Can the Seattle Mariners Be Sold? The current owners and management obviously don't care enough about the team to try and win any games. Can anything be done about this?
2007-02-20 13:46:14 · 3 answers · asked by Oh goody goody gumdrops to all! 2 in Sports ➔ Baseball
If I recall correctly their majority owner is Nintendo, so it's not like they're short for cash.
Short of having the city seize the team via eminent domain (which Baltimore tried to do with the Colts in the early 80s - look how that turned out), there really isn't anything that can be done to force a change in ownership.
2007-02-20 14:29:05 · answer #1 · answered by JerH1 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Any franchise can be sold, pending approval from MLB's ownership committee, executive council, and then by a 3/4 majority vote, MLB owners must approve the deal.
There is little incentive for the Mariners to be sold by the Nintendo Corp. They are one of MLB’s most profitable clubs, although that has been slipping as of late.
I wouldn’t focus on the sale of the club but rather on Bill Bavasi and Mike Hargrove. Howard Lincoln—the Mariners’ managing partner—is on record as saying that Bavasi as GM, and Hargrove as manager are both in “the hot seat.” The club has had player payroll in the top quartile of all the MLB clubs, so it’s not a matter of spending, it’s a matter of spending wisely. A key thing to watch for… Ichiro is in his contract year and is a free agent at the end of the season… if the Mariners don’t wrap him up with a contract before then.
2007-02-21 11:50:33 · answer #2 · answered by Maury B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Offer to buy them.
Other than that, the owners will do what makes them the most money, not what makes fans happy.
2007-02-20 21:49:07 · answer #3 · answered by mpw814 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