GaryMrMets
12-20-2001, 11:34 PM
http://msn.espn.go.com/mlb/news/2001/1220/1299374.html
Thursday, December 20
Â*
Henry, Werner-led group paying record sum for Sox
Associated Press
BOSTON -- In a $660 million deal that would double the record price for a baseball team, the limited partners of the Boston Red Sox voted unanimously Thursday to sell the franchise to a group led by Florida Marlins owner John Henry and former San Diego Padres owner Tom Werner.
While the Red Sox did not announce the price, it was disclosed to The Associated Press by Thomas Dibenedetto, a current minority shareholder. The current record is the $323 million that Larry Dolan paid for the Cleveland Indians last year.
The record for a North American sports franchise is the $800 million Daniel Snyder paid in 1999 for the Washington Redskins and the team's stadium in Landover, Md.
The deal for the Red Sox includes Fenway Park and 80 percent of the New England Sports Network.
The agreement must be approved by 75 percent of the 30 major league owners, who usually take about six months to consider sales.
Henry is negotiating to sell the Marlins to Jeffrey Loria, the owner of the Montreal Expos, a team baseball commissioner Bud Selig wants to eliminate.
Red Sox chief executive officer John Harrington is confident Werner and Henry, both close to Selig, have the cash to close the deal, saying they were committed to the team and fans. They are "deeply involved and passionate about the game of baseball," Harrington said.
Larry Lucchino, the former president of the Baltimore Orioles and Padres, is likely to become Red Sox team president if the sale is approved.
Harrington said the Werner-Henry group offered the highest qualified bid for the team. Harrington has repeatedly said the trust would accept the "highest qualified bid" not necessarily the top price offered.
Harrington announced on Oct. 6, 2000, that the Jean R. Yawkey Trust, which has controlled the Red Sox since 1994, would sell its 53 percent stake.
Four groups remained in contention when the limited partners met Thursday. A bid by Werner and Henry to join with local developers Joseph O'Donnell and Steve Karp failed. In a joint statement Thursday,
Henry and Werner said the groups couldn't solve the issue of control of the alliance.
Henry and Werner said they submitted their own bid.
Others bidders included Cablevision Systems Corp. chairman Charles Dolan -- Larry's brother -- and a group that includes New York lawyer Miles Prentice and the private equity firm, the Quadrangle Group.
Thomas Yawkey bought the team from J.A. Robert Quinn in 1933, and Jean Yawkey took over when her husband died in 1976.
Jean Yawkey, Haywood Sullivan and Buddy LeRoux bought the team's general partnership from the estate and Jean Yawkey later bought out LeRoux.
When Jean Yawkey died in 1992, she willed all her holdings to her trust, and Harrington gained complete control of the team in November 1993 when Trust bought out Sullivan
Selig is known to like individuals in the Henry and Werner group, which also includes former senator George Mitchell of Maine and The New York Times Co., which owns The Boston Globe.
Werner, who made television hits like "The Cosby Show" and "Third Rock from the Sun," made unpopular trades as owner of the Padres in the early 1990s, claiming they were necessary after the team lost $7 million in 1992.
Later the group added Henry, a math junkie and former commodities trader who bought the Florida Marlins from H. Wayne Huizenga in 1999 for $150 million.
The Werner/Henry group also includes Les Otten, who built American Skiing Co. into the country's largest Alpine ski resort operator, with holdings in New England and in California, Utah, and Colorado. He was forced out of his skiing company last spring.
ESPN.com analysis
Four-hundred and thirty-nine days after Boston Red Sox CEO John Harrington, property holder of the Yawkey Trust, announced that one of baseball's most storied franchises was for sale, the team finally has a new majority owner.
Some insiders expected the winner to be Cablevision's Charles Dolan, who already owns the New York Knicks and Rangers and was primarily interested in the 80 percent stake of the New England Sports Network (NESN) that was included in the sale. Dolan’s Madison Square Garden Network lost Yankees programming after the 2001 season, as the Yanks will now be featured primarily on YES -- the broadcasting arm of YankeeNets, the holding company of the Yankees, New Jersey Devils and Nets.
But while the 73-year old Dolan was said to be the leading candidate over the past couple weeks, it was also quite apparent that there was a stacking of the deck in the Tom Werner-Les Otten-John Henry bid. With the addition of former Orioles and Padres CEO Larry Lucchino and former Sen. George Mitchell to the group's bid, it was clear this was the group baseball owners would feel most comfortable approving.
When Lucchino joined the group, he was still working as a consultant to Major League Baseball; Mitchell served on Henry's board of directors with the Marlins and served on the Blue Ribbon Panel last summer. When The New York Times (which owns The Boston Globe) joined the bid as minority partners, there were talks about conflicts of interest regarding the integrity of reporting. But perhaps Dolan's conflict was the biggest. Since his brother Larry owns the Cleveland Indians, giving the winning bid to Dolan could have possibly backfired if eight of the 29 other owners (a three-quarters league vote is necessary for approval) thought the idea of brothers owning different teams was a potential problem.
It is not clear whether the Werner-Otten-Henry group had the highest bid. The executor of the trust has a fiduciary responsibility to get the most money from the trust's assets. But Harrington has repeatedly said the trust would accept the "highest qualified bid," not necessarily the top price offered. Dolan's spokesperson, Nancy Sterling, said Thursday night Dolan would not comment on the details of his final bid.
Dolan, whose net worth is reportedly more than $2 billion, now adds the Red Sox to his growing list of failed bids for sports teams. In recent years, Dolan has bid for the Yankees, the New York Jets, the Cleveland Browns and the Washington Redskins.
