MASN refuses to pay for travel costs

[Going Underground]

37 minutes ago, Pushmonkey said:

Sorry let me be clearer.  What wealthy business person in the Baltimore area buy it?

Stewart Bainum,investment group with Plank.

[Going Underground]

4 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

Stewart Bainum,investment group with Plank.

The identities of the other interested parties have not been reported, but others linked to the franchise in the past include Carlyle Group founder and co-chief executive David Rubenstein and Allegis Group co-founder and chair Jim Davis.

[NCRaven]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Wouldn't it be lovely if the controlling interest in the Orioles was kind of like the Green Bay Packers, just the sum total of the season ticket holders?

I've often said that if I win PowerBall or MegaMillions, I would hope to share ownership in the ticket with lots of friends and family that each would have a 1% share in the prize.  Reason?  $200 million isn't enough to buy the Orioles and it's more than I could spend in my lifetime (how many motorcycles can you own?).  So why not share with 75 friends and just keep $50 mil for myself.  Besides, that's 75 people you don't have to worry about trying to bum money of you once you're a multi-millionaire.

[DrungoHazewood]

23 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Unless television and radio broadcast revenue starts to decrease there shouldn't be any problem finding a buyer even if OPACY attendance never returns to what it was in the 90's. 

Long term though I see problems as the older generation fans start to die off and aren't replaced in greater numbers by younger baseball watching fans. 

Or if something were to happen that would allow large numbers of people to not pay for MASN and all the other RSNs if they don't watch them.

[DrungoHazewood]

25 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Unless television and radio broadcast revenue starts to decrease there shouldn't be any problem finding a buyer even if OPACY attendance never returns to what it was in the 90's. 

Long term though I see problems as the older generation fans start to die off and aren't replaced in greater numbers by younger baseball watching fans. 

Does anyone have any idea what Orioles radio broadcast revenues are (separate from streaming)?  My guess is that you could round it off to zero.  Wouldn't pay for two months of a utility infielder.  But I could be wrong.

When I was a kid in the 80s I could pick up the Orioles on my transistor radio on any of two, three, four strong, close stations on any given night.  We had a local affiliate here in St. Mary's County.  I'm not sure I can find one decent signal for games today.  Looking at the affiliate list it looks like my best bet is the station in Crisfield, about 40 miles away as the crow flies.

Of course streaming the radio feed on MLB.com is much better quality.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Angelos bought the team for $174M in 1993.  Forbes now values the team at 1.375B after almost 30 years of mostly being horribly mismanaged, with zero championships and only a handful of playoff appearances.

Major League franchises are one of the few investments that have been almost guaranteed to appreciate in value even if they're run by a group of chimpanzees on LSD. Who wouldn't want to buy that?  This is probably the 26th-most successful franchise of the past three decades and it still appreciated in value faster than stocks.  And on top of that you get to be one of 30 MLB owners in the world.

Isn't that the sad truth in numbers. The rich get richer, no matter how poor a job they do. Probably why they are in no hurry to sell. Why sell when it keeps appreciating?

[Frobby]

16 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Does anyone have any idea what Orioles radio broadcast revenues are (separate from streaming)?  My guess is that you could round it off to zero.  Wouldn't pay for two months of a utility infielder.  But I could be wrong.

When I was a kid in the 80s I could pick up the Orioles on my transistor radio on any of two, three, four strong, close stations on any given night.  We had a local affiliate here in St. Mary's County.  I'm not sure I can find one decent signal for games today.  Looking at the affiliate list it looks like my best bet is the station in Crisfield, about 40 miles away as the crow flies.

Of course streaming the radio feed on MLB.com is much better quality.

In 2001, radio broadcast rights for the Yankees cost $9.75 mm/yr.  That’s the only data point I could find.  I believe TV rights for the Yankees were about $56 mm then.  Obviously, the Orioles are in a much smaller market and a lot has changed since 2001.   I’d guess the rights are in the $1 - 5 mm range?

[spiritof66]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Angelos bought the team for $174M in 1993.  Forbes now values the team at 1.375B after almost 30 years of mostly being horribly mismanaged, with zero championships and only a handful of playoff appearances.

Major League franchises are one of the few investments that have been almost guaranteed to appreciate in value even if they're run by a group of chimpanzees on LSD. Who wouldn't want to buy that?  This is probably the 26th-most successful franchise of the past three decades and it still appreciated in value faster than stocks.  And on top of that you get to be one of 30 MLB owners in the world.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of very rich people who would like to own a major-league sports franchise. The number of people with that kind of money has increased quite a bit, and the number of franchises for sale isn't growing.

I don't know how many of those rich people are Baltimoreans or Oriole fans. I am guessing that if the Orioles were put up for sale tomorrow, the highest bidder would have as the majority owner an out-of-towner with no ties to the Orioles, and there would be minority interests held by prominent (and rich, but not that rich) Baltimore natives or residents. (John Angelos might be one of them, and there might be an attempt to give him special rights with regard to decisions to move the team out of the Baltimore area.)

