KC vs St. Louis
- Thread starter deadeyededric
- Start date
I get what you are saying, but at the time Glass owned the Royals, he was part of the richest family in the country. With that type of money, you do not need to be worried about ROI, and if you are, then why are you purchasing a sports team? Invest the money into something else that will make you even more of a return. Some people build museums or give money to causes they support, why not use that money to purchase a team with the goal of winning championships, and worry less on getting a nice return on your money, its not like you are going to be going broke, and if you are, then you have no place purchasing the team anyway.
The Chiefs are much the same way, the Hunt family is the 2nd riches ownership group in the NFL, and could easily build a new stadium themselves, but are playing the stadium game to enrich themselves even more. Its their right to do it, they own the team, but it gets harder and harder for the average person to keep paying more in taxes, so wealthy team owners can just make more money than what they are currently doing.
I agree but keep in mind most owners aren't lifelong fans who live in the place they own the team. Most owners are business people and as long as the team isn't running in the red they dont care. Professional sports I s better when owner actually care about their teams. The Glass family might have increased payroll by 150million but they were never dipping into the other fund to produce a winner. They only care about numbers. If you look historically at pro sports franchises that are successful it teams that owners basically own the team and nothing else significant to that level. They were smart enough to increase payroll based of the team profits alone but not big enough fans in general to tap into the family wealth. Hence=s$it owners
You may be. It’s the worst pizza i’ve ever had. IMO’s must be dealing out the back to stay in business this long.
Then why purchase the team unless you want to stroke your ego and be in the club of people that own a team? The price of these organizations is getting into the billions of dollars anymore, and you have to be super wealthy to purchase one of them. The days of the family owning the team for generation is coming to an end, and are few and far between now.
Look at the Cardinals, the DeWitts purchase the team, old Busch stadium and the two parking garages around the old stadium for $150 million, they immediately sold off the parking garages for $50 million, so they got the team and stadium for $90 to $100 million. They already owned the land around the stadium and got the city to pay for roughly half of building the new stadium. I will say, they did not pinch money on the new stadium, like they did in Cincinnati and other places. They have built Ball Park Village, and now Ball Park Village part two, the large building with the blue glass you can see from the stadium. According to Forbes the team is now valued at $2.3 billion, with revenue of $373 million in 2024. That is making a lot of money on an original investment of $150 million.
Because billionaires are bigger tighter asses than people making 80-100k a year. They think owning teams will help them in their other ventures more too. Its about accumulating assets as much as anything. These people have a different thought process than you and I. The Hunts are no different really. They just have slightly more humility than most others.
Why? Well he bought the Royals for like 85 million and sold them for around a Billion. Quite a good investment. And that’s not counting the money he made along the way.
To me KC over St Louis hands down and it is not even close. St Louis crime rate is one of the highest in the nation. Do some research and you'll find it's in most top 10 lists. KC has crime issues too but if I was walking at night between the 2 I would feel comfortable in KC. This was many years ago but we were staying downtown near Busch Stadium for a Cubs vs Cards series with some other couples and were going to go out for the night and the person at the front desk told us they would not recommend walking around the area at night especially with having women in our group. That was pretty eye opening as we didn't think the area seemed that dangerous but he was pretty persistent about we don't go in certain directions from the hotel. KC seems to have revitalized their once run down and dangerous downtown areas and is trending in a better direction than STL.
Honestly, when it comes to the Midwest Des Moines gets overlooked because we are not as big of population as other big cities and don't have any professional sports teams in state other than minor league and development level type teams. We have people travel for work from big areas like Charlotte and Phoenix and other big metro areas who tell me that Des Moines is their favorite place to travel for work as everyone here are so nice but also we have some great food and hidden gems to visit too. I remember the first time we hosted the NCAA 1st and 2nd round tournament games it was St Paddy's day and I spent the day watching games at a Court Ave bar. Sat next to an Indiana fan who was waiting to go in for their game later in the day and he told me he had not been to Des Moines in over 10 years and was amazed about just how much had changed and was enjoying his visit. He had flown in the day before and went out that night. We talked about craft beer and he started making notes on his phone about the local breweries and Iowa Tap Room as he wanted things to do on the off day between rounds and was amazed just how much we had in the area.
