Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Page 2 with Steve Forbes
Jonah Keri has an informative and entertaining interview with Steve Forbes on Page 2 at ESPN. Forbes of course runs Forbes magazine, which for many years has estimated and published annual valuations of sports teams. Here are a couple of snips to whet your appetite.
On revenue sharing: "The less you Sovietize the sport the better."But on the question of ticket prices, while I give him points for one insight, he ultimately gets a D for uttering the Cardinal Sin:
On stadiums & economic development: "Building a stadium should be done because you're already prospering. It should not be a means to prosperity, but a result of prosperity."
On MLB's objection to his estimates of team valuation: "Obviously if you're in Major League Baseball, ... you want to have a pity party, hang a black crepe and say things are terrible. It's been going on since the days of Curt Flood..."
P2: Do you see the higher ticket prices then being due to higher salaries, or just a case of supply and demand?Say it ain't so Steve!
Forbes: It's both. Suddenly you have a bigger expense nut to deal with...
