Haslam plotting Browns trade?

[Soda]

You are being shortsighted on the actual benefit of a low payroll in a capped league for an incoming owner. It has little to do with the money saved and more to do with flexibility it allows. NBA owners frquently cut payroll before selling to make the team more appealing. This was a factor in the Cavs sale to Gilbert and why Gund got out when he did. This is proven, especially for franchises in capped sports. The owner then has room to improve his product immediately and thus his revenues. Has been shown time and again. the renovations in the stadium, however, where going to occur regardless- sasp if the new owner is paying that as part of the cost to acquire the team or afterwards, he is still paying it.

The flexibility you mention in the cap is not as relevant in the NFL as the NBA as the cap is hard. Meanwhile, you scoff at the financial flexibility of the stadium, which costs more. Same story. If you're going to say that I'm being shortsited, explain why.. If you have an 89% salary floor and a hard cap, EVERY team in the NFL is going to have payroll costs that are within a pretty small general range.

You don't want anyone spending that much of your money without any say.

Additionally, you have absolutely zero support in saying that the renovations were going to happen ASAP. If that's the case, why didn't Randy Lerner make some England shaped scoreboards prior to selling to Jimmy? If they were going to happen anyways, what's the issue with Lerner just slabbing some renovations on the tab prior to the sale? Liquidity is why. It's crazy to assume that stadium renovations are not something a potential owner looks into when looking at a sale. Haslam just did it (while also committing non-City money to Berea) as soon as he bought the place. Did Gund make some improvements immediately prior to selling? Did Dan Gilbert put money in when he bought?

Can you find me examples of other sports owners who invested a significant amount (over 50 million) just prior to selling the franchise?

 

[crabbyshark]

He still took over $90 million in loans in the name of his franchise...

Nice post. I still don't buy that Haslam is putting $90 million into the Browns. At least $62.5 million comes from an NFL loan:

The NFL recently approved a $62.5 million loan to the team to be used toward stadium improvements and Banner said all of that money will be applied toward the plan.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap20...browns-unveil-120m-stadium-modernization-plan

Who knows what the deal is with that loan? The $62.5 million might be provided through a federal grant somehow (as crazy as that sounds). It's impossible to know for sure without seeing the details, and the NFL is not about that action.

Today the owners said they weren't interested in buying goal line cameras because they are "too expensive":

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ted-that-owners-dont-want-to-pay-for-cameras/

Give me a break. My guess is they don't want to buy the cameras because they think the networks will do it for them. When you're the hot chick in class, you can get away with this stuff.

If an investment group really, really wanted the Browns, they would pay whatever's outstanding from that $120 million to make it happen.

I do think it would be a public relations nightmare for the league if they tried to move the team though.

 

[Soda]

Nice post. I still don't buy that Haslam is putting $90 million into the Browns. At least $62.5 million comes from an NFL loan:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap20...browns-unveil-120m-stadium-modernization-plan

Who knows what the deal is with that loan? The $62.5 million might be provided through the federal grant somehow (as crazy as that sounds). It's impossible to know for sure without seeing the details, and the NFL is not about that action.

Today the owners said they weren't interested in buying goal line cameras because they are "too expensive":

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ted-that-owners-dont-want-to-pay-for-cameras/

Give me a break. My guess is they don't want to buy the cameras because they think the networks will do it for them. When you're the hot chick in class, you can get away with this stuff.

If an investment group really, really wanted the Browns, they would pay whatever's outstanding from that $120 million to make it happen.

I do think it would be a public relations nightmare for the league if they tried to move the team though.

Well, Haslam is indebted to that loan. Yeah, the new owner would inherit that, but as I was discussing with mac, it doesn't make much business sense to sink funds into a stadium (or team) if you're looking to sell.

To me, it makes more sense, if you're looking to sell, to keep the thing as bare as possible. It's an awfully large monetary risk for JH3 to have Tennessee-looking scoreboards hanging in a stadium he's trying to sell.. It'd be much more easy to pitch an investment group on the ability to imprint their identity to a team rather than try to sell a stadium you imprinted your vision upon.

I certainly am more apt to believe the generally agreed-upon news and terms than buy into a conspiracy theory where the NFL is helping Haslam not invest his own money into the team so he can have his dream hometown team in an "ownership trade". But that's my prerogative based on the info I've consumed.

 

[jlegg21]

This story was the 2nd or 3rd topic on PTI just now... and Wilbon is correct. If it gets Haslam away from my favorite NFL team, I'm all for it.

 

[crabbyshark]

Well, Haslam is indebted to that loan. Yeah, the new owner would inherit that, but as I was discussing with mac, it doesn't make much business sense to sink funds into a stadium (or team) if you're looking to sell.

To me, it makes more sense, if you're looking to sell, to keep the thing as bare as possible. It's an awfully large monetary risk for JH3 to have Tennessee-looking scoreboards hanging in a stadium he's trying to sell.. It'd be much more easy to pitch an investment group on the ability to imprint their identity to a team rather than try to sell a stadium you imprinted your vision upon.

I certainly am more apt to believe the generally agreed-upon news and terms than buy into a conspiracy theory where the NFL is helping Haslam not invest his own money into the team so he can have his dream hometown team in an "ownership trade". But that's my prerogative based on the info I've consumed.

No no, it's not about helping Haslam "not invest his own money" for any other reason than to save Haslam/the NFL money. No reason other than that. There is likely some tax reason or some other perk that benefits Haslam by getting a loan through the League.

