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As Chris mentioned this morning, Derek Jeter has lofty aspirations for his career once he is done playing:
The New York Yankees captain told The Associated Press that once his career is over, he envisions himself pursuing ownership of a professional sports franchise—like Michael Jordan.
Jeter, one of several athletes who endorses the Jordan Brand, was in Tampa Thursday at an event celebrating the launch of his ninth signature shoe, the Jordan Jeter Throwback.
Jordan recently purchased majority ownership of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats. Jeter stressed he has no interest in owning a small, non-controlling share of a baseball team.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “The only interest I have in ownership is to be able to call the shots. I’ve said that time and time again.”
While this sounds like a perfectly good plan, I see a few issues with it. Firstly, Jordan likely has more money than Derek does, and he needed to scrounge together enough cash to buy the Charlotte Bobcats. Unless Derek wants to buy a small market team and run them like a small market club, he may have a hard time getting sole control of a team. Now, he could join an ownership group, but that might erode his decision making power and does not seem like something that he is amenable to.
Additionally, I am not exactly sure if Derek is qualified to be in a decision-making position. Having great physical skills does not automatically mean that you have the wherewithal to properly construct a team or choose lieutenants to do it for you. In fact, we have seen many great athletes fail miserably once placed in such leadership positions. While he has not said anything over the years to suggest that he does not know how to build a team, he has not given any indication that he is in fact qualified either. He speaks in platitudes and cliches, so we have no real idea as to whether he understands the broader issues at play when constructing a front office and roster.
Quite frankly, I would prefer that my team have an ownership group much like the current Steinbrenner regime: plenty of money, hires a competent GM, and then allows the baseball people the latitude to make their own decisions within the constraints of the budget. Jeter is unlikely to have enough money to support a large payroll, and seems to want to be more of an involved owner. I am not sure that is a recipe for success.
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6 Responses to Derek Wants To Be An Owner
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TIQ IQ
Kind of harsh to make such a strong assessment of his possible ownership capability based on what he says to the media as a player. Two very different roles. The fact is, you don’t know whether Derek would be a good owner or not. The “failed” leadership positions athletes have that you mention are also front office jobs (does Nolan Ryan suck?), not as the actual owner. Big difference. Between his acumen for signing with tons of companies as their main pitch man, it shows he knows a little something about the dollars and cents.
Owning a baseball team isn’t only about baseball decisions, it encompasses the entire business model of the organization. Advertising, television contracts, ticket sales and the product on the field among many other things all fall under that umbrella. You can’t possibly know how he’d handle being frontman of all that. That would also depend on who would be around him.
As per your “involved owner” isn’t a recipe for success, Mark Cuban says hello.
We have absolutely no indication that Jeter can do any of the things you listed.
That’s my point. You don’t know either way. So, don’t assume.
Maybe DJ wants to own a Canadian hockey team. It probably doesn’t take too much money to run a professional hockey team these days. DJ could field minimum wage earning 19, 20 year old Canadians and Swedes and still draw a sizable crowd.
Seriously though, Michael Jordan is several hundred million dollars richer than Dj, and the Air Jordan franchise is a guaranteed stream of money that Jordan can blow in casinos and the Bobcats.
He seems like a pretty smart guy to me. He picks apt platitudes, like “pitching, pitching, pitching.” As pissed off at the media as he is, he’d have to enlist good interference. And as complex as the ML teams’ businesses are, he should hire good marketing people. But on the baseball side, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had many good ideas, off what he has seen.
But the Cubs were begging for an owner, and the Dodgers seemed so, too. The economy probably has to find firmer footing, so some new millions can be minted, but let’s hope.
What bothers me is what that desire does to his bargaining mood come yearend.
Owning a club is a business, and Jeter has zero experience in business, so I am skeptical that he can make this work. The Magic Johnsons of the world, who can successfully make the transition from being an athlete to being a businessman, are a rare breed.