Controlling interest in the Bowie Baysox, Frederick Keys and Delmarva Shorebirds changed hands for the second time in four years yesterday when former radio executive David Pearlman bought a majority equity stake in the clubs from Philadelphia-based Comcast-Spectacor.
Pearlman, based in Lexington, Mass., formerly was senior vice president for Infinity Broadcasting and co-founded that company’s predecessor, American Radio Systems. Pearlman met yesterday with employees of all three clubs and pledged continuity for what are widely regarded as some of the best-run minor league teams in the country.
“This is a big-time play for us,” said Pearlman, who first approached Comcast-Spectactor last fall seeking to buy the teams. “Our group [Triple Play Partners] sees a huge opportunity in minor league baseball. We continue to have our eye on other franchises. We are absolutely passionate about baseball, and quite frankly, this reminds me a bit of radio back in the ’80s, where you had a lot of mom and pop stations being brought together by aggregators and moving to another level.”
Terms of the unexpected deal were not disclosed, and Comcast-Spectacor will retain a minority interest in the clubs. But the clubs’ owner before Comcast-Spectacor, minor league baseball magnate Peter Kirk and his Maryland Baseball investor group, was seeking $25million from a sale and is believed to have received around $20million from the subsidiary of cable giant Comcast in June 2000.
Since then, however, franchise values for minor league teams have risen sharply. Attendance has surged nationwide as the minors have acted as an effective refuge for many fans frustrated for fast-rising ticket prices at the major league level. Minor League Baseball, the umbrella organization for clubs affiliated with Major League Baseball, is expected to post an organization record of more than 40million in paid attendance this year.
Bowie, Frederick and Delmarva are no exception to that trend. Bowie ranked ninth among 30 Class AA teams last year in attendance. Among 60 Class A teams, Frederick ranked 10th in turnstile count and Delmarva 16th.
Class AA teams now routinely sell for $7.2million and up and Class A teams between $2.5million and $7million, according to Minor League Baseball.
Comcast-Spectacor, while not actively marketing the teams before Pearlman approached them, will use the funds to invest further in its facility management, ticketing and food service businesses.
“This is the best of both worlds for us,” said Frank Miceli, Comcast-Spectacor vice president of minor league operations. “We’ll be staying involved, but this allows us to redeploy the capital into some of our fastest-growing divisions.”
Pearlman’s purchase of three clubs is expected to close this fall. He also will meet soon with executives of the Baltimore Orioles, parent club of all three minor league teams. When that session happens, Pearlman will find himself at odds with Orioles owner Peter Angelos on at least the issue of Washington-area baseball.
“I don’t think big league ball in the Washington area is a bad thing at all,” Pearlman said. “I’ve found that when there is more of a particular product in a given market, it often leads to an expansion of interest as opposed to a reduction. I think it would get more people thinking and talking about baseball, which can only help us.”
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