In St. Louis, Diana Barr notes the city's prospective MLS ownership group "didn't form with the intent of becoming the league's first female majority-owned team," but it now "includes seven female members of the Taylor family," World Wide Technology CEO Jim Kavanaugh and Enterprise Holdings Exec Chair Andy Taylor. World Wide Technology and Enterprise Holdings are St. Louis' "two largest private companies." Enterprise Holdings Foundation President Carolyn Kindle Betz has "become the face of the MLS expansion bid, a decision that came 'more out of default'" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/14).
CHANGE AT THE TOP: In New Jersey, Steve Politi noted NWSL club Sky Blue FC, which is owned by state Gov. Phil Murphy, has announced that Murphy's wife Tammy would “take an active role in club activities” as the team "promised major improvements to player housing and training facilities." The move comes after the team's operation "came under fire last summer." Tammy Murphy said that Sky Blue had "increased the size of the team’s staff 'by 40 percent' and moved the team’s administrative offices 'closer to the player’s housing to provide the support our players deserve'" (NJ.com, 2/13).
CHICAGO WINDS: THE ATHLETIC's Patrick Mooney noted after the Cubs won the World Series in '16, team Chair Tom Ricketts "openly talked about building" the organization into a "hardball version of the Patriots." Two years after that declaration, it is "amazing how much goodwill has evaporated around the Cubs." The volatility has "rattled every aspect of business and baseball operations, forcing the entire franchise to reexamine what it is and what it aspires to be." Ricketts is "trying to contain the fallout from the toxic leak" from his father's emails and the Cubs were "already testing their fans’ patience with a budget-conscious winter" (THEATHLETIC.com, 2/11).
