Milwaukee Brewers Announce Team Is For Sale!

The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinal ^ | January 16, 2004 | Milwaukee_Guy

[Milwaukee_Guy]

Brewers announce team is for sale By DON WALKER

Wendy Selig-Prieb, chairman of the team's board of directors, made the announcement at an afternoon news conference, saying the decision was in the best interest of baseball in Milwaukee.

"The unrelenting desire of our ownership group to bring baseball back to our community some 35 years ago has been surpassed only by their unwavering commitment to preserve major league baseball in our community," said said.

"While the ownership may be changing Brewers baseball will remain an important part of the fabric of our community."

Board member Michael Grebe said the decision was "clearly in the long-term best interests of baseball here in Milwaukee."

The board has retained Allen & Company, a New York investment banking firm that has expertise in the sales of professional sports franchises, to pursue a deal.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig holds the largest share of the Brewers, believed to be between 26% and 30% of the team. Twelve other individuals or trusts make up the rest of the ownership group.

According to a source familiar with team valuations, the Brewers franchise is valued between $180 million and $200 million.

Grebe said it was unclear whether the board would find a local entity to buy the team. He noted the last two major league clubs sold, the Boston Red Sox and the Florida Marlins, went to outside investors.

"Obviously, no process like this can be limited only to local ownership," he said.

Selig has owned a share of the Brewers since 1970, when an organization led by Selig and Edmund Fitzgerald acquired the faltering Seattle Pilots and moved them to Milwaukee. Selig's initial investment was $300,000.

Selig was in Arizona for the winter meeting of baseball owners but released a statement.

"While it is personally difficult for me to bring to an end a 40-year association with Major League Baseball in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, this decision is one that I have seriously considered and strongly desired since I was elected commissioner six years ago," Selig said.

"With the future of Brewer baseball solidified in Wisconsin, my overriding concern has been met."

Selig had made no comment on his Brewers holdings in many months. His shares are held in a voting trust that is controlled by two of his friends, John Canning and Mitchell Fromstein.

U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) retained Allen & Company last year to handle his planned sale of the Milwaukee Bucks. Kohl later changed his mind and took the team off the market. Allen also is handling the still pending sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The announcement from the Brewers comes after a tumultuous off-season that included the departure of Ulice Payne Jr., the team's former president and CEO, and fan anger over what many felt was a lack of commitment by the Brewers to field a competitive team.

Payne had raised concerns publicly about the team's future direction after he and the board signed off on budget cuts that would drop the Brewers' payroll to as low as $30 million.

Payne later reached a severance agreement with the franchise.

[Milwaukee_Guy]

I am not a sports fan but I do have to pay taxes to support the recently built $400 million dollar Crystal Palace the Brewers call home here. The Seligs ponied up less than 20 million dollars for this extravaganza.

The Faustian Pact was, that the new taxpayer funded stadium would allow the Brewers to spend more on the players salaries because attendance would go up. Well, attendance is falling, the team is doing poorly, the new President was fired after only one year and the player salary budget was slashed to 30 million dollars.

This is Triple AAA salaries folks.

IMHO there is -no- real gaurantee that the Brewers will find a buyer that will accept terms that force the new buyer/buyers to stay in Milwaukee. When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars to aquire a sports franchise you do -not- accept any strings in the agreement.

Wish us luck, we'll need it......

[TommyDale]

There's a group in the Triad area (Greensboro/Winston-Salem) that was talking about bringing the Minnesota Twins down here, before the deal fell through. Maybe they can get the Brewers instead. Big draw from Raleigh to Charlotte...

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Maybe we should get together a FR consortium and buy the team! :-)

[brewcrew]

All the media is reporting is the positive spin the Brewers' board of directors is putting on this: the Brewers can't move because of the iron clad lease they have with the Stadium Board and Miller Park.

I say bull$#!+. Anybody who comes in with $120-150MM gets to write their own rules. My bride and I say the Brewers are gone before the year 2010, and all of us get to mop up the mess by continuing to shell out our hard-earned tax dollars to pay for their Taj Mahal.

The only way they stay is if they're purchased locally (Dick Strong, perhaps?).

[flashbunny]

We'd better start coming up with new uses for miller park soon. I forsee a lot of concerts coming to the area...

[brewcrew]

It'll be a damned nice place to watch a Triple A team, that's for sure.

[Semper911]

Milwaukee_Guy just said that the terms of the sale are that the new owners have to keep the team in Milwaukee, since the city built them a stadium with Milwaukee_Guy's tax dollars.

MLB needs to get rid of a few teams, but I doubt the Brew Crew will be one of them any time soon.

[Howie66]

I just checked my billfold and found that between the wife and the kids, I still have a 20 there. If they've got a 10, it's a deal.

[flashbunny]

Isn't that what we've been doing for the past several years???

[brewcrew]

Well, yes, except they'll be competing against other Triple A teams, so they might have a shot at - dare I say it - a winning season.

[Milwaukee_Guy]

I am aware of nothing that -legally- forces the Brewers to stay in Milwaukee, other than statements by the the Seligs.

Given our shrinking market, poor media revenues, poor fan support (it's all about the Packers here) and poor management. I wouldn't rule out MLB intervening and ultimately forcing a move out of Milwaukee.

Taxpayers be damned......

[billbears]

Good grief, I'd never get another day of work done!! Wasn't much on the Twins but I'll take ANY pro baseball team here in NC

[John H K]

I am aware of nothing that -legally- forces the Brewers to stay in Milwaukee, other than statements by the the Seligs.

It all depends on the stadium lease.

The way the lease is written for the Devil Rays, for example, essentially makes them unmoveable.

If Wisconsin and the city didn't have a similar lease for the Brewers after ponying up that money for the stadium they're even dumber than the Selig family, and that's pretty dumb.

[Milwaukee_Guy]

Miller Park may become the home for the "Battle of the 70's Hair Bands.

400 million dollars down the tube......

[The PeteMan]

Pretty sad when the stadium cost more than the ball club is worth.

[ambrose]

Los Angeles has it right...

Dodger Stadium is privately owned, as is Staples Arena.

When Al Davis demanded a new stadium, we told him to get lost.

[ambrose]

I hope this means we can finally be rid of Bud Selig. Baseball needs a real commissioner.

[krb]

Milwaukee Brewers Announce Team Is For Sale!

Is this one of those eBay jokes?

[eddie willers]

Well I'll take this opportunity to say, "Thanks for sending the Braves down here".

[Milwaukee_Guy]

Notice that the Journal/Sentinal article makes no mention of any agreement binding the Brewers to Milwaukee.