Faced with a "cash crunch," the D'Backs have
"collected" another $24M from the team's limited partners,
who now have $198M invested in the franchise, according to
Muller & Gomez of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC, who wrote that the
"move was driven by dwindling season ticket sales, which
fell by 9,000." D'Backs Managing General Partner Jerry
Colangelo said that the team's shortfall this season could
reach $15M, compared to the team's "original projections"
between $5-10M. The $24M was "needed to meet operational
costs" like player salaries, minor-league operations and
front-office expenses. Colangelo: "Basically, we had a cash
need. We could have gone to a bank or the partners. We
went to the partners." Muller & Gomez also reported that
five of the 29 partners "chose not to invest, diluting their
ownership." Those who made additional investments "now have
about" $7M each in the team, while "those who didn't" have
about $6M. Colangelo "refused to identify" investors who
didn't invest more and he "doesn't anticipate needing to go
back" to the partners again: "We're hopeful that if we can
finish this season on a positive note and hopefully get into
postseason play that there's going [to] be some positive
responses for next season" (AZ REPUBLIC, 9/19).
UNDER ONE ROOF? The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Daniel
Kaplan reports that Colangelo is "mulling placing his sports
and entertainment assets under a single corporate roof,"
which could make the franchises "more attractive to an
outside investor." After he consulted with Wall Street
"professionals," Colangelo said that the Suns are worth
$300M (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/20 issue).
