http://www.profootballtalk.com/category/rumor-mill/ Independently I have heard that Ross may have been one of the victims of Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme.They were good friends and golfing buddies in Palm Beach. In addition the NFL may take another look at Mr Ross financial footing I cant say that I would be disappointed if it turns out that way
While it seems like good news, I think Mr. Huizenga will simply sell to someone else if need be. I am pretty confident that Ross was going to be an extension of Huizenga in that he would be somewhat hands off. If Wayne has to go elsewhere, who knows who a new potential owner might be located or what they have in store for this franchise.
He should sell the franchise to me for a dollar. I will treat the team right. No one will even know I own it I swear
I just have a bad feeling about Ross. I've heard he has always been a big Dolphins fan, which is great. But with all the talk about him bringing in Peterson and his love for the spotlight...I just don't know about him. He could turn our team into a circus like Dallas is. He is the exact opposite of Wayne, and what we need is a guy who is just like Wayne, or Wayne himself.
That Ross is one ugly dude too. Not sure I'd want his money if I had to take his face too. Of course one could always afford plastic surgery being that rich. Or just say ef it and buy all the friends one could want.
I dont know why Wayne would sell, yeah the taxes would be significant, but the pro bowl AND the superbowl will both be played in Miami in 2010... The revenues from that would be huge for dolphin stadium... Im sure Wayne knows better (at least I hope he does), but it seems to me, the revenues from those two games alone, would far overweigh the year end tax liability
I think there are problems as well in the funding of the completion of the sale to Mr Ross. If the sale does not go through who knows what the franchise could be in store for. I would imagine that things will stay in place as they are through next season.
Come on Wayne, just keep your half for now, kick down the extra %20 for Obama, and put a dent in the latest, trillion and a quarter dollar deficit!
No, it is NOT good news, because you know what happens when a team owner is in the process of trying to sell it? They don't spend money on free agents.
Does unspent salary cap go in the owner's pocket. It would remain as an asset of the corporation wouldn't it?
I would not worry that no sale by Wayne to Ross will affect us in free agency. Wayne already met with Parcells, who explained what we needed to do to improve the team and Wayne gave his approval for him to go ahead on it.
Free Agent money is just a drop in the bucket considering the overall picture.Wayne is not going to get in the way of improvement of the team IMO.It makes the team more valuable l
While I am still kind of upset at Wayne for dismantling the Florida Marlins (didn't he do it twice?). I do have to give him his props for being a great NFL owner. He has provided the money and has done a great job in trying to do whats best for the Miami Dolphins. Like many people the Ross guy just gives me a weird feeling. The fact that he was being seen with Carl Peterson before and during the Playoff game really upsets me, regardless of if he is going to help the Business or Operations side of our team next year. He had nothing to do with our team this year at all and should not have been allowed to do that. Ross should have known better as well. In this bad economy Wayne might have hard time selling the team, so hopefully Ross can't get the funding and Wayne "gets stuck with the team" for a few more years, until someone on here wins a HUGE Powerball and can purchase the team!!
Somehow the link took me to this stoned loser. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCZvQEKQ9y8"]YouTube - Dan's Detroit Lions Tattoo[/ame]
Dude, like many people, you don't realize that Wayne hasn't owned the Marlins since 1998. Yes he dismantled them once, but he did that and then sold them the next year. What's so ironic in the Marlins story is the man that bought them from Wayne, was none other than John Henry, the present owner of the Boston Red Sox. The very man that promised to build a Marlins stadium, and then renegged on it, and said he didn't have the money to build the stadium. Yet the very next year he sells the Marlins to Jeffrey Loria (2002) and buys the Boston Red Sox, and Fenway Park for more than 3 times (YES THREE TIMES ) what it would have cost to build the Marlins a stadium. Liar Liar pants on fire. John Henry is not exactly a Marlins Fan favorite. The present owner Jeffrey Loria is the architect of the latest "firesale" if thats what you wish to call it. The Marlins call it, "a market correction"....whatever I do have to give them this, they had an 84-77 record last year, and have had winning seasons 2 of the last 3 years. That's better than most teams in baseball.
The man purchased a world series title losing a fortune in the process. He did so on the basis that if he provided a winner, fans would come to see the team. Fans did not come to see the team. He refused to lose any more of his fortune. Why is that so hard to comprehend?
