After party for World War II reenactment goes off the rails | Pushing controversial tax plan, Boston mayor takes aim at business community opponents | Should billionaire John Henry be allowed to own two major Boston sports teams? | David Mancuso deflates another anti-MCAS myth | Quick hits |
News tips? Story ideas? Email us at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com
Too much? As John Henry’s multibillion-dollar Fenway Sports Group eyes a bid for the Celtics, it may be time to consider a crosstown ownership ban, a long-time sports writer and radio host contends
That would be Tony Massarotti.
Henry and his FSG sports business empire, with its growing collection of teams, are casting covetous eyes on the Celtics.
And it is setting off alarm bells for Massarotti, co-host of Felger & Mazz on 98.5 The Sports Hub and before that, a sportswriter for the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe for many years.
The $13 billion FSG has grown to “monstrous” proportions since Henry launched the sports business investment firm in 2011, Massarotti noted in an interview with Contrarian Boston.
FSG owns not just the Red Sox, but also a British soccer club, a Nascar racing team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and NESN. Oh yeah, and Henry and FSG recently helped pump $3 billion into the PGA Tour as well.
Henry and FSG’s empire building comes as investors pour billions of dollars into pro sports franchises around the world, enabling individual ownership groups to snap up teams at previously unheard of prices.
So Massarotti argues it may be time for the professional sports leagues to put into place some limits on the ownership of multiple teams by a single owner or firm, and, specifically, a ban on gobbling up more than one major pro team in a particular city.
Massarotti, author of a number of baseball books, including one on the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, notes that sports teams like the Red Sox and Celtics are more than just businesses, but also major public and cultural institutions in their own right.
“I am really starting to wonder whether there should be some rule about being able to own more than one professional sports franchise in the same city,” Massarotti said. “These teams, as much as they are businesses, they are public trusts and public entities - they mean something to the communities.”
Teams and their fans deserve to feel like they have owners who are all in and devoted to the franchise’s future - as Henry and fellow team owner Tom Werner were earlier in their ownership reign, when the team won four World Series championships.
But as Henry’s sports empire has grown, the Sox have suffered, hovering around .500 for several seasons now.
While much has been made of the decline in the team’s payroll, Massarotti believes that Henry and FSG arguably aren’t locked in on their focus on the Sox as they once were.
“When they first came here, making them (the Sox) a national power was the most important thing in the world to them,” he said. “I don’t think it is anymore.”
Andrew Zimbalist, one of the world’s top sports business experts, told Contrarian Boston that any proposal under which an owner would acquire two pro sports teams in the same city would likely be scrutinized closely, especially Boston.
For his part, Henry’s business empire locally includes The Boston Globe and ambitious development plans for the neighborhood around Fenway Park, while his wife and Globe CEO Linda Henry has a small stake in a new women’s pro soccer team.
But he doesn’t think Henry or other sports owners should be automatically banned from owning two major sports teams in one town, arguing there could be “synergies,” involving NESN, the regional cable network, among other things.
“That is not to say there isn’t a reason to look at this carefully, at any proposed double investment,” said Zimbalist, professor emeritus of economics at Smith College.
Massarotti takes a more skeptical view, wondering what Henry’s acquisition could mean for a Celtics team with a record $500 million payroll and a huge luxury tax hit looming.
“Given the way it’s gone with the Red Sox, fans are terrified that Fenway Sports Group would buy the Celtics, and I don’t blame them. I can’t image they will spend like the Golden State Warriors have spent.”
Bad move: Boneheaded World War II reenactors cause problems for Hudson restaurant and museum
Um, maybe wearing those replica Nazi uniforms out to dinner after that big WWII battle reenactment wasn’t such a smart idea after all.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Contrarian Boston to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.