thundercleetz

Exactly, and the Steinbrenners take that money and spend it on the Yankees. Angelos does not spend the money from MASN on the O's. The money from YES and MASN is excess profit for their respective owners because the initial capital investment was very small. However, someone who buys MASN is going to put up over a billion dollars. That new owner will not realize profit for a long time. Murdoch paid $2 billion to invest in YES because it is the NYC market. Nonetheless it will take him a while to make a return in that investment, it was a longterm investment. In other words, if someone buys the O's and MASN, there will be no money from MASN to put back into the team. That money will go back into MASN making it profitable.

For the Yanks, yes. For the O's, the money from MASN is going straight to Angelos' pocket. That is where the frustration is: Large market revenue, midmarket spending. Any new owner that buys MASN the revenues would go toward recouping the large initial capital investment to acquire MASN. That money would not go to the O's. Any new owner would most certainly treat the two as two separate money making entities. That is why it does not make financial sense for an individual to acquire MASN and the O's separately. The right owner might acquire them together, but once again, finding an owner to pay $1.5 billion-plus for a Baltimore franchise, I am not confident that would happen.

You're comparing apples and oranges comparing YES to MASN. Any individual who bought MASN would be in the red for years recouping their initial investment before realizing a profit. The New York market is disirable with unlimited potential for profit, the Baltimore market is much less disirable with limited potential. MASN is so profitable for Peter Angelos because he had a next to nothing initial investment to start the network. You could say the same thing with YES when it was started years ago. They were ahead of the curve. No individual is going to buy an over a billion dollar television market, then buy the team. There is no profit in that to an individual. To a broadcasting company like FOX, acquiring MASN could fit in with their longterm goal. As far as someone buying the O's without MASN, they would run the team the same way any other midsized market team does: take the yearly payout from FOX or whoever for the television rights based upon the TV rights fees, then everything else is the exact same. That is why it is so frustrating to not see Angelos spend, he has a midmarket team that is bringing in large market revenues.

Like I said, I do not see that happening for a sports team in Baltimore. James Murdoch paid $2 billion for 49% of YES because it is the New York Yankees. Which individual wants a broadcast station in the Baltimore market? It is worth a lot more to a broadcasting company like FOX, who would have no interest in buying the O's. There is a saying in real estate, there is a point of no return on renovations made to the nicest house in an ok neighborhood. That is what you have with the O's. Expecting someone to pay $1.5+ billion for a team and television network in Baltimore is not happening. BTW the O's would go for a lot higher than $200 million. I am definitely thinking in the $400-500 million range. We can agree to disagree here, lets just see what happens. My money is this thing is getting broken up.

There are only 30 teams in the MLB, someone will pay a good amount to buy the team without MASN. How many teams own their own television network? Not many, and that does not effect the marketability of the team to potential owners. Forbes valued the O's at $460 million without MASN. Finding owners to bid around $400-$500 million? You will have a good pool of bidders. Finding owners to bid around $1.5+ billion for a sports team in Baltimore? Good luck. Maybe in a New York or LA you would find a willing bidder to dish out that much money, but not in a market like Baltimore where television viewership in 2011 was 28th out of 30 and attendance was 25th out of 30 . Angelos' best bet to maximize profit is to sell ownership in MASN to another network and then sell the team separately. There is much less profitability for an individual buying a television market at a premium than another television market buying a network to add to their viewer base (such as FOX). An individual will not see the profit anytime soon, and is in less of a position to wait it out for a long-term gain. Angelos got a great deal, the amount of initial capital he had to invest to start MASN was very small relatively. An owner to buy the network at a premium, does not make as much sense. The reason why FOX would look at MASN is to control a market to challenge ESPN. It is part of a much larger and long-term goal.

Ad my point is that Angelos or his surviving family maximize their profit by selling them separately. With the skyrocketing values of broadcasting sports networks, it's looking unrealistic that a qualified buyer would dish out more for the team and the network than what Angelos could get selling them separately. But yeah I agree with you: the team's money making potential is severely limited if MASN is sold. But with the amount of money it would take to acquire both the O's and their stake in MASN, any potential owner is going to burn a big initial hole in their checkbook. The final point is simple: the O's need to be bought by a deep pocketed owner who wants to spend.

