Would Bucs lose out in Manchester deal? Owners of most sports teams show they have little trouble juggling business interests. By Louis Hau, St Petersburg Times March 10, 2005
While an acquisition of Manchester United could be lucrative for Malcolm Glazer, his energetic pursuit of the team raises a question: Could the time, money and attention spent on managing a British soccer team hurt the Buccaneers? To help insulate National Football League franchises financially from other business interests of team owners, the league bars owners from borrowing more than $125-million against the value of their team. This debt ceiling is periodically raised - most recently in 2001 from $100-million - to reflect the rising cost of doing business, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello says. Glazer is a member of the NFL finance committee, which likely would review the potential effect Glazer's bid for Manchester United could have on the Bucs - but only after a sale agreement has been signed, Aiello says. Could splitting Glazer's time and attention between the Bucs and the Red Devils hurt the former? Glazer's sons Joel, Bryan and Ed are executive vice presidents with the Bucs, but soccer fan Joel has been busy in recent weeks assisting in his father's pursuit of Manchester. The Glazers' added commitments shouldn't be a source of worry for the Bucs, says Ron Campbell, president of the Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, one of two teams owned by billionaire Bill Davidson, who also owns the reigning NBA champion Detroit Pistons. Most owners of sports franchises own other business interests, so they are accustomed to tending to more than one major investment, Campbell says. "I think if you operate them with the proper eye, with the proper focus, there's no reason why you can't operate them successfully," he says. "I think it makes sense to use synergy to maximize the return and that doesn't matter if you're a widget company or a sports team." Buccaneers general manager Bruce Allen says he doesn't doubt the Glazers' commitment to the Buccaneers, pointing to the team's high payroll and the $30-million training facility under construction on the site of the former Tampa Bay Center mall. "Their commitment to this team is 100 percent," Allen says, adding that "they have many business interests and whether its real estate or those other things, it doesn't affect their passion for the Bucs." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/6iY7fA/5WnJAA/Y3ZIAA/GtUolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Please use [email protected] for general discussion. To unsubscribe send a blank message (from the email account in question) to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Join as a full member of IMUSA today: http://www.imusa.org/join.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imusa/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
