that there would actually be like protests?

[Scot]

Smulyan is the guy who almost destroyed the Seattle Mariners. By the time he gave up control, the team was on life support and a serious relocation candidate. Smulyan said that it was the market, and not his fault. He was wrong.

Smulyan's biggest failure, IMHO, was his unwillingness to spend money to make money. He saw the revenue streams that the team generated with minimal effort on ownership's part, and decided to live within those revenues. He failed to market the team agressively, or spend money on the chance of improving the team on the field (thereby improving revenues, giving him even more money to spend on the team, etc).

With Smulyan at the helm of the Nats, I'd expect uninspired marketing, minimal fighting over the boradcast rights fiasco, and a payroll in the lower third of all MLB.

Scot.

[DCFan]

But yet he's seems to be the favorite of the MLB hierarchy.  Go figure.

[Scot]

DCFan:

Smulyan is a Selig crony from way back. As the sales of the Red Sox and Marlins show, what matters is how good a friend you are to Bud Selig, not how good you are at being an owner or how much money you're willing to pay.

The only way Smulyan doesn't get the Nats is if they decide they want him to buy the Reds instead. But in any case, Smulyan will soon be the proud new owner of a baseball team.

Scot.

[DCFan]

All signs seem to be pointing to him buying some team as his broadcasting company, Emmis Communications, is dumping one TV and radio station after another in order to build his cash stockpile.

[DCFan]

From www.dcrtv.org

Smulyan's Nats On Smulyan's WMAL? - 10/13 - Inside Radio updates us on the sale of ABC-Disney's radio unit. A dealmaker says: "It's up to Disney now. They know what the bids are and I think they'll sell." He says that "Jeff Smulyan at Emmis wants it so badly he can taste it." Smulyan is also bidding for the Washington Nationals baseball team. DCRTV wonders: What if Smulyan landed both ABC's radio stations and the team. He could put his Nats on his WMAL, WRQX, or WJZW. However, there are rumblings that Smulyan and Bonneville CEO Bruce Reese close friends. If Smulyan bought the ABC radio stations and the deal was very expensive, might he offload a few outlets to raise cash - and might some of the DC properties go to Bonneville, which owns WTOP, WGMS, Z104, and WFED? Hmmm...