Elephant Rumblings: Fisher shopping $500M minority stake in team

MLB news roundup

Happy Thursday Athletics Nation!

We got word that A’s owner John Fisher is finally exploring the possibility of selling a slice of the team, just not the entire pie. Yesterday the New York Post reported that Fisher was looking for a minority owner to invest in the club for a whopping $500 million dollars:

Not exactly the ‘sell’ we were all hoping for. The valuation Fisher is putting on the team makes it worth a total of $2 billion dollars. Right now. While the club is still renovating their temporary home in Sacramento. Before a stadium has been built or even finally approved in Las Vegas. That is almost $800M more than what Forbes estimated the club was worth before the start of this past season, when the club was coming off a historically bad campaign on the field and the move to Vegas was already announced. And at that point only the Miami Marlins were worth less than the Oakland Athletics. Now the A’s are supposedly worth more than half the teams in the entire league?

The huge jump in valuation might just be a bargaining ploy for all we know. The Post’s report indicated that the club is working with an investment bank to find someone to invest in the club, though for that price and for that percentage it might take some time and some negotiation. Fisher is already getting a sweetheart deal with his relocation fee (worth $1 billion dollars) being waived by MLB so he could relocate the team from Oakland. He’s a multi-billionaire and investors know that he is getting tax-payer funds for his stadium already along with the relocation fee being waived. They won’t be played like politicians who care about the publicity of bringing Major League Baseball to Las Vegas. Is there someone out there who is willing to help front the cost of Fisher’s stadium in Las Vegas for just a quarter of the team? We have a starting point in negotiations and it’ll be interesting to see where this ends up.

Have a fantastic Thursday everyone.

A’s Coverage:

• A’s shop $500M minority stake in deal that values Vegas-bound team at $2B
• Why Sutter Health Park Should Be Renamed Niman Ranch Park
• Member of ‘74 Championship, beloved coach passes away
• Bally’s confirms plans to open first phrase of its new Las Vegas property alongside A’s ballpark
• Oakland Roots unveil pricing for games at the Coliseum
• Major League Cricket headed to the Coliseum
• Mariners land A’s slugger in latest proposed hypothetical trade
• What A’s players need to work on this off-season

MLB News & Interest:

• Yankees-Dodgers World Series Game 1 FAQ
• Dodgers to start Jack Flaherty in Game 1
• Yankees’ Rizzo sees improvement in finger, good to go for World Series
• Fernando Valenzuela Passes away at 63
• Stearns: Mets need to add “multiple” starting pitchers
• LCS most-viewed since 2017
• MLB wants Rays to play in Tampa Bay even if not at Tropicana
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

AFL action from yesterday:

Everybody wants to. Only some can actually do it. Rook is one of those:

Who else already got theirs?

Whew!