Nintendo of America yesterday announced that it "intends to sell its majority stake in the Mariners to a group led by team investor John Stanton, and that he will replace" Chair & CEO Howard Lincoln, according to Divish & Baker of the SEATTLE TIMES. Nintendo will retain a 10% stake in the team and "sell the remainder of its holdings to the other members of First Avenue Entertainment." The limited partnership "owns the Mariners and majority interest" in Root Sports Northwest. The agreement must be approved by MLB, which is "expected in August." Stanton "will assume control of the team’s day-to-day operations" and take on the title of Chair & CEO. Lincoln will "continue as a member" of the FAE BOD. A valuation of $1.4B for FAE’s holdings (the team and Root Sports) "was used as the basis for the sale." Nintendo of America, Lincoln and Stanton "were principal participants in the negotiations." Lincoln confirmed that had the minority ownership group "not stepped up to purchase the majority share, Nintendo of America would have looked at 'a Plan B,' which would have opened the franchise to outside investors" (SEATTLE TIMES, 4/28). SPORTSPRESSNW.com's Steve Rudman noted all members of the FAE group "have been in the club’s ownership since the Baseball Club of Seattle bought the club" from Jeff Smulyan in '92, so the club "is calling it a transition instead of an outright sale." Stanton has been a Mariners investor since buying the 10% owned by John McCaw of McCaw Cellular in '00. Stanton also was an investor in the Sonics when Howard Schultz bought the club in '01 (SPORTSPRESSNW.com, 4/27).
LONG TIME COMING: In Seattle, Geoff Baker in a front-page piece reports the sale "culminated more than two years of drama and behind-the-scenes maneuvering that accelerated the past few months." Sources said that the "surging value" of the club is what drove Nintendo "to sell most of its controlling stake," thought to be 55%. With Nintendo’s global video-game operations "lagging and its overall value dropping, the prospect of its selling the Mariners loomed" throughout '14. Stanton "spent that year quietly meeting with fellow owners and preparing financially for a sale." The death of Nintendo President Satoru Iwata last July "hastened that sale" (SEATTLE TIMES, 4/28). Lincoln said, "We talked about it over the fall and winter and approached our other owners on Feb. 1. We gave them a 60-day window to see if they could come up with the [$1.4B] valuation and other terms as well. At the end of March, Stanton said they were prepared to proceed. We started talking to MLB then because they had to approve the press release and any statements we made" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 4/27).
REVIEW PROCESS: MLB approval of the Mariners transaction is targeted for scheduled owners meetings Aug. 17-18 in Houston. MLB owners have a quarterly meeting next month in N.Y., but the transaction will not be ready for full review yet. The sale will go through customary reviews by MLB’s ownership committee and exec council, and then presented before the full ownership, where a minimum of three-quarters approval is required. The deal is the first transfer of a majority stake of a MLB team since Rob Manfred succeeded Bud Selig as commissioner, and the first since the Padres sold to a Ron Fowler-led group in ’12. The four-year gap between MLB team sales is the largest in nearly 40 years. With a value of $1.4B, the Mariners transaction is the second largest team transfer in league history behind Guggenheim Baseball Management’s $2.15B acquisition of the Dodgers and related assets in ’12. That deal included Dodger Stadium; Safeco Field is publicly owned (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
DAWN OF A NEW ERA: The TIMES' Baker writes Stanton "could bring the long-awaited local presence and accountability many frustrated fans have clamored for from a struggling team with baseball’s longest playoff drought" (SEATTLE TIMES, 4/28). ESPN.com's Jim Caple wrote it "will be interesting to see the effect of having the majority owners be all local." Having local owners "who actually care about what happens -- and feel the heat when the team loses -- will make a difference" (ESPN.com, 4/27). SPORTSPRESSNW.com's Art Thiel wrote the Mariners "will have the owner to succeed" in Stanton. He will be the "richest guy to own the Mariners," as well as the "smartest and the most passionate about baseball." Stanton is not like previous owners who were "in it for self-aggrandizement." He also is not Lincoln, who was a "corporate attorney for most of his career, with no experience in sports nor retail." Lincoln's "tone-deafness to public stewardship and operations of a pro sports franchise has been the burden of his tenure" (SPORTSPRESSNW.com, 4/27). In Seattle, Larry Stone writes Lincoln "deserves all due credit for his key role in keeping the Mariners in Seattle, and for securing the funding for Safeco Field." Yet confidence in his stewardship "had waned to the point that a new voice at the top is both overdue and welcome" (SEATTLE TIMES, 4/28). In Tacoma, John McGrath writes Lincoln's "role in keeping big-league baseball in Seattle has been overshadowed by a 14-year playoff drought distinguished by more managerial changes (nine) than winning seasons (five). Lincoln said, "I would have liked a few mulligans along the way. But I feel very proud of the fact I played a part in saving the Mariners in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest" (Tacoma NEWS-TRIBUNE, 4/28).
NOT IN MY HOUSE: Stanton said that the franchise "won't change its stance opposing" local hedge fund manager Chris Hansen's "bid to build an arena in Seattle's Sodo neighborhood." Stanton: "My way of thinking about it is, if you own a house and somebody wants to build a big, ugly house right at the end of your driveway -- that frankly blocks your driveway -- you've got a right to express your opinion." Yesterday also "marked the first time Lincoln addressed the media about Hansen's Sodo arena project." He "reiterated that the Mariners support the NBA and NHL returning -- just not south of Safeco Field, where Hansen has purchased property." Lincoln: "Our issue has to do with where this NBA arena will be situated and we don't think that putting it at the end of the Safeco Field parking garage is a good idea, and we've expressed that" (SEATTLEPI.com, 4/27).
