Royals ownership...how'd it happen?

by Benny1982 on Nov 5, 2009 12:38 PM EST Comment 25 comments

As a Royals fan since only 2001, I didn’t know much about the ownership of the Royals. I knew Ewing died and then a while later Glass bought them. Reading Glass’s bio, I’ve learned some other interesting thing.

After Ewing died, the Royals were run by a board of directors who made all the financial decisions. In 2000 they attempted to get a new owner. It came down to Miles Prentice who bid $120 million and David Glass who bid $96 million. Seems like an easy call, except David Glass (and his 3 kids, though I don’t know if they were there then) was on the Board of directors who chose the winning bid. Despite the lower bid, Glass was awarded the team and the rest is history.

Here’s an interview with Miles Prentice back in 2000 when he thought he had the team won. (By Rany Jaz no less)

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=301

Seems like he would have been a slightly better owner than Glass. At least his head was in the right spot.

To be fair, he was a minor league owner who was going to buy them with the help of other investors. Apparently MLB had a problem with this. I’m not sure the details, but it sounds like he got screwed over.

I would love to hear what anyone who was around then remembers or feels about the whole thing. Or just links to more information about it. Sounds like we got screwed on the deal but this was only after 5 minutes of research.

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I won't comment on the screwing of Prentice, but will pass on this wise proverb:

“A camel is a horse designed by a committee”

An appropriate one when explaining how this franchise began its decent into oblivion.

Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!

by loyal2sdad on Nov 5, 2009 1:28 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

I thought Parks and Recreation taught us that

Camels are a good thing?

by raefzilla on Nov 15, 2009 11:54 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

When Brandanowitz said that, I wondered where I had heard that recently.

I don’t think I’d ever heard that before loyal2sdad’s post. And now twice in a week!

by AxDxMx on Nov 16, 2009 12:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

wow...

by royalsreview on Nov 5, 2009 2:38 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

ya like that one, huh?

Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!

by loyal2sdad on Nov 5, 2009 6:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

my understanding is that Glass was preferred by MLB/Selig because he was seen as more anti-player

owning a MLB team is a two step process

1) be rich as hell
2) vow to fight the players union

by royalsreview on Nov 5, 2009 2:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

You forgot

3) The other owners must like you personally.
4) Must not seem threatening to the other owners in any way.

Twitter: awolfson0

by awolfson on Nov 5, 2009 2:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Wait, how could a Wal-Mart executive not like his employees?

I've contracted a particularly virulent form of the R2D2 asshat virus. Please wash eyeballs & keyboard after contact.

by chiefstatnut on Nov 6, 2009 11:52 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs

oh...but Glass bucks the trend and LOVES to overpay players for doing shitty work

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Nov 6, 2009 12:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well put!

That got a chuckle out of me… touche!

I've contracted a particularly virulent form of the R2D2 asshat virus. Please wash eyeballs & keyboard after contact.

by chiefstatnut on Nov 11, 2009 6:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

the argument against prentice was always that he had no ties to the area

He was a laywer from NY i believe and could not make a promise to keep the Royals in KC. I’m sure there were other issues as mentioned above, but I remember he was not a popular choice among fans at the time

by ZeppelinDZ on Nov 5, 2009 2:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I think there was suspicion that he would try to move the team

There was a lot of talk about contraction and switching leagues back then IIRC.

by AxDxMx on Nov 5, 2009 3:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Agree.

He was not very wealthy personally, and the worry of many was that if he encountered any financial difficulties he might try to resolve them by moving the franchise. Glass isn’t the multi-billionaire many seem to think he is, but he was able to buy the team without going into debt as opposed to the massive ownership group Prentice had to put together.

by hunter s. royal on Nov 5, 2009 6:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That was my memory as well

There was no way MLB was going to approve Prentice buying the team due to his lack of personal capital.

