From: niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent)
Subject: Re: Barry Bonds is a Giant! NOT!
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Distribution: world,local
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 10:40:18 GMT

In article <1gkinnINN349@access.usask.ca> gerry@skatter.usask.ca writes:
>From <1992Dec9.171600.2932@novell.com>, by bradley@novell.com (Brad Soe):
>> In article <382@blue.cis.pitt.edu> psg+@pitt.edu (Paul S Galvanek) writes:

>>>any other though.  Under normal circumstances it probably wouldn't
>>>be an issue but considering that Lurie is essentially being forced to
>>>accept a deal he didn't make, then it's at least reasonable to argue
>>>he's entitled to get has been proven to be the full vaule of his 
>>>property in return, however the new owners might come up with the money.
 
>> What do you mean forced? Poor guy only getting 100 Million instead of
>> 115. That is only an 80 Mil profit instead of 95 Mil. He is not being
>> forced to do anything. He can always keep the team. 

>It was his property he can decide to sell or not. Why should another
>group of people who weren't going to buy it get to decide what the price 
>of Lurie's property is?

Because Lurie knew, and accepted, those terms when he bought the Giants 
in the first place.  It isn't a surprise; no one is changing the rules 
on him in the middle.  And it isn't as if "his property" is worth
anything outside of the structure of MLB.  What is he going to do,
charge people to watch batting practice?  (Given the Giant's pitching
staff, he might do that all year long, but that's a separate issue.)
Since he needs the other teams for "his property" to be worth anything
at all, I don't exactly find it absurd that the other teams can dictate
certain things to him.  

And it isn't as if he had to sell it; he could have kept the team if he
thought the deal wasn't worth it.

>> I am a Giants fan, and I would love to have Bonds. I am excited, but sorry,
>> the SF group made an offer and Lurie accepted. That's how business works.
>> If you get an asset for less than another person, the more power to you. 
>> Does anyone really know the value of this team? I would think that it is
>> relative to recent sales of other teams and what it costs to start a new
>> franchise.

>The SF group made an offer and the other owners accepted, Lurie wanted
>$115M and was refused this amount.

>As far as I know the only way to really tell the monetary value of
>something is what someone else is willing to pay for it, thus the SF
>Giants are worth $115M. The new owners will have made a profit of $15M
>by buying the franchise for less than what it is worth on the open market.

Ordinarily true, but not in this case.  The SF Giants are worth $100
million.  The TAMPA Giants would be worth $115 million.  But without the
approval of the rest of the league, the Tampa Giants aren't worth anything.

(Incidentally, isn't Lurie keeping $10 million worth of the team, or
something?  Doesn't that mean the difference is only $5 million?)

-- 
David M. Nieporent   | Is it too early to start making predictions for 1993?
niepornt@phoenix.    | Probably, but that never stopped me before.
   princeton.edu     | ALE: Baltimore ALW: Chicago NLE: Montreal NLW: Atlanta
Baltimore Orioles 93 | AL MVP: Cal Ripken  AL Cy Young: Mike Mussina
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball