FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Oso Famoso said 02/12, 12:36 PM
The logistics in having a publicly held multi-million dollar sports franchise would be extremely difficult.

Allowing a team to be bought in part or whole by a community opens the door for national and international investors to buy into the franchise.

Once a mogul had a foothold, who is to say that there is no way for this person to make a bid for the entire franchise and sell it off to California or Toronto?

Also the purchase of a franchise now by the community/public shareholders would pose a problem. As in order to even have such a proposal considered, any interested buyers in the franchise would have to assemble their assets to prove that there would be enough minority buyers to back a purchase by Kelly or Golisano.

Of course, if Kelly and Golisano have the $ available to make a bid without altering NFL practices, then there is no real need to make the franchise a publicly held entity, especially if there were concerns of having the team moved. The NFL has sufficient say in a franchise's mobility.

Oso Famoso said 02/12, 02:31 PM
You concede that making the Bills publicly owned would not necessarily work. There is no compelling reason to have the NFL change it's practice of having current privately held franchises just to keep the Bills in Buffalo.

The NFL has enough controlling interest in where teams play and whether or not the are able to move, as was the case when Benson floated rumors of moving the Saints out of New Orleans.

If private owners such as Kelly and Golisano cannot come up with the capital or investors to buy the franchise outright, how will the hard working people of Western New York put up enough of their hard earned money to get 51% of the team?

If there is a group of citizens who could pony up the cash, what legal right do they have over private citizens to gather together to buy a franchise? The legal ramifications open the NFL up to further probing by Congress into the nebulous anti-trust exemptions enjoyed by the league.

Bills fans do deserve to keep their franchise in Buffalo. However, making the team publicly held would not work, and it would not be the best way to keep the team in Buffalo. Let Kelly and/or Golisano make a bid for the team.

Oso Famoso said 02/12, 10:50 PM
Taking a team public, and having the season ticket holders buy the team, it is untenable. There is little way for the fan base to mortgage their houses and drain their life savings to get even a minority interest in the Bills.

Green Bay went this way in a time when franchises did not have the same exorbitant values. Start up fees for a team back then were in the hundreds. Now we're talking hundreds of millions for a buyout.

There is more stability in having a local hero like Kelly gather a group of private investors to keep the Bills in Buffalo. You know what you're getting with him as an owner.

In the public sale scenario you can have a few wealthy bidders got a majority share of the team in a public buyout of the team, then there is greater chance for turmoil within the franchise infrastructure. Imagine if several guys like Snyder took over the Bills by virtue of having purchased 51% of the team.

Changing league policy for one team will also open a can of worms for the NFL which is already under scrutiny for Spygate. This would be just one more excuse for Specter and Congress to rattle their sabers and bring up anti-trust laws.