Honestly, when it comes to the Midwest Des Moines gets overlooked because we are not as big of population as other big cities and don't have any professional sports teams in state other than minor league and development level type teams. We have people travel for work from big areas like Charlotte and Phoenix and other big metro areas who tell me that Des Moines is their favorite place to travel for work as everyone here are so nice but also we have some great food and hidden gems to visit too. I remember the first time we hosted the NCAA 1st and 2nd round tournament games it was St Paddy's day and I spent the day watching games at a Court Ave bar. Sat next to an Indiana fan who was waiting to go in for their game later in the day and he told me he had not been to Des Moines in over 10 years and was amazed about just how much had changed and was enjoying his visit. He had flown in the day before and went out that night. We talked about craft beer and he started making notes on his phone about the local breweries and Iowa Tap Room as he wanted things to do on the off day between rounds and was amazed just how much we had in the area.
So its all about investing your money, how about making a little less money and spend some of it to win?
Exactly. That’s why he sucked as an owner. His primary goal was to make money. Winning was way down the list.
On top of that. For much of his tenure he didn’t even understand how to function effectively as a small market team and be successful with lower budgets.
Baseball is just a light summer hobby for any city that has an NFL team.
Most cities and fans are passionate about multiple sports. Nothing quite matches the intensity of a football Sunday but major league sports cities mostly love their MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS teams. Hell in KC there is huge support for their women’s soccer team who regularly sells out its stadium - the first stadium in the US built solely for a women’s professional sports franchise.
Glass much like DeWitt in St. Louis and every owner that purchased a team in the 80s and 90s, get their return when they sell the team. Glass, you said purchased the Royals for $85 million and then sold them for a billion. DeWitt purchased the Cardinals for $100 million after the sell of the parking garages, and the team is worth over $2 billion today. That is a heck of a return on your investment for each guy.
No one is saying that they should lose money or not make a profit while they own the team, but both want to do both, make plenty of money each year on the team, and then make a killing when they sell the team. That is what is frustrating about being a fan of one of those team.
The only team that has figured out how to function as a small market team and be successful over a number of years has been Tampa Bay. Every other team is in the cycle of draft, build up, and then sell them off after they win. The structure of the MLB media contract forces those with lower level media deals to do it to survive, unless you can draft like TB.
Along with Tampa Bay I think the Guardians and Brewers have great small market models. Tampa Bay really stands out because they have relatively little fan support and are even more disadvantaged than most small market teams, playing in the AL East.
Des Moines is a great place. I absolutely miss it. Im not ready to move back but I do miss it. Its has everything except for pro sports and nice winters.
Cleveland had great support for a 8 years run starting in 1995, after moving into their new stadium, averaging around 40,000 per game and over. Since the run of sell outs ended, they have only had 4 seasons that drew 2 million over the last 20 years. They had lost the Browns during that time, built a new stadium, and had very good teams.
Everyone likes to support a winning team, the real mark of a great baseball city is will they draw when they are average to decent. Only a few teams can achieve that, with St. Louis being the smallest of those. Since 1998 the Cardinals have drawn 3 million fans or more, in 22 of those seasons, and most were in the top 3 or 4 in attendance in the league.
The womens soccer stadium is awesome. Best location of any stadium in town.
The Cardinals are the Yankees of the National League. They probably have more fans than any teams in baseball except for the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers.
The footprint of the fanbase is huge, running all the way to south of Des Moines in the North, past Columbia to the west, and down to Western Tennessee, Oklahoma, Southern Illinois and Indiana. Arkansas and Louisiana to the far South. Just a huge footprint of the country, and for years, many planned their family vacation on a trip to St. Louis to see the Cardinals.
