How the $450 million sale of the Nationals equals $100 million
23rd May 2006
At the beginning on May, the Washington Nationals were sold to a group led by DC Real Estate investor, Theodore Lerner for $450 million. Recall that in February of 2002, the then Expos were purchased by MLB collectively for $120 million – each of the owners investing in the purchase with the idea that they’d recoup those monies when the sale occurred.
Well, as mentioned, the sale has happened, but it’s not $450 million being split 29 ways.
Try $100 million.
That was the news reported by Murray Chass of the NY Times this past weekend. The remaining monies from the deal will go into a “labor fund”. War chest? Fund for paying outside legal expenses during the collective bargaining process? That was not made clear.
What also was not mentioned was how much of the remaining $350 million would actually wind up in this “labor fund.” One would suspect that there would be fees associated with the sale of the Nationals that might chew into the remaining dollars.
So, on the face of it, the owners are taking a $20 million loss on the sale of the Nationals. It’s more than that as there had been losses on running the former Expos.
What’s the final take home for the 29 owners after the sale to the Lerners? $3.448 million per club.
As a point of clarification…
While it is true that the monies collected may protect the owners collectively in case of a lockout or strike, it had been assumed in the media that the $450 million would wind up split 29 ways at the end of the day. As it stands, the check actually collected by the owners will be out of the $100 million that MLB will direct back to the owners, not the entire $450 million.