Posted on 12/15/2001 7:09:46 AM PST by JIM O
Sox sale nears final inning
by Scott Van Voorhis
Saturday, December 15, 2001
A high-stakes battle to buy the Boston Red Sox could wind up by the end of next week, with new bids due Monday and a key meeting of the team's minority shareholders set for Thursday, when a winning bidder could emerge.
Heading into their 11 a.m. meeting Thursday, the Sox' limited partners - who control 47 percent of the team and can veto any bidder - may be presented with one or as many as four Sox contenders to choose from when they gather at Fenway Park, sources say.
By the time the smoke clears, more than $700 million could be pledged for the team and its assets, an amount that would dwarf the record $323 million paid for the Cleveland Indians a few years ago.
One source close to the process said bidder Frank McCourt, who boasts a workable waterfront ballpark site, could drop out by Monday. That would free him to join one of the other bidding groups.
Among the heavy hitters still in the game are a New York cable tycoon, a group of Hub business leaders, and a pair of current and former Major League Baseball club owners. The bidders are expected to put strong offers on the table by 5 p.m. Monday, sources say.
The limited partners' meeting could mark the beginning of the end of a grueling, 14-month sales process in which a bevy of high-powered business magnates have gone head to head for the chance to own one of the sports world's best-known franchises. A successful contender must also win Major League Baseball's approval.
The various aspirants to the throne of Red Sox Nation have spent months wooing investors, courting local powerbrokers and floating ballpark ideas in what has become a bare-knuckles, political-style campaign.
``I think (Sox CEO) John Harrington goes out with a bang no matter who he chooses, because the price will be higher than that paid for any other team in the history of the United States,'' said sports franchise sales expert Marc Ganis of Sports Corp. in Chicago.
Charles Dolan, chairman of New York's Cablevision Systems Corp., took an early lead by offering a record $655 million for the whole franchise, including the buyout of limited partners. After offering a staggering $405 million for the 53 percent stake that was put on the sales block more than a year ago, Dolan upped his bid by floating a $250 million proposal to buy out the limited partners.
But the cable king, worth an estimated $2 billion-plus, is expected to face strong counteroffers from several rivals.
After Dolan laid his heart-stopping offer on the table, lawyers from the Sox' law firm of Bingham Dana quietly contacted other high bidders, telling them to prepare bids for the whole team, sources say.
Hometown bidders Joseph O'Donnell, a concessions magnate, and megabucks developer Stephen Karp are poised to submit a bid Monday that will top Dolan's offer, sources say.
The pair have a combined worth of as much as $1.5 billion.
Also expected to counter Dolan's bid are former San Diego Padres owner Tom Werner and current Florida Marlins owner John Henry. Werner, a Hollywood TV producer, is a friend of baseball commissioner Bud Selig, while Henry, a Wall Street financier, is the group's financial workhorse, sources say.
New York corporate lawyer Miles Prentice has already indicated he plans to try to top Dolan's offer. Prentice may get as much as $200 million from the Quadrangle Group, a media investment fund that includes local cable pioneer Amos Hostetter, whose net worth could match Dolan's.
``It will be a long weekend for these bidders,'' said Larry Moulter, former FleetCenter chief and a local sports business expert.
The big question mark now is how Dolan, who has dominated the play so far, will react. After it became clear he had the high bid, Dolan's advisers pressured Sox brass behind the scenes to negotiate with him exclusively.
But those tough tactics - including thinly veiled threats to pull his offer off the table - appear to have fallen flat, sources say. Despite Dolan's $30 million-plus lead, Sox brass apparently decided to give other bidders the chance to sweeten their offers.
Dolan and his local allies have since hunkered down and sought a lower profile.
While Dolan may decide to sweeten his bid, the cable king might also decide to sit tight with his offer. That has been his style in the past, including on his losing bid for the New York Jets, said Sports Corp.'s Ganis.
After coming in with the high bid for the Jets, Dolan found his early offer surpassed by one of his rivals, Ganis noted. But Dolan didn't sweeten his offer.
Dolan appears to be eagerly eyeing the Sox, especially the team's local cable operation, the New England Sports Network. Media experts say Dolan likely wants to roll NESN into a regional or even national sports cable programming network.
As a result, the deal may be worth more to Dolan, with his cable assets, than to the other bidders. And with a personal fortune of more than $2 billion, the cable king has deep enough pockets to outbid his rivals, should he choose, Ganis contends.
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