- No, I don’t think the financial crisis will drastically impact MLB’s business, but it should have some effect on the Mets and Yankees in 2009. Both teams will be trying to fill newer, more expensive seats, as well as many more luxury boxes. They will undoubtedly have to lean on corporations to reach their goals, and there are now two less major corporations in New York than there were on Friday. Neither team will be crippled, of course, but both may have to recalibrate how much demand there will be for high end seats and boxes.
- Mark Cuban is right, risk and reward have been decoupled for many top executives at major public companies. But I’m not going to get on board with the regulation he throws out there. That decoupling is something that should be priced into a company’s multiple. If it isn’t, then its investors are doing a poor job. Clearly, it hasn’t been over the past few years, and we’re now seeing an enormous correction. But the companies that are still doing well (or at least have survived; i.e. Goldman, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, etc.) are generally the ones with the most transparency and the least risk. And those companies’ investors will now be rewarded as they eat up market share that used to belong to Merrill, Lehman, and Bear Stearns.
- Speaking of executives, Theo Epstein won’t be on the market this winter (to no one’s surprise). But more and more, it looks like Brian Cashman will be. He would be a terrific choice for just about any team, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him end up in either Philadelphia or Washington. It’ll be interesting to see what the financials are on Epstein’s deal, since that could be a reasonable indicator of what Cashman could get, as well.
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