Former Miami Marlins President Doesn't Believe A's John Fisher Will Get His Valuation

Jason Burke | Oct 26, 2024

Sep 1, 2024; Las Vegas Nevada, USA; The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

As we have been saying for quite awhile, there is no chance that A's owner John Fisher will secure an investment in the club at the valuation he is seeking, which is a 25% stake for $500 million dollars. That works out to a $2 billion franchise valuation that he's after, meanwhile the franchise is valued at $1.2 billion by Forbes.

Another voice that has been singing the same song for over a year now is the former president of the Miami Marlins, David Samson, on his podcast "Nothing Personal."

Samson starts off a recent segment talking about the A's by saying, "Who in their right mind would value the Oakland A's at $2 billion?"

He then did a deep dive into what is really going on from a financial perspective. "If you are shopping 25% of your team, and you put a value of your team at $2 billion, that's the enterprise value. You have to take the debt away from that number in order to calculate the amount of cash that a limited partner would have to give to own a certain percentage.

"For easy math purposes, if the A's, which they don't, had a billion dollars of debt, and a limited partner bought in at a $2 billion valuation--enterprise--you take a billion from the two. Which means the equity is a billion dollars, so 25% of that team is $250 million. That's the check you write to own 25%."

So in essence, to get $500 million, Fisher should be giving up a bigger chunk of the team. This is presumably why (other than general lack of interest in what he's selling) there have been no takers to become a partner with Fisher in owning the A's while not having any real power with how the franchise is run.

The only way that this would work for an investor is if they were the control partner, instead of just the check-writing partner that helps the A's owner finally realize his dream of getting ballpark built.

Steve Hill has said plenty of times that Fisher has the finances to get this done, but the reality is, Fisher has never been one to want to spend his own money. Part of the reason that the A's are trying to move to Las Vegas is because of an arbitrary deadline that would have cut the team off from revenue sharing. In other words, free money from the other owners that Fisher receives each season while being deemed a "small market" club in one of the biggest media markets in America.

It also couldn't have helped that the last game ever at the Oakland Coliseum was sold out with fans showing their love for this franchise, proving that there have been fans in a big market like the Bay Area this entire time. You think that an investor sees that and thinks that he failed his way out of a bigger market with more money, but now things will be different?

Plus he's looking to swindle the person or people that would help get him across the finish line by setting this $2 billion valuation. It's just not a good look for anyone involved, and at least one person thinks this could end fairly quickly for Fisher.

I bet Manfred can't wait until the World Series is over. Fisher is about to get the Alex Meruelo/ Marge Schott treatment. https://t.co/wS7R3adhOO

— J.C. Bradbury (@jc_bradbury) October 24, 2024