Sam Arkwright Diary
July 20th, 2022
The same questions kept rattling in my head while trying to sleep last night. The first question I just can't shake is
Are the A's really for sale? Everything I've heard and read is that John Fisher is looking for a new stadium in either Oakland or Las Vegas. The A's just cleared a couple of major hurdles, the first of which was a
successful vote to remove a port use designation from Howard Terminal. That means the shipping industry can't stand in the way of a new stadium and development being built on the Bay Area waterfront. The second hurdle was avoiding voters deciding if a new stadium is built.
The Oakland City Council voted 5-1 to not put it on the November ballot.
Which makes this all the more curious. Why on earth would Rob Manfred talk to me about possibly buying the A's and presumably moving the team to Las Vegas if the front office is making significant strides toward building a new park and keeping the team in Oakland? It just doesn't add up.
And why me of all people? Surely the other 29 MLB Owners would rather have someone else join their baseball fraternity. It's not like there's a shortage of billionaires in the Bay Area -- and Las Vegas, for that matter.
Bay Area:
Larry Ellison
Co-founder of Oracle
$89 billion net worth
He's got money to burn, and I would think he's looking for a new challenge following news that
he's stepping down from the board of Tesla. Ellison has been linked to several sports teams -- the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and now the Portland Trailblazers -- and it sounds like he's interested in a turn-key operation. The A's are far from turn-key at this point. The team is going to need a new stadium, as well as a complete roster overhaul.
Sergey Brin
Google co-founder
$107 billion net worth
The world's seventh-richest person can clearly afford to buy a pro baseball team, regardless of the cost. He's a Bay Area guy to boot, having founded Google in Silicon Valley. One problem, though. And it's a big one.
He just filed for a dissolution of marriage from his wife. There's no way he's going to be able to spend a significant amount of money like this without approval from his soon-to-be ex-wife.
Las Vegas:
Miriam Adelson
Widow of Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson
$27 billion net worth
With her husband's passing, Miriam is now the richest woman in Nevada. I can't imagine she would be even remotely interested in buying a pro sports franchise. Like her late husband,
she fancies herself a kingmaker in the political world. Chances are she's going to be pretty focused on the 2024 election cycle, not running a baseball club.
Nancy Walton Laurie
Heir to Walmart
$7 billion net worth
Nancy and her husband, Bud Laurie, seem like the best fit here. The closest she's come to spending money in sports was donating $25 million for a new arena at the University of Missouri. That was in 2001 and didn't go so well. The arena was supposed to be named after her daughter, Paige Laurie, but Mizzou took the name off the building as soon as they found out she had cheated her way through college by
paying her roommate $20,000 to do her homework. But Bud is definitely a sports guy. He played college basketball at Memphis State, going all the way to the 1973 National Championship Game against John Wooden's UCLA Bruins, losing 87-66. He also owned the St. Louis Blues from 1999-2006, and even put together several unsuccessful attempts to buy the NBA's Denver Nuggets, Vancouver Grizzlies, and Charlotte Hornets.
Since selling the Blues in 2006, Nancy and Bud have stayed out of the sports scene for the last 15 years. The Lauries own a 350-acre horse farm in Columbia, Missouri, but also spend a lot of time as I understand it at their home in Henderson, Nevada. If I'm looking at anyone to buy a team and move it to Las Vegas, I'm looking at the Lauries.
Steve Wynn
Wynn Resorts co-founder
$3 billion net worth
I don't run in the casino circles. I pretty much abhor gambling altogether. But I know enough about Wynn to know he played a major role in bringing the Raiders to Las Vegas and building Allegiant Stadium. I also know he got out of the gaming industry following
serious allegations about his conduct with female employees. And now he's at the center of a DOJ civil suit for allegedly
lobbying the previous Presidential administration for China to protect his business interests overseas. Those are some serious red flags, no matter how many chips he's got on the poker table.
I suppose that really leaves one real candidate, other than me. To buy a team that's not for sale, by the way. That last part still bothers me. None of this means anything until Manfred calls me. I leave L.A. for home late tonight. Let's hope he calls.