Archive for Business

I’m kind of an idiot when it comes to the concept of seat licenses, mostly because I’ve never considered buying season tickets for anything and thus haven’t been required to think much about it. Beyond knowing that they have been a part of every new park, stadium, and arena to open over the past couple […]

The economy may be stank on a stick, but the Twins are doing just fine, thank you: The Minnesota Twins are on pace to sell a franchise-record 11,000 season tickets for the 2009 season, up from about 10,000 last year. The team expects about 90 percent of last year’s season-ticket holders to renew — a […]

News flash: billionaire plutocrats fly their private planes to exclusive, mountainside resort to lament tough times and advocate for cost cutting.

People talk about the Winter Meetings for weeks before and after they happen, but no one ever talks about the owners’ meetings. Why is that? Well, it’s probably because the press reports on what it can understand. GMs may make a lot of money and some of them are bona fide celebrities, but they still […]

Jeff Moorad purchasing the Padres is a weird looking deal. For one thing it came together so fast. The Tribune Company couldn’t even change the toner on the printer that spits out the Cubs’ offer sheets in the time it took this whole deal to materialize. A second odd thing is that despite this being […]

There have been several articles in the past few months about what the economic situation might do to baseball, and with them many comparisons to the Great Depression. Most of them have been driven by looks back at attendance figures. A couple of days ago, however, the New York Times ran one that gave more […]

On Jan. 10, 2000, Aaron Sele signed a two-year contract with the Seattle Mariners—but only because Orioles owner Peter Angelos nixed a four-year contract due to his concerns about arm trouble. Angelos’ moves have reduced his once-proud franchise to embarrassment.

Kevin McClatchy has liquidated his position in the Pittsburgh Pirates: Former Pirates managing general partner Kevin McClatchy has sold his remaining shares in the team, ending a 13-year relationship that began with the newspaper heir ensuring that the club remained in Pittsburgh. McClatchy’s spot on the five-man Pirates board of directors will not immediately be […]

When a political scandal hits, you can always expect things to happen in this order: 1. Denials that anything happened; 2. Denials that that which happened was inappropriate; 3. Admissions, either tacit or explicit, that that which happened was inappropriate in an effort to minimize the damage; and 4. Heads rolling. We’re now at step […]

TUCK! toon goodness every Wednesday