Post by Pirates GM on Jun 30, 2023 5:04:19 GMT -5
I thought this might interest some of you.
The longtime local owners of our beloved affiliate (AA Pirates) just suddenly sold to a conglomerate buying up minor league teams. The Altoona Curve is apparently this group's 21st minor league purchase- and they've only been in existence since 2021! Even a number of minor league franchises you would not expect to be sold are being sold. For example, this group bought AAA Atlanta (Gwinnett) from the Braves themselves, since they owned that team outright. I know someone who works for our local affiliate, and I picked his brain during a recent visit.
There's a few things that make me uncomfortable about this new minor league ownership group:
1. They own 21 franchises already...and have a goal to own 30-50. With a bunch of minor league teams being contracted by MLB a few short years ago, that could represent up to a 1/3 ownership of ALL minor league affiliates in existence.
2. Their company only has about 6 people officially working for it, who represent a larger group of investors.
3. Were I MLB, I would immediately put a pause on this group buying minor league franchises. To own 21 of them in only 2 years pushes into the realm of monopoly/anti-trust areas. I would prohibit them buying more franchises until MLB was certain they could do a proper job.
4. But MLB isn't saying a darn thing. You *could* make the argument that MLB can't say a thing, because they don't directly own these franchises, which led to the conflict a few years ago to start. But I think the actual reason they aren't saying anything is more sinister...
5. In MLB's constant pursuit to gain more control over the minor leagues, the *potential* is here that this group is essentially just a front. They are buying up all of these franchises with the long-term intent to have MLB buy them out and fold the company, thus giving MLB the direct ownership over the minor leagues it has long desired.
My friend thinks that is a possibility, but is cautiously optimistic they will receive a larger working budget for their affiliate. There is also the potential of a lot of cross-franchise promotion, which could be really exciting. The group vows to be "hands off" and wants the organizations "turnkey", largely due to their very small company staff. But I also know lots of companies SAY the right things during buyouts to reduce bad PR, and then essentially do what they were going to do once the sale is complete. I also asked about the diversity of the ownership group itself. My reasoning is, the more diverse and geographically spread out the investors are, the less likely they are just gearing up to sell to MLB in the end. My friend doesn't know many of the investors, but did say Manchester City (not Man U, but the other big Manchester, England soccer team) is one of them.
I hope this works out for our local affiliate and the other 20 franchises that have already been bought. But in my personal experience when local companies are bought out by "regional" conglomerates, they care very little about the local history/impact/atmosphere of a business/resort/etc, and try to turn them into pure profit machines. Couple that with the recent conflict/power struggle of MLB vs the minor leagues, and I'm probably going to be nervous about this one for quite some time.
JIm
The longtime local owners of our beloved affiliate (AA Pirates) just suddenly sold to a conglomerate buying up minor league teams. The Altoona Curve is apparently this group's 21st minor league purchase- and they've only been in existence since 2021! Even a number of minor league franchises you would not expect to be sold are being sold. For example, this group bought AAA Atlanta (Gwinnett) from the Braves themselves, since they owned that team outright. I know someone who works for our local affiliate, and I picked his brain during a recent visit.
There's a few things that make me uncomfortable about this new minor league ownership group:
1. They own 21 franchises already...and have a goal to own 30-50. With a bunch of minor league teams being contracted by MLB a few short years ago, that could represent up to a 1/3 ownership of ALL minor league affiliates in existence.
2. Their company only has about 6 people officially working for it, who represent a larger group of investors.
3. Were I MLB, I would immediately put a pause on this group buying minor league franchises. To own 21 of them in only 2 years pushes into the realm of monopoly/anti-trust areas. I would prohibit them buying more franchises until MLB was certain they could do a proper job.
4. But MLB isn't saying a darn thing. You *could* make the argument that MLB can't say a thing, because they don't directly own these franchises, which led to the conflict a few years ago to start. But I think the actual reason they aren't saying anything is more sinister...
5. In MLB's constant pursuit to gain more control over the minor leagues, the *potential* is here that this group is essentially just a front. They are buying up all of these franchises with the long-term intent to have MLB buy them out and fold the company, thus giving MLB the direct ownership over the minor leagues it has long desired.
My friend thinks that is a possibility, but is cautiously optimistic they will receive a larger working budget for their affiliate. There is also the potential of a lot of cross-franchise promotion, which could be really exciting. The group vows to be "hands off" and wants the organizations "turnkey", largely due to their very small company staff. But I also know lots of companies SAY the right things during buyouts to reduce bad PR, and then essentially do what they were going to do once the sale is complete. I also asked about the diversity of the ownership group itself. My reasoning is, the more diverse and geographically spread out the investors are, the less likely they are just gearing up to sell to MLB in the end. My friend doesn't know many of the investors, but did say Manchester City (not Man U, but the other big Manchester, England soccer team) is one of them.
I hope this works out for our local affiliate and the other 20 franchises that have already been bought. But in my personal experience when local companies are bought out by "regional" conglomerates, they care very little about the local history/impact/atmosphere of a business/resort/etc, and try to turn them into pure profit machines. Couple that with the recent conflict/power struggle of MLB vs the minor leagues, and I'm probably going to be nervous about this one for quite some time.
JIm