If you look closely, it really says "CentralChamps2012."

by CentralChamps2009 on Nov 6, 2009 10:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Actually, Prentice was the fans' choice

Joe Posnanski believed Prentice could make KC a baseball town again.

by jbrocato on Nov 5, 2009 3:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

pos believes in a whole shit ton of nonsense though

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Nov 5, 2009 5:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

but that's not necessarily a bad thing...

"Flea Markets aren't just for blind dates anymore!"- The Reverend Billy Lard

by Gaijin_Suketto on Nov 10, 2009 2:32 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

No ties to the area!

Unlike David Glass, who is a CONSTANT presense at the K, and moved to the town liked he promised he would.

DOH!

Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!

by loyal2sdad on Nov 5, 2009 6:02 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs

How was this not a bigger deal?

So, doing a little more research last night, I found some more tid-bits. I guess before it came down to Glass or Miles Prentice, George Brett (and investors) and Lamar Hunt were in the running to buy the team.
How did either of those guys fail? Just think if GB was running the Royals. You think Dayton Moore is hard on the media, George would have been literally throwing guys out of the press box window.
Or what if Carl Peterson were running it? I think we really missed a golden opportunity. I’m not saying we would have been better, but that would have been fun.

by Benny1982 on Nov 6, 2009 9:29 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Prentice lied about his finances

He claimed to have money that wasn’t there, and after the vetting process found this out, his KC financial partners considered this to be serious enough to bail out on him. Prentice was a con man and would have been a disaster. He also, like Glass, was in love with Sporkquist-type players and had some pretty crazy notions about running the team (and wanted to be extremely hands-on).

In the end, Kauffman’s lieutenant Mike Hermann forced Glass into paying over $120 million instead of the $96 he wanted to pay, though he did get out of the clause that Kauffman designed to prevent the new owner from moving the team. Also worth remembering that the Royals’ long slide into the abyss began during those Kauffman Foundation seasons, when Glass was in charge of baseball decisions.

I don’t know but have always been suspicious that Glass steered the search committee away from the better potential buyers (Brett, Hunt, the rumored Gateway interest) and toward Prentice, who already had clouds of suspicion over him from past dealings, so that Glass himself could emerge with the team.

Baseball's that swingy stick game, right?

by royalsroyalsroyals on Nov 6, 2009 12:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Gateway?

I used to work with an old man that told me. Son, every workplace has a dumbass, if you don't have one where you work, then I'm afraid you're it.

by Warden11 on Nov 6, 2009 2:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The rumor was that Ted Waitt, founder of Gateway computers in Iowa, was interested in a bid or perhaps joining the Brett bid.

Baseball's that swingy stick game, right?

by royalsroyalsroyals on Nov 6, 2009 6:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

hell they went bankrupt without the Royals.

I used to work with an old man that told me. Son, every workplace has a dumbass, if you don't have one where you work, then I'm afraid you're it.

by Warden11 on Nov 6, 2009 7:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It was a big deal

At the time, there was a lot made as to whom the future owner would be.

A lot of folks inlcuding some mentioned above were rumored to get in the process of checking the team finances, but there were only a couple of real bids-Prentice and Glass. Glass only seemed to get involved because it became apparent that this Prentice group was not going to get approved.

At the time, it was still unclear what sort of revenue sharing there would be. So, I am not sure any of those rumored to be interested actually wanted to take the chance of running a small market team.

Glass, while not local, was viewed as at least sympathetic because he made a promise to a dying Ewing Kauffman not to move the team. All I remember about Prentice was that he would give speeches around KC and he always had a Royals hat on. He would not say anything specific about his plans.

by Tarnished Crown on Nov 6, 2009 2:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Man...

I wonder how different my life would be the Royals left a long time ago. Would I drive to StL? Would I have become a Jonah Keri type fan who just appreciates the game? I dunno, but perhaps my life would have been easier for the last however long, once I got over the initial pain.

This space for rent.

by averagegatsby on Nov 7, 2009 10:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs