Brother, Can You Spare 150 Billion Dimes?
Miami Dolphins Owner Admits Offers Are Out To Purchase Team
Stephen Ross is the owner of a hapless NFL franchise. No, I’m not talking about the Jets this time. I’m talkin’ about the crown jewel of South Florida sports, the Miami Dolphins. A team that went 7-10 this season. A team that just fired its coach last week. A team so devoid of cultural cache, it’s home venue is becoming more associated with Formula 1 (and the Miami Grand Prix) than the gridiron. And yet, Ross revealed something utterly mindboggling:
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross revealed he was offered a significant amount of money to sell the team but is planning on keeping it in the family.
During an interview on Wednesday, he said he was offered nearly $15 billion but turned it down and will instead have his son-in-law Daniel Sillman run the franchise. He then provided more clarification that his daughters will actually be the designated successors even though his son-in-law will “kind of” be in charge: - (h/t Bleacher Report)
15 BILLION DOLLARS?! For the Dolphins?? Here’s the clip:
So let me get this straight: You own a team that at one point in its history thought it was cool to have a logo that shows a dolphin actually wearing a helmet, you’ve been synonymous with futility, and despite this somebody offered you BILLIONS to take it off of your hands?
And to top it off, you’re like “nah, my son-in-law got this?”
The level of wealth I aspire to be someday pales in comparison to this man’s everyday rich-reality. For context:
The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, took 1.5 billion dollars to build. Walt Disney Studios bought Pixar for $7.4 billion. Amazon bought Whole Foods for over $13 billion. And some guy just had $15 billion for the MIAMI DOLPHINS and got turned away. If that were me, and I determined not good enough for the Dolphins, I’d burn something down!
But it did get me to think about it, though. Why are football teams so expensive? I know there are more soccer and cricket teams and fans in the world, but why aren’t people shelling out the GDP of The Bahamas to buy soccer teams, even post-Wrexham? YouTube University actually had the answer to this one:
Basically, because there are fewer games in a season in the NFL (scarcity), a franchise model, so there’s no threat of being relegated (stability), and the average NFL fan has more money to burn, football teams can command a pretty penny when they’re up for sale. But here’s the twist: According to Forbes, the Miami Dolphins are only worth about $7.5B so there was somebody out there willing to pay DOUBLE for…for…this!
Well, I guess kudos are for Ross to keep it in the family. For years to come, he’ll be subjected to fan support like this:
And it wouldn’t even cost 15 billies.