The average Triple-A team, the highest rank in the minors, had a profit of US$193,000 in 2000 on revenue of US$3.1 million, according to Minor League Baseball. That was up from an average US$86,766 profit a year earlier.
Bigger profits have driven up the cost of buying a minor- league team. Triple-A teams in large media markets can cost as much as US$20 million, said Pat O'Conner, Minor League Baseball's chief operating officer. Double-A teams can cost as much as US$15 million, while the average Single-A team goes for about US$3 million.
When former Baltimore Orioles All-Star Cal Ripken Jr purchased the Single-A Blue Sox for US$3 million in February and moved them to Aberdeen, he outbid Honeywell International Inc Chairman Lawrence Bossidy for the club.
Several current owners are moving to broaden their investment. Mandalay Sports Entertainment, which owns three minor-league teams, is trying to raise US$25 million to buy five more franchises.
One of the keys to making money in the minors is negotiating a favorable stadium lease, several owners said.
Ken Young owns Triple-A teams in Norfolk, Virginia, and Calgary, a franchise that will move to a new US$28 million ballpark in Albuquerque, New Mexico, next season. Young, who owns a stadium concessions company called Ovations Food Services, convinced Albuquerque officials to fund most of the stadium, which will seat 11,000 and have 30 suites.
"If you manage it right, you can make a nice return," he said.
RSS