And after he bought the Browns, I doubt Haslam ever really imagined owning the Titans until once they became available. Look at his behavior with coaches and the front office. He likes something til all of a sudden he wants something different.

 

[Soda]

Eh.. We might find out about NFL sales only a couple months before it happens, but this stuff is always discussed well in advance. Like years in advance. Billion dollar deals don't just appear out of thin air. Terms are hashed out well in advance.

This article was from October 21, 2013, right after Bud Adams' death. Haslam could've waited it out, or he could have jumped on the Browns when he had the chance. We saw the route taken..

It's also long been expected that the Adams' family had little interest in keeping the team, and they stand to make an insane amount of money by selling it. If that's what happens, my only fear is that we end up with a billionaire owner who sees this as a toy (ala Kahn) or thinks he's a football genius like Snyder or Jones.

For years the Haslam family were the unofficial pick to purchase the team when Bud passed. Most people don't realize that it was a group led by Jim Haslam who put together the presentation material for the expansion team (ended up going to Charlotte as the Panthers) opening, and it was that pitch that first caught Bud's interest. Even when the Haslams bought the Browns, a lot of people behind the scenes believed that they might jump franchises if/when the Titans went up for sale.

http://www.musiccitymiracles.com/20...itans-franchise-now-that-bud-adams-has-passed

 

[macbdog]

No no, it's not about helping Haslam "not invest his own money" for any other reason than to save Haslam/the NFL money. No reason other than that. There is likely some tax reason or some other perk that benefits Haslam by getting a loan through the League.

And after he bought the Browns, I doubt Haslam ever really imagined owning the Titans until once they became available. Look at his behavior with coaches and the front office. He likes something til all of a sudden he wants something different.

Seeing as the league is a non profit, and the revenue they generate goes back to the owners, Haslam is in effect paying interest to himself- if there is any at all. Much cheaper than going through an actual bank.

 

[I'mWithDan]

My only comment after seeing this story......there's no way on God's green earth we are this lucky. NONE.

We're more likely to go 16-0 next season than we are to lose a miserable owner on somewhat of a technicality.

 

[crabbyshark]

Seeing as the league is a non profit, and the revenue they generate goes back to the owners, Haslam is in effect paying interest to himself- if there is any at all. Much cheaper than going through an actual bank.

And much like small business owners can write off haircuts or new computers, that money is either coming from the government or being written off somehow. Their non profit status might make it even easier.

 

[Soda]

The idea of writing off $62.5 million is far-fetched, to say the least.

http://newballpark.org/2013/10/17/the-limits-of-the-nfls-g-4-stadium-loan-program/

This is as "team friendly" as it gets. Pretty solid deal, but remember the NFL instituted it on their own for their own..

• As under G-3, teams can repay the loan with club seat money they normally would have had to share with the league. They can now also use incremental regular ticket revenue, defined as the difference between ticket sales in the new stadium and average sales in the last three years of the old one.

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/2011/12/4761_nfl_establishes.html

 

[jlegg21]

I hate to bump this thread again because I'm trying to give this new regime some time to prove themselves and stay positive, but I'm starting to wonder if it will even matter with this ownership group.

I really am afraid that as long as Jimmy Haslam owns the Browns they'll be hopeless, and the worst thing that could have happened to the Browns was him somehow staying OUT of prison. In fact, I'm openly rooting for it to happen.

I think it's been clear from the beginning, if Hue Jackson and co succeed, it will be in spite of Jimmy Truckstop.

 

[godfather]

I hate to bump this thread again because I'm trying to give this new regime some time to prove themselves and stay positive, but I'm starting to wonder if it will even matter with this ownership group.

I really am afraid that as long as Jimmy Haslam owns the Browns they'll be hopeless, and the worst thing that could have happened to the Browns was him somehow staying OUT of prison. In fact, I'm openly rooting for it to happen.

I think it's been clear from the beginning, if Hue Jackson and co succeed, it will be in spite of Jimmy Truckstop.

I'd love to say you're wrong but I can't. He is a terrible owner that likes to meddle and muck things up.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I hate to bump this thread again because I'm trying to give this new regime some time to prove themselves and stay positive, but I'm starting to wonder if it will even matter with this ownership group.

I really am afraid that as long as Jimmy Haslam owns the Browns they'll be hopeless, and the worst thing that could have happened to the Browns was him somehow staying OUT of prison. In fact, I'm openly rooting for it to happen.

I think it's been clear from the beginning, if Hue Jackson and co succeed, it will be in spite of Jimmy Truckstop.

I believe the rumor of a "franchise swap" had no basis whatsoever. Fans feel a little powerless with ownership of a franchise. You can call into a radio show and demand a GM fired. You can call into a radio show and demand a quarterback is waived. The owner? That position isn't a "job," it cost a wealthy family hundreds of millions of dollars. It's a status symbol.

Haslam seemed to come in from the Pittsburgh ownership group - where the Rooneys always had a lot of say in operations- and thought he gets to do the same. I think he has already learned what a monumental mistake that was. He has withdrawn from the limelight since then.

I think the Haslams are trying to do it the right way now, but have learned how hard it is to turn around a franchise after everyone finds out how naive you were at the beginning. Now they can't get experienced GMs. Now they can't get free agents. They need to turn it around, and its hard as hell.

 

[jlegg21]

Agree with both of you. I'm sure a swap was never legit, but can he just go to prison and his wife sell his NFL version of a yacht? I'm not asking for much here...

 

[MoFlo]

By all accounts, Dee has started to have more of a role in the organization, and hopefully that will continue.