My flight of fancy or fantasy takes wing with a new owner of the Boston Red Sox, but who? Step right up, Jeff Bezos! Here’s why he should buy the team.
Recently I wrote an article on the need for a change in Boston Red Sox ownership, but just who? The team’s value is speculative, but the consensus is this may be in the range of $2 billion to $2.7 billion. Forbes has the team at $2.7 billion. That certainly narrows the potential field of suitors.
The article generated an email exchange with a long time BSI reader and commenter whose posting handle is Reds Love Child. I had been down the ownership path in the past, but it was more whimsy – this may also be the same, Reds answer is Jeff Bezos. In case you have been in isolation for the last decade Bezos founded Amazon. Bezos net worth? The richest person in history.
I buy the morning paper, plunk down my two bucks and enjoy a nice read to go with my coffee. Bezos? He bought his morning paper – the Washington Post – for $250 million in cash. So, it looks like a Go Fund Me page will not be necessary for Bezos.
Why would he even do it? Bezos dabbles in companies and the list is extensive and varied. You see aerospace, technology, computing, publishing and even Whole Foods, but missing is sports. Maybe that would be a fine addition to the ever-expanding Bezos collection? A fine prize for the Bezos trophy case.
Amazon is in the market for a second headquarters and Boston is a key player and one of the favorites to grab this prize. Boston is certainly a place the Princeton grad Bezos would feel comfortable in. A liberal bastion for a liberal social justice warrior component that Bezos is. A very tech savvy Bezos knows that Boston is a world center for various technologies especially pharmaceuticals. An intellectual paradise.
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This is most certainly a leap of faith. Does Amazon come to Boston? Would Bezos consider such a purchase? Would John Henry sell? Would MLB approve? Ok – scratch that last one.
How would Bezos run the team? My ideal would bring in Theo Epstein with an ownership share. Epstein is as successful in baseball as Bezos is in business. Bezos certainly knows the value of leadership in key managerial positions. And that luxury tax? Well, folks, somehow a $30 million hit would not send Bezos into cardiac arrest.
Somehow, I do not envision Bezos suddenly having a cost savings fire sale to cut payroll to the fiscal bone. I would expect Bezos to do what he has always done and that is invest in his purchases. The Red Sox would certainly not experience a prolonged slump over lack of resources.
When Henry bought the Red Sox, he was in his mid-50s just as Bezos is. Bezos and Henry also appear on the same page politically, with social involvement, and expanding their business empires. A seamless transition would happen.
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This may be my latest whimsy, but a Bezos ownership would continue the success the Red Sox have experienced this century. And for Henry? Henry bought the team for $660 million so he will have made a very nice profit.