I told you Papa that Angelos could split up the O's and MASN. Short-term the O's would get a buyout amount. Long-term FOX would pay the Orioles a yearly amount for the television rights. For example, Fox paid the Padres $200 million upfront then pay $50 million a year for the television rights. The Dodgers get $125 million a year from Fox. As far as if this is good or bad, I am leaning bad. It would be good in the sense that the Orioles would directly receive proceeds on their books. In the current agreement since the Orioles own the majority of MASN and Angelos owns MASN, Angelos is under no obligation to reinvest MASN proceeds in the team. If Fox owns the rights the O's might get the short end of the stick long term. The yearly amount the O's would receive would be based on TV rights fees, which is connected to market size. In other words, the Nats would probably end up getting significantly more money then us. IMO I bet the MLB is really pushing for this deal because they really dropped the ball on the Nats TV rights and Angelos has the MLB and Nats by the balls currently. This is the MLB's way of getting out of the deal legally, allowing Angelos to get his upfront payment (the buyout from Fox) and the Nats thus getting a fair market deal. From what it sounds like this would be a good deal for Angelos, the Nats, and the MLB, and a bad deal for the Orioles. The Orioles would essentially be given a yearly payment equivalent to a mid market team like the Pads, while the Nats get more money annually due to a bigger market, and Angelos walks away with probably over a billion dollars from the sale that he is under no obligation to reinvest in the O's. Best case scenario, Angelos keeps the team and MASN. Then eventually sells the team and MASN together. The new owner is then more willing to take MASN revenues and reinvest them in the team. However like we've seen the value of baseball team networks skyrocket with the recent sale of YES, any potential owner would probably be paying close to $1.75 billion for the Baltimore Orioles. How realistic is that? My bet is the team and network get broken up.

I agree with papa, Saban's deal with the devil all but assures him this championship.

Well we've just created a hole at 1B now. I hope Duquette has some tricks up his sleeve.

I have never smoke marijuana in my life but I think it's outrageous how it is illegal. Studies have proved that alcohol is far worse for the human body. It's ridiculous how someone can go to jail for the rest of their life for being caught with weed a few times. Not to mention it is a huge waste of tax payer money to house these so called criminals. Good article.

I wonder what we are going to do with Mark Reynolds? I would love to see what he could do with a full season only having to focus on first base. I think his 2009 numbers with Arizona would be realistic. I hope we bring him back, I do not think this is another first base option out there that would be close to the production we would get from Reynolds. Not to mention Reynolds played awesome defense at first. He should only get better after an offseason of work at the position.

It is amazing what Larry Fedora meant to that USM program. He was 34-19 in four years, four bowl games (two wins), and his last year he was 12-2 finishing ranked 19th in the nation. USM was seen as an emerging program but they were absolutely miserable in 2012. Fedora is 8-4 in his first year at UNC. They have a great coach on their hands and I will not be surprised if Fedora is coaching in the SEC within a couple of years.

I do not know, I guess we will find out with this lawsuit.

I believe situations like this are common place in NFL lockerrooms. With the exception of a few coaches (Tony Dungy comes to mind immediately), I can guarantee you stuff like this happens with teams every week. It is not telling of cracks in Harbaugh's leadership. You get seventy super competitive men in a room and yeah you are going to get fights and disagreements. You're telling me Patriot players do not get angry at Belicheck or talk behind his back with how mad they are? You can be the best leader in the world, but in the NFL it is simple, you win and everything is ok. You lose, you are going to lose your team no matter what.

Solid move for the ACC. Great fit as a basketball school, solid potential with the football team, and a very good growing market (there is a rumor that Louisville is trying to get the Sacromento Kings to move there). Not to mention UL is pouring money into their athletics. If the ACC can hang onto FSU and Clemson, they will be in great shape long-term. We will have to see what the ruling is from this UMD lawsuit regarding the exit fee. Depending on what happens could decide whether FSU, Clemson, or maybe even G-Tech, try and jump ship to the Big XII. Remember, FSU and UMD were the only two schools that voted against the raise in exit fee by the ACC. So what happens with UMD could potentially affect FSU at the very least.

This right here. The Texans tried to make Babin a 3-4 OLB and it did not work. His career did not take off until he was in the 4-3.

Good post. This is exactly what the problem is. The offense has no complexity to it. Even what Joe has available for audible is not really much help. It's like choosing between Cheerios and Corn Flakes. It's the basic of the basic.

BTW for all you Catholics out here, I do not know if anyone else saw this. Before the Tucker game winning kick, the camera showed Tucker on the field, he did the sign of the cross. Then the camera showed Ray Rice on the bench, who did the sign of the cross. And finally the camera went to Harbaugh walking the sideline, who did the sign of the cross. Hilarious! I had no choice but to do it myself!

