It is always baseball business season.
As the 30 Major League Baseball teams prepare for the abbreviated 60-game season which starts later this week, there are people who are interested in either owning a baseball team or trying to get an expansion franchise. The New York Mets ownership group is reviewing bids from groups interested in buying the team. The bidders include the group that owns the National Basketball Association’s Philadelphia 76ers and the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils, led by Josh Harris and David Blitzer. Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are looking to buy the franchise and have put together a group to purchase the team from Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. Steven Cohen also wants the team. A potential sale of the team by the Wilpon family to the Mets minority stake holder Cohen fell through earlier this year.
Meanwhile, despite the pandemic John Loar continues to press ahead in his trek to get a Major League Baseball team for Nashville. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has at various times discussed that MLB could expand. That was prior to the COVID-19 epidemic. Loar has picked out a name for his team, the Nashville Stars and has filed a federal trademark application for a logo which would feature a big red star in the middle and would be flanked by two smaller stars. The logo looks like the Negro Leagues Nashville Stars logo of the 1940s and 1950s. A logo is important, that is what all sports teams sell as players, managers and coaches come and go. Loar is still doing his due diligence of the Nashville market to see if Nashville could support a Major League Baseball team. Loar will need government help to build a stadium, a large cable TV deal and corporate support. Loar has put together a managerial team despite not having a franchise.
