BOB: Red Sox Sale and Salary Caps

New York Times Co. looks to divest Red Sox interest

In a quest for more cash, the New York Times Co., which owns The New York Times and The Boston Globe and has a 17.5 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures (NESV), is looking to divest itself of its interest NESV, which owns the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park and most of a regional sports network that televises Red Sox games. In November, the Times Company began actively looking for potential buyers as it faces a cash crunch that’s pandemic across the country.

There’s a chance that The Globe could also be part of the sale. For now, it looks like one of the prospective buyers is Jack Connors, who was once an ad executive in Boston. Both he and former GE chief executive officer Jack Welch were looking at buying The Boston Globe a couple of years ago.

Marlins launch stadium website

If you want to keep up on anything and everything related to the new Florida Marlins ballpark set to open in 2012, this is just the thing for you. The team has started a brand new website that will provide timely updates, details and facts about the new Marlins ballpark set to be built at the site of the Orange Bowl. Right now, the content is a little light, but I’m sure once construction begins, the site will be updated regularly as things progress.

Astros owner comes out in favor of salary cap

I touched on how the current economy will accentuate the differences between the big market and small market teams in The Hardball Times Baseball Annual, but I guess I never thought things would come to a head so quickly. With the signings of C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, the New York Yankees look to once again top the league in overall salary despite shedding themselves of millions of dollars with the departures of high-cost players like Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi. This has ruffled quite a few feathers and we’re once again hearing about how the Yankees are looking to buy another championship when so many other teams are facing tough economic conditions.

We now have one owner in particular who has come out in favor of a salary cap in light of the recent signings by the Yankees. Drayton McLain, the owner of the Houston Astros, has recently said that if it weren’t for resistance from the players’ union, that the owners would love a salary cap. Still, for as much the Yankees have been criticized, there’s a chance their overall salary will be lower than last year because of all of the money coming off of their books at the end of this year.

Happy new year?

Tonight, 2008 ends and 2009 begins. With the economic landscape the way it is, the sport of baseball faces some significant challenges there’s still much to look forward to in 2009. The MLB Channel kicks off in what looks to be one of the more successful station debuts ever and we have two new stadiums opening in New York this year. Baseball is less than two months away, and that’s always a good thing as well. With that, I wish everyone a safe and happy New Year.


Comments are closed.