Filed under: Celebrity News
Depending on whose financial figures you believe, owning a professional sports franchise can either mean membership in the ultimate insider's club, or a self-important exercise in Blowin' Money Fast. There are only 122 teams across the 4 major professional sports in the United States, and only one of them has a black owner. Michael Jordan took ownership of the Charlotte Bobcats over the summer, purchasing the team from BET founder Bob Johnson after the team had practically bled money for years. Sure, there are lots of franchises that operate efficiently and make money, but ultimately buying a team is more of an ego booster than a financial investment. In the 2008-2009 season, 12 NBA teams posted an operating loss, and I'm willing to bet the numbers for the most recent season were just as bad. The NFL doesn't make financials public, but it's common knowledge that teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars are in serious fiscal trouble.
So given how unwise an investment pro sports franchises are, just who would be silly enough to want to throw away good money in this economy? Rappers, of course:
Jay-Z may have "made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can," but that doesn't mean he could ever own the team. Still, the hip-hop giant with a stake in the New Jersey Nets has surely inspired a group of mic-masters for whom purchasing a sports franchise is high on their list of things to buy.
Last month Snoop Dogg proposed to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg via Twitter that they should tag-team on an acquisition.
Following Jay-Z's lead, other members of rap royalty's inner circle have lately been eying pro team plays. Earlier this year Diddy seriously considered making a bid on the south London football (read: soccer) club, Crystal Palace. Ultimately he passed on pursuing the squad but his interest in team ownership remains strong.
"I'm always looking into different business ventures and it's definitely one of my dreams one day to be a part of a sports franchise," Diddy told an English newspaper. "Especially a football team."
He's not alone. Miami hip-hop macher Birdman (nee Brian Williams) dreams of joining pop singer Fergie and Venus and Serena Williams as a Dolphins shareholder. He's discussing doing just that with the team's majority owner, real estate industry billionaire Steve Ross.
"It's in the works," Birdman recently told a local radio station. "You have to get a clearance from the NFL. We're waiting on the clearance. Once we get cleared, we're good."
Related:
+What The Heck Happened to Chris Tucker?
+Should Spike Lee Be Selling Vodka? Some Teens Bash Him for It
In all fairness, most of the rappers mentioned in the above story are only pursuing minority shareholder stakes, not majority ownership, but you still wonder -- why bother? The deals Nelly (with the Bobcats), Usher (with the Cavaliers) and others have made are really little more than glorified celebrity endorsements. The team gets the cache of having a (somewhat) famous person available for photo-ops and corporate schmoozing. Though they have practically no decision-making power, the celebrity gets to claim they "own" a team, although they probably "own" about as much of said team as I own of AOL.
Depending on what source you read, Jay-Z (the guy who started this whole trend) only owns about 1.5% of the aforementioned New Jersey Nets. After buying his share of the team in 2005, you wonder if even that was a wise investment. The team was purchased for $300 million in 2004, and was recently sold at a loss to Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov for a mere $260M. I didn't major in math at my HBCU, but I think you'd call that a declining investment. Sure, losing a few million in value probably isn't that big a deal to Jay-Z, but it's hardly a wise move either.
Stick to rappin', fellas.
Jay Anderson is a freelance writer from Washington, DC, whose work has been featured in the Washington Post and on NPR. When he's not busy talking smack here, he runs the award-winning blog AverageBro.com. Follow him via Twitter @AverageBro.