Ted still wants to buy the Nats

[OfftheBat]

I'm not a fan of the other DC teams, but I would probably take Leonsis over Mini Me, unless you like an owner who breaks his nose shagging flies in the OF for no good reason.

I see... why are others here thinking that Bezos could be a realistic option for a new owner? Is it because of his opening of Amazon's second HQ in Arlington?

[OfftheBat]

You need a guy rich enough to view a team as a pissing contest not an investment. Ted is not that level of rich

Haha, that's a great way of putting it. Not many guys qualify I guess....

[KnorrForYourMoney]

I see... why are others here thinking that Bezos could be a realistic option for a new owner? Is it because of his opening of Amazon's second HQ in Arlington?

He owns the WaPo, right?

[Senatorswin]

He owns the WaPo, right?

He does own the WaPo so he's not that far removed from things in DC.

[OfftheBat]

He owns the WaPo, right?

I didn't even know that, that's crazy

[welch]

And Bezos was interested in buying the Redskins/WFT/Commanders, but little dan snyder refused even to negotiate with him on grounds that the Post had found mean and nasty things about the poisonous way that Snyder ran the team.

[welch]

In general, the Old Nationals fell because the Griffith family had no money except what they made from the team, and from renting Griffith Stadium to George Preston Marshall and the Redskins. Connie Mack had the same trouble with the A's, and Bill Veeck had to sell the Browns to the millionaires from Baltimore. By the early '50s, a team needed an expensive farm system. Later, the great Bill Veeck was forced out of baseball because he could not afford to keep up in free agency.

Leonsis would be a poor-man owner. It looks like his main income is from the Caps and his network.

The Nats would suffer. Looks like a Leonsis-owned Nats would behave like a small-market team. The Old Senators and the Expansion Senators show what that is like.

[Senatorswin]

The Old Senators and the Expansion Senators show what that is like.

MLB should of never allowed Bob Short to buy the Senators. He wasn't even close to having enough money to buy a MLB team. Borrowed big time.

[OfftheBat]

MLB should of never allowed Bob Short to buy the Senators. He wasn't even close to having enough money to buy a MLB team. Borrowed big time.

Seems like they didn't stop after the Short years... They kept allowing shady/horrible owners to buy teams in the 90's & 2000's.

[Smithian]

In general, the Old Nationals fell because the Griffith family had no money except what they made from the team, and from renting Griffith Stadium to George Preston Marshall and the Redskins. Connie Mack had the same trouble with the A's, and Bill Veeck had to sell the Browns to the millionaires from Baltimore. By the early '50s, a team needed an expensive farm system. Later, the great Bill Veeck was forced out of baseball because he could not afford to keep up in free agency.

Leonsis would be a poor-man owner. It looks like his main income is from the Caps and his network.

The Nats would suffer. Looks like a Leonsis-owned Nats would behave like a small-market team. The Old Senators and the Expansion Senators show what that is like.

I am a bit worried about the future on Monumental is either going public or selling out to a foreign sovereign wealth fund. I'm not sure either option would be ideal ownership structures.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I am a bit worried about the future on Monumental is either going public or selling out to a foreign sovereign wealth fund. I'm not sure either option would be ideal ownership structures.

sovereign wealth funds have been pretty successful in soccer ownership, I think. I think the investors in Monumental are looking at it as an American presence in DC and less in search of a big financial killing.

[Senatorswin]

Seems like they didn't stop after the Short years... They kept allowing shady/horrible owners to buy teams in the 90's & 2000's.

If there had been competent ownership in Montreal they would of never left. This from Society For American Baseball Research (SABR):

" Shifting ownership doomed the franchise, regardless of whether the owner was Charles Bronfman (1968-91) with his family fortune, Claude Brochu (1991-99) with his executive experience, or Jeffrey Loria (1999-2002) with his flair, or even Major League Baseball itself (2002-04) with its dictate to play about one-fourth of each season’s “home” games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for two years."

I think especially Loria had no business owning the team.

[HalfSmokes]

I am a bit worried about the future on Monumental is either going public or selling out to a foreign sovereign wealth fund. I'm not sure either option would be ideal ownership structures.

Monumental going public would be hilarious. How much is an RSN with two crappy teams in an apathetic market worth?

[OfftheBat]

If there had been competent ownership in Montreal they would of never left. This from Society For American Baseball Research (SABR):

" Shifting ownership doomed the franchise, regardless of whether the owner was Charles Bronfman (1968-91) with his family fortune, Claude Brochu (1991-99) with his executive experience, or Jeffrey Loria (1999-2002) with his flair, or even Major League Baseball itself (2002-04) with its dictate to play about one-fourth of each season’s “home” games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for two years."

I think especially Loria had no business owning the team.

True, Loria & Brochu were horrible owners. I have great respect for Bronfman though, without him I would have never became a baseball fan in the first place 

[nfotiu]

I'm curious to see more context of this quote, but not wanting to pay $100.

I think it reinforces my thought that Ted really has no clue how to navigate the current sports media landscape.   He seems to be completely relying on trying to coerce state governments and foreign sovereign funds to give him money rather than any sound business model.   I really don't think he's a solution for anything for the Nats.

https://x.com/SportsTVRatings/status/1795495977396093288

[Smithian]

I'm curious to see more context of this quote, but not wanting to pay $100.

I think it reinforces my thought that Ted really has no clue how to navigate the current sports media landscape.   He seems to be completely relying on trying to coerce state governments and foreign sovereign funds to give him money rather than any sound business model.   I really don't think he's a solution for anything for the Nats.

https://x.com/SportsTVRatings/status/1795495977396093288

(Image removed from quote.)

I think Ted is living off a business reputation more than a decade old.

[HalfSmokes]

I think Ted is living off a business reputation more than a decade old.

AOL was his last successful business - anyone giving him credit should think back to how old they were when they had an AOL account

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Taking money from people with Stockholm syndrome seems like a pretty successful business model...

[IanRubbish]

AOL was his last successful business - anyone giving him credit should think back to how old they were when they had an AOL account

Was one of the first acquisitions they did in 1994.  With the demise of DC's commercial tech industry, none like him left.  They're all out here in the Bay Area.

[machpost]

Was one of the first acquisitions they did in 1994.  With the demise of DC's commercial tech industry, none like him left.  They're all out here in the Bay Area.

Ahh yes, the halcyon days of the local tech boom, where it was like factory jobs in postwar Detroit: if you didn't like your current IT job, you could find another one by the next shift. That sure didn't last long.

[IanRubbish]

Ahh yes, the halcyon days of the local tech boom, where it was like factory jobs in postwar Detroit: if you didn't like your current IT job, you could find another one by the next shift. That sure didn't last long.

Silicon Valley more or less still works like this, although "IT" usually refers to jobs within any company, as opposed to venture funded or publicly traded companies selling technology.   The issue was DC/NoVA was mostly capital-heavy telecom jobs and commercial tech there didn't have the agility or appetite for risk required to keep it going.  The cover-your-butt, cost plus 10%, bureaucrat corporate culture there ultimately won out.  Its legacy lives on in the data centers that handle a large share of Internet traffic throughout Northern VA, but they're automated so they have very few employees inside.