It's my understanding that the many of the ultra-rich people who bid to buy teams aren't motivated by the prospect of a good return on the investment while the own a team. There are a lot of other ways to make more money. Rather, they are relying on what's called the "one more sucker" phenomenon: when I'm ready to sell, I'll be able to get another rich guy to do what I did -- pay a price that reflects enormous appreciation, whether or not the team is doing well and whether or not it's been making much money. So far, that theory has held up. While someone, some day, will be the first seller of a team who can't find another sucker, I don't know of any reason to think that will happen soon.

[justD]

2 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Unless television and radio broadcast revenue starts to decrease there shouldn't be any problem finding a buyer even if OPACY attendance never returns to what it was in the 90's. 

Long term though I see problems as the older generation fans start to die off and aren't replaced in greater numbers by younger baseball watching fans. 

Sometimes it really stings when people speak casually of the older generation dying off. And I'm not even talking just about weams, but his dad, my father-in-law, who also passed last year, just around this time. He was a huge Orioles fan and vocal about it every chance he got. 

I'm not saying that what you're describing isn't happening; just seemed a little too casually stated for this, perhaps oversensitive, reader. Tony and weams have often told me that I need thicker skin; here's another reason. I gotta expect it, it wasn't intentional. But it still stung. 

Please don't worry about it tho. I don't want people to have to worry about *that* too. Just having a rough day of it, thanks for just letting me mini-rant for a sec. 

[spiritof66]

At least a couple times today, maybe more, the Rays went with four OFs: against Santander when he homered and (I think) Odor when he hit the bleeder in the ninth inning. I caught a  little of this from switching to the Rays' announcers occasionally on mlb.tv. Maybe I missed it, but I don't think the MASN announcers said anything about it BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T THERE to see it. Thanks again to the Angeloses -- I hope you enjoy your share of the savings. 

[SteveA]

Read an article about the Angels.  Apparently they didn't send their RSN TV announcers on a road trip and the results were terrible.  Botched calls because the announcers couldn't see what was happening, some technical difficulties.  At one point the feed froze and the play by play announcer didn't realize and started talking about how odd it was that the pitcher was just standing their holding the ball and not pitching.

There were a lot of complaints from fans and media, and the Angels have announced that the announcers will go on the road for the next two road trips.  But they have not yet committed to the full season.

[OriolesMagic83]

On 4/6/2022 at 3:29 PM, Roll Tide said:

A rich person that wants a toy…if the team was for sale there would definitely be interest

Think of it as the ultimate bling.  It's like driving a Ferrari x 100. 

[Tony-OH]

12 hours ago, SteveA said:

Read an article about the Angels.  Apparently they didn't send their RSN TV announcers on a road trip and the results were terrible.  Botched calls because the announcers couldn't see what was happening, some technical difficulties.  At one point the feed froze and the play by play announcer didn't realize and started talking about how odd it was that the pitcher was just standing their holding the ball and not pitching.

There were a lot of complaints from fans and media, and the Angels have announced that the announcers will go on the road for the next two road trips.  But they have not yet committed to the full season.

This is all about these RSN thinking they can save money and the stupid fans won't notice of care that the announcers are on the road. It's ridiculous because you can see so much more when you watch a game live from a press box view than from your TV broadcast. You can judge flyballs better, see when guys weren't backing up or not in the right positions, identify when something is happening that's not on the tv screen, etc. 

But, until fans unite together and get pissed about this, they will continue to cut corners that can save them a few bucks because who cares about the fans really? The fans are nothing more than numbers in a spreadsheet to almost everyone involved with pro sports. Players act like they care publicly, but they could really give two squats about fans which is why they are so willing to switch teams the second someone drops a dollar more there way.

Ownership and their employees certainly don't care because either they see the fans as someone to milk as much money as possible out of or they just see their position as a job. 

This is why I just root for whoever is in the Orioles uniform because I enjoy the sport and the Orioles are my team. Sure, there are some players that seem like good dudes and while they wear the orange and black I'll cheer for them, but overall, when they move on, I'll just cheer for his replacement.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

18 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

This is why I just root for whoever is in the Orioles uniform because I enjoy the sport and the Orioles are my team. Sure, there are some players that seem like good dudes and while they wear the orange and black I'll cheer for them, but overall, when they move on, I'll just cheer for his replacement.

 

 

[webbrick2010]

On 4/6/2022 at 4:41 PM, Tony-OH said:

Isn't that the sad truth in numbers. The rich get richer, no matter how poor a job they do. Probably why they are in no hurry to sell. Why sell when it keeps appreciating?

You guys realize that this is only about a 7% annual return. The Angelos family would have 5x  the money if they just invested in a S&P 500 Index fund. So to really get a return from your investment you need to maintain a positive cash flow, which the O's are struggling with.