--Darren Rovell
Thursday, December 20
Â*
Henry, Werner-led group paying record sum for Sox
Associated Press
BOSTON -- In a $660 million deal that would double the record price for a baseball team, the limited partners of the Boston Red Sox voted unanimously Thursday to sell the franchise to a group led by Florida Marlins owner John Henry and former San Diego Padres owner Tom Werner.
While the Red Sox did not announce the price, it was disclosed to The Associated Press by Thomas Dibenedetto, a current minority shareholder. The current record is the $323 million that Larry Dolan paid for the Cleveland Indians last year.
The record for a North American sports franchise is the $800 million Daniel Snyder paid in 1999 for the Washington Redskins and the team's stadium in Landover, Md.
The deal for the Red Sox includes Fenway Park and 80 percent of the New England Sports Network.
The agreement must be approved by 75 percent of the 30 major league owners, who usually take about six months to consider sales.
Henry is negotiating to sell the Marlins to Jeffrey Loria, the owner of the Montreal Expos, a team baseball commissioner Bud Selig wants to eliminate.
Red Sox chief executive officer John Harrington is confident Werner and Henry, both close to Selig, have the cash to close the deal, saying they were committed to the team and fans. They are "deeply involved and passionate about the game of baseball," Harrington said.
Larry Lucchino, the former president of the Baltimore Orioles and Padres, is likely to become Red Sox team president if the sale is approved.
Harrington said the Werner-Henry group offered the highest qualified bid for the team. Harrington has repeatedly said the trust would accept the "highest qualified bid" not necessarily the top price offered.
Harrington announced on Oct. 6, 2000, that the Jean R. Yawkey Trust, which has controlled the Red Sox since 1994, would sell its 53 percent stake.
Four groups remained in contention when the limited partners met Thursday. A bid by Werner and Henry to join with local developers Joseph O'Donnell and Steve Karp failed. In a joint statement Thursday,
Henry and Werner said the groups couldn't solve the issue of control of the alliance.
Henry and Werner said they submitted their own bid.
Others bidders included Cablevision Systems Corp. chairman Charles Dolan -- Larry's brother -- and a group that includes New York lawyer Miles Prentice and the private equity firm, the Quadrangle Group.
Thomas Yawkey bought the team from J.A. Robert Quinn in 1933, and Jean Yawkey took over when her husband died in 1976.
Jean Yawkey, Haywood Sullivan and Buddy LeRoux bought the team's general partnership from the estate and Jean Yawkey later bought out LeRoux.
When Jean Yawkey died in 1992, she willed all her holdings to her trust, and Harrington gained complete control of the team in November 1993 when Trust bought out Sullivan
Selig is known to like individuals in the Henry and Werner group, which also includes former senator George Mitchell of Maine and The New York Times Co., which owns The Boston Globe.
Werner, who made television hits like "The Cosby Show" and "Third Rock from the Sun," made unpopular trades as owner of the Padres in the early 1990s, claiming they were necessary after the team lost $7 million in 1992.
Later the group added Henry, a math junkie and former commodities trader who bought the Florida Marlins from H. Wayne Huizenga in 1999 for $150 million.
The Werner/Henry group also includes Les Otten, who built American Skiing Co. into the country's largest Alpine ski resort operator, with holdings in New England and in California, Utah, and Colorado. He was forced out of his skiing company last spring.
ESPN.com analysis
Four-hundred and thirty-nine days after Boston Red Sox CEO John Harrington, property holder of the Yawkey Trust, announced that one of baseball's most storied franchises was for sale, the team finally has a new majority owner.
Some insiders expected the winner to be Cablevision's Charles Dolan, who already owns the New York Knicks and Rangers and was primarily interested in the 80 percent stake of the New England Sports Network (NESN) that was included in the sale. Dolan’s Madison Square Garden Network lost Yankees programming after the 2001 season, as the Yanks will now be featured primarily on YES -- the broadcasting arm of YankeeNets, the holding company of the Yankees, New Jersey Devils and Nets.
But while the 73-year old Dolan was said to be the leading candidate over the past couple weeks, it was also quite apparent that there was a stacking of the deck in the Tom Werner-Les Otten-John Henry bid. With the addition of former Orioles and Padres CEO Larry Lucchino and former Sen. George Mitchell to the group's bid, it was clear this was the group baseball owners would feel most comfortable approving.
When Lucchino joined the group, he was still working as a consultant to Major League Baseball; Mitchell served on Henry's board of directors with the Marlins and served on the Blue Ribbon Panel last summer. When The New York Times (which owns The Boston Globe) joined the bid as minority partners, there were talks about conflicts of interest regarding the integrity of reporting. But perhaps Dolan's conflict was the biggest. Since his brother Larry owns the Cleveland Indians, giving the winning bid to Dolan could have possibly backfired if eight of the 29 other owners (a three-quarters league vote is necessary for approval) thought the idea of brothers owning different teams was a potential problem.
It is not clear whether the Werner-Otten-Henry group had the highest bid. The executor of the trust has a fiduciary responsibility to get the most money from the trust's assets. But Harrington has repeatedly said the trust would accept the "highest qualified bid," not necessarily the top price offered. Dolan's spokesperson, Nancy Sterling, said Thursday night Dolan would not comment on the details of his final bid.
Dolan, whose net worth is reportedly more than $2 billion, now adds the Red Sox to his growing list of failed bids for sports teams. In recent years, Dolan has bid for the Yankees, the New York Jets, the Cleveland Browns and the Washington Redskins.
--Darren Rovell