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The Power Brokers of Sports
Team owners may be living a dream, but disparate goals have them in a financial neverland
Bruce Schoenfeld
From the Print Edition:
Raquel Welch, Jul/Aug 01
(continued from page 8)
Even if his franchise never appreciates, Johnson probably won't care. Unlike Huizenga, most owners don't buy teams in order to sell them. They're forced to sometimes by outside events, or when an offer on the table is too big to refuse. But most owners have enough money to live as well as they want to; the sports team is part of the way they want to live. "The other day, AOL stock went up a bunch of points," Leonsis says. "I just moved into this beautiful house. I've got a nice wine cellar and good cigars. I have another house in Florida and a boat and a couple of planes. But I thought about it, and I realized that I'm not really happier than I was before. Then we beat the Flyers on Sunday. Man! All was well with the world!"
Perhaps no franchise has appreciated in value like Buss's Lakers, who play in a state-of-the-art arena that has an array of revenue streams. They have a winning tradition, and a national fan base. If the team were a stock, an accountant might advise him that its value had maxed out. Now, he'd be told, is the time to divest.
"They all ask me why I don't sell the team," Buss says. "But let's say I do sell and get all this money, what do I do then? Probably what I do is sit around and say, 'Now, what can I do to have a really good time?' And the answer is right there in front of me. Buy the Lakers! Because what else can you do with money that's as much fun as this?"
Bruce Schoenfeld is a freelance writer living in Colorado.
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