Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Sports Media

MLB TO TAKE MAJORLEAGUEBASEBALL.COM PUBLIC? LEAGUE EYES IPO

          D'Backs Managing General Partner and Suns CEO Jerry
     Colangelo said yesterday that MLB "is likely to go public"
     in the next two to three years, followed by the NBA,
     according to Jennifer Allen of BRIDGE NEWS.  Colangelo,
     speaking at a sports finance forum, said that MLB is
     "centralizing operations, including acting to consolidate
     Internet revenue."  Colangelo: "This is all about bringing
     back in-house what we own.  We have the content and we have
     the brand.  It's time to take it back."  Colangelo said that
     MLB is "forming a new company, now called 'Newco,' in line
     with its goal" of an IPO (BRIDGE NEWS, 3/28).  The INDUSTRY
     STANDARD's Bernhard Warner wrote that the new division will
     "oversee the league's Net rights," with MLB Exec VP Robert
     DuPuy as acting Chair & CEO.  MLB has already "hired an
     investment bank" to examine spinning off the Web unit.
     Warner wrote that team owners have an "equal ownership
     stake" in the venture but "not an equal take of the revenue;
     that money goes to the league office."  MLB Commissioner Bud
     Selig can then "parcel" it out "at his discretion, favoring,
     for instance, cash-poor clubs."  MLB's Web site "won't be a
     powerhouse portal right off," but the "list of potential
     moneymaking ventures is long," including possibilities such
     as memorabilia auctions and video highlight subscriptions. 
     But officials say that "many" new features "won't happen
     until next season."  In the meantime, MLB will work on
     "integrating team Web sites" into the league site, and
     "recruiting corporate sponsors."  DuPuy says that MLB is
     "considering an alliance with a media company or technology
     outfit to build" the site into a "superfan site," which
     could lead to an IPO (INDUSTRY STANDARD, 3/27).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2000/03/29/Sports-Media/MLB-TO-TAKE-MAJORLEAGUEBASEBALLCOM-PUBLIC-LEAGUE-EYES-IPO.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2000/03/29/Sports-Media/MLB-TO-TAKE-MAJORLEAGUEBASEBALLCOM-PUBLIC-LEAGUE-EYES-IPO.aspx

CLOSE