From Broadway to Baseball (Possible interest to buy the Reds)

[missionhockey21]

Bankrolling Fields of Dreams
By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: July 9, 2005

Is there anything more American than baseball and Broadway?

Well, yes, probably money, which is more often than not the connective tissue between the first two. Indeed, ever since the Broadway producer and myopic Boston Red Sox owner Harry H. Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919, fans of both the theater and the national pastime have regularly made the men paying the bills into backstage villains. And not, of course, without good cause; after selling Ruth to the Yankees, the Red Sox did not win another World Series until last year - the legendary "Curse of the Bambino" - during which time the Yankees won 26 championships and New York City established a permanent superiority complex over Boston.

There were ever-so-slight echoes of that old-time wheeling and dealing, when The New York Post reported that Rocco Landesman, the president of Jujamcyn Theaters, which owns five Broadway houses, was considering selling a multimillion-dollar partnership in Jujamcyn in order to pay for an investment in the Cincinnati Reds, the venerable, pitching-poor franchise currently residing in the basement of the National League Central division.

Mr. Landesman, a renowned horse player whose favorite team is actually the St. Louis Cardinals, the Reds' rival and defending National League champions, said on Wednesday that reports of his selling of a portion of Jujamcyn were premature and that he had made no such offer to any buyer. "I've had lots of inquiries, and I've had conversations with a lot of people," he said. "But I've had no negotiations."

But Mr. Landesman did confirm he would be soon traveling to Cincinnati to investigate the possibility of buying part of the team, and that if that happened, selling part of Jujamcyn - which he bought earlier this year for some $30 million - would be one way of raising funds.

He would hardly be the first producer to try to make the leap from the stage to the dugout, or vice versa. (One of Mr. Landesman's partners in his pursuit of the Reds is his old friend Rick Steiner, another Broadway producer and an avid professional poker player who lives in Cincinnati.)

The Nederlander Organization, which owns nine Broadway theaters, has long been a partner in the Yankees, and the Yankees' principal owner, George M. Steinbrenner, has six Broadway producing credits to his name, including "Applause," a 1970 musical which ran for more than two years but that predates his leadership of the team. His other credits, however, are less notable (kind of like this year's Yankees), including "Legs Diamond," the fabled Peter Allen bust from 1988.

Then, of course, there is Dodger Theatricals, the Broadway production company - "Into the Woods," "Urinetown," "Dracula, the Musical" - that has incorporated its love of the game into its very name. (Mr. Landesman, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a founder of the company.)

Creative types along Broadway, meanwhile, have also flirted with the summer game. Prominent writers like August Wilson ("Fences") and Richard Greenberg ("Take Me Out") have used baseball as a backdrop for their plays, keying into the natural drama of the sport, including its fleeting thrills, individual and team dynamics, and historical depth. "Damn Yankees," meanwhile, the 1955 musical classic, tapped into an even deeper pool of baseball psychology: hating the New York Yankees.

Paul Boocock, an actor and playwright whose current show, "Boocock's World of Baseball," unfolds on a set shaped like a baseball diamond, said the game fitted the classic dramatic structure almost perfectly, what with its early inning setup, its middle-inning intrigue and bottom-of-the-ninth denouement.

"Baseball is a natural form of theater," Mr. Boocock said. "Football is more of a blockbuster movie, with all action all the time. Basketball is more akin to music, with improvisation and styling. But baseball, no matter what you do to it, is going to play out at a certain pace."

And the similarities don't end there. What really is the difference between a critic and an umpire, after all? Neither actually plays the game but both consider themselves integral to its legitimacy. Critics and umpires refrain from cheering, but both get great (and free) seats. (Umpires don't sit, technically, but you get the idea.) And both critics and umpires are periodically wrong, though baseball managers and producers alike know its almost always useless to argue the call.

Businesswise, too, baseball and Broadway work on similar models, with a perishable inventory - seats - and a work force that gets paid whether or not the audience has a good time. And both are plagued by ever-rising costs, with your average musical going for more than $7 million, or about what it costs to get a decent outfielder these days.

Those costs were most certainly a factor even back in 1919 when Frazee made his fateful choice, supposedly, according to baseball lore, selling Ruth to raise funds for a musical called "No, No, Nanette" and sealing the fate for the Red Sox for decades to come. (For the record, the story is most likely apocryphal: "No, No, Nanette" made its debut six years after Ruth left Boston and lasted a decent 321 performances on Broadway.)

And of course professionals involved in both pastimes are deeply superstitious. Some baseball players won't shave during a hitting streak; actors frown on whistling backstage or mentioning the title character of Shakespeare's "Macbeth." And Mr. Landesman, for one, was loath last week to let it appear as if any deal were in the offing, perhaps worried about conjuring another type of curse on his friend Mr. Steiner's beloved Ohio team - or his hometown operation.

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[BigRedMachine]

If it would allow the organization to raise the present salary "cap" for the team then I am all for it.

[missionhockey21]

Same here man. It would be good to get some new life into the ownership group and somebody who could be excited about baseball more so than making money. I don't know if that is the case with this man but if it is, I am all for it.

[missionhockey21]

Group interested in buying Reds
Two Walnut Hills grads among those seeking deal

By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

PHOENIX - A close-knit group of friends with the necessary deep pockets are making a bid to buy the Cincinnati Reds.

Rick Steiner, a Broadway producer who grew up and still lives in North Avondale, said Saturday night that he is part of a group that has been approved by Major League Baseball to make a bid for the majority stake in the club.

Other members of the group include Rocco Landesman, president of Jujamcyn Theaters; Dan Staton, a venture capitalist investor and former head of Duke Realty; and entrepreneur John Osher.

Three of the Reds' limited partners - Louise Nippert, a division of Gannett Co., and George Strike - put 51.5 percent of the club up for sale in March.

Steiner's group is interested in those shares - and possibly more. Steiner said the group began preparing for their bid in March.

"That's what's for sale," he said. "But I suspect everything is on the table."

Carl Lindner, the Reds' chief executive officer, controls about 37 percent of the club, along with his family and Great American Insurance Co. The limited partnership agreement is written in such a way that the 85-year-old Lindner controls the club for life.

Steiner said his group has not met with Lindner.

"We all revere Carl Lindner," Steiner said. "He's one of our idols. He's always done what's best for the city. We will not do this without his blessing."

Reds chief operating officer John Allen declined to comment Saturday through a club spokesman.

Major League Baseball did not return a phone call Saturday night.

Bill Reik, a limited partner who owns about 11 percent of the Reds, said Saturday that he hasn't heard anything new on the sale of the team.

Both Reik and Lindner have the right to match any offer for the shares of Nippert, Gannett and Strike.

A 51.5 percent stake in the Reds is probably worth upwards of $100 million, possibly more. The Milwaukee Brewers sold in January for $223 million.

Why would Steiner and his friends want to buy a baseball team?

"We're huge fans," Steiner said from his summer home