I have heard that Joe does not like Cam. I know it was really bad last season but I have not heard anything this season. I think unless we win the Super Bowl, this is the last year we will see Cam. If we are going to committ to Joe for the next five to six years we need to know the best he can possibly be. I think the reason we did not make a move last season is because there was nothing better on the market. If Norv Turner is available, I bet we will go after him.

What is wrong with Flacco? My opinion is that the combination of Flacco and Cam Cameron is not best for either of them. Joe is very much a momentum QB. When he is uptempo, he can throw as well as anyone else. But a stuffed run here, a three-and-out there and Joe is ineffective. Taking a look at the overthrows, look at the previous plays before those. Stuffed run, a sack, setting up a third-and-long situation. It is the same thing everytime. I counted on three first-down sacks the next play was a draw play. If I can figure this what makes Cam think an NFL DC will not? Additionally Cam Cameron's route running is very predictable. As cold as Joe was, Cam was not helping him. I am not saying Joe is an elite QB, but I think under a different OC he would be a better and more consistent QB. I do not believe Cam is utilizing his talents in the best way. Sure, Joe has the sugar huddle he can utilize, but the Air Corryell offense that Cam uses is all about single receiver routes downfield, there is no deception or route set up. Joe does take awhile to get rid of the ball his fair share of times, but a good amount of time receivers are completely covered.

Yesterday was a spectacular day for college football. I love the effort UMD is showing. They had no business winning in Chapel Hill but played a very tough game. I have been critical of Esdall but the players are buying into to his system. There is a lot of talent on this team. I am feeling good about the future of UMD football. So ND goes undefeated and the winner of Alabama and Georgia goes to the championship game. I'm betting Alabama wins. Anyone think ND has a chance?

FSU and Clemson would be great fits cuturally for the SEC. Does the SEC want to go to 16 though? My little brother goes to UK and he doesn't seem to think the SEC wants to expand anymore. With both the Big Ten and SEC at 14 teams, can the Big 12 stay at ten teams? I could definitely see the Big 12 go after both FSU and Clemson to challenge the SEC in the Southeast just like the SEC challenged the Big 12 in Texas. If that happens, Louisville and Cincy could be recruited by the ACC (although these two teams have been Big 12 targets in the past). Things could get interesting.

I am hearing rumors that Clemson and FSU, the only good football fan bases the ACC has, are exploring options to go to the Big 12. The ACC did this to themselves absorbing the Big East and its divided culture. I think five years from now we look back at this move to the Big Ten as brilliant. UPDATE: Mike Krzyzewski: “ACC is vulnerable right now”

To give us an idea of how valuable networks owned by baseball teams are: News Corporation’s Bid for a Stake in YES Would Value Channel at $3 Billion

MD lacrosse is not going anywhere, it will be fine. Lacrosse is still in its infancy compared to other sports. There are lots of good players in the areas and few schools. We will still play the local powerhouse teams. And UMD has a big advantage of being a large university with great academics, which will inheritably give them a natural advantage for some recruits wanting to play at a big university over a smaller one. IMO this is no big deal at all. Lacrosse is still in it's development stages and it's only a matter of time before large universities start to establish big time programs. BTW, Michigan and OSU are in the ECAC (Loyola was in this conference, and Air Force and the University of Denver are in this conference currently), it would not surprise me for UMD and Rutgers to join this conference. Penn State is in the Colonial Athletic Association. Rutgers has a very solid program that has been established as long as any other lacrosse team (two national championships). The Big Ten only needs six teams to establish a conference.. Michigan State has an up-and-coming club team, and Northwestern has an elite women's lacrosse team. Lacrosse is big in Chicago, it is only a matter of time before NW gets a good men's program going. More long-term, I could see Illinois as being a good candidate for a lacrosse team due to the emerging demographic. So we are looking at a Big Ten lacrosse conference definitely consisting of: Penn State UMD Michigan OSU Rutgers MSU NW could be a good candidate to join later on. In the meantime UMD and Rutgers can compete with MSU and OSU in the ECAC and not lose a competitive advantage in recruiting at all. With the type of power and resources these Big Ten universities have it is only a matter of time before these programs will come together and create a conference that qualifies for an automatic bid. So does this move hurt UMD in the short-term? Possibly. In the long-term it does not hurt at all. And it could possibly help as UMD will get a heads up on recruiting in an area of the country where new lacrosse recruits could emerge as the sport grows. Not to mention the Big Ten Network has the resources to provide a superior broadcast to any other lacrosse conference.