Again another misinformed poster. Zod, during the year he won his 1997 World Series, he held a little press conference in June, that he was pleding for a new stadium (at 100 % tax payer expense). He said at that press conference, that even if the Marlins has sold EVERY SINGLE TICKET that year, they still would not have made a profit. The problem ran much deeper with Wayne than that. I know that most here have unflinching love for Wayne, and praise him like he is a Demi-God, but truth be told, he is not as nice a guy as is seen in public all the time. You don't get to be a billionaire several times over from being a nice guy all the time, or for that matter being exactly honest all the time. When the Marlins came into existance in 1991 when Wayne obtained the franchise from MLB he went to work immediately on getting Dolphin Stadium fixed so that it could house MLB. He used $ 30 million of that state tax break on and has reserved that other $ 30 million to help take baseball out when the Marlins leave. In 1992 the Marlins organization had nothing but minor league teams playing (by the way some trivia.....future NFL HoF DB John Lynch actually threw the 1st pitch by a Marlins orgainization pitcher as a member of the Jamestown Marlins minor league team). Then the Marlins started on the MLB level in April of 1993 (a day I will never forget). But as we all know in 1994 there was a player strike, that even killed a World Series. It was the final compromise that the owners and players signed that Wayne Huizenga resented and publically stated that it would "ruin MLB as we know it". He and Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago White Sox are the only two owners that refused to sign the deal. It was at this time Wayne vowed to do what it took in the next couple of years to win a WS and then sell the team, as he thought there was no future to the sport because of, in his eyes, the onerous financial terms of the 1995 MLB contract with the players. So he ordered Dave Dombrowski to start building a winner. It happened that in 1997 it all came together with enough veterans and young players mixing to win the World Series. I still blame Wayne that the Marlins do not have their own stadium. Only a couple of the new Retro baseball stadiums have had 100% public funding and several, like AT & T Park in San Francisco and Busch Stadium in St Louis, are more than 90% privately financed. At the same time he was seeking monies from Broward County for a Marlins stadium he was also seeking money for a new home for the Florida Panthers. Because of Wayne's ego and the owner of the Miami Heat, Mickey Arison's ego, they couldn't cooperate together to get one stadium built so both Miami-Dade County and Broward Country shelled out $ 300 million a piece to build gold plated fifedoms for the Heat and the Panthers, leaving the public coffers empty for the Marlins. If Wayne could have just checked his ego or Mickey Arison, only one facility would have been built, and the other county would have had at least 75-80% of the money for a new Marlins Park. Such selfish billionaires.....both could have easily paid their own money to build a place, yet took handouts from the government to build their palaces. And it left the Marlins out in the cold. Yet despite that the Marlins have gone on to win another World Series, and have a new ballpark about to get its final approval in about 10 more days from the County Commision in Miami-Dade County. If anyone sees Wayne at the 1st game there, beat him up for me please As for the attendance problem. It was not really a problem until the last few years. As a matter of fact the Marlins as late as 2003 averaged 22,000+ a game, which is middle of the pack. But the problem is that Dolphin Stadium is not a great baseball park, to put it mildly. It also is incredibly difficult to get to if you work in downtown Miami or downtown Ft Lauderdale for a weeknight 7pm start. I live in central Miami-Dade County, near Coral Way and the Palmetto (for those familiar with Miami) I live about 25 miles from Dolphin Stadium, and with normal rush-hour traffic it takes nearly 2 hours to get to the stadium from my home. If I am working, say even in Coral Gables, and leave work at 5pm I would be hard pressed to be in my seat for the opening pitch. Not to say that the South Florida Summer weather can be rainy. There is always a more than 50% chance of rain during a Marlins game (or so it seems). Its usually raining about 5pm and its rather discouraging to people thinking of going to a game during a workweek, and not knowing if you go to the game, and there will be a rain-delay, or maybe even a cancellation. This all surpresses attendance. So guess what.....most people stay at home and watch the games. The Marlins last year had the 13th metered TV ratings in MLB according to Neilson. That was better than the Atlanta Braves, better than the Arizona Diamondbacks and yes, even better than the NY Mets. The radio ratings for the Marlins are similar and show that there is a fan base, just not one willing to make the effort to go to games at a stadium that is uncomfortable to watch a game, if there is a game because of a possible cancellation; or one with an extended rain delay ; and one that is just horrible to get to because its so far away from the general population center. So Zod, there are a NUMBER of factors that go into the Marlins equation, and to pin it down to "no one came to see them" is quite trite and untrue. The Marlins in 1997 by the way had the 6th largest payroll and the 8th highest attendance that year. Remember baseball was still new in Miami.....the stadium, the firesales, the broken promises from owners, and MLB (remember Selig took away the 2000 All-Star Game because of Wayne's firesale). All of these things have cause a lot of casual Marlins fans to stay away from Dolphin Stadium in droves.
Oh the honesty issue....I forgot to address that...... Wayne created a "Stadium Corporation" in 1997 in which he used to sign TV and Radio deals for the Marlins. The revenue which should have gone to the Marlins from TV and radio rights, as well as concessions money, parking money all went to the "Stadium Corporation" and not into the Florida Marlins. The only revenue enjoyed by the Marlins was ticket sales and some other considerations. So when he said, "even if we sell every one of the tickets the Marlins won't turn a profit" it was a lie and he was not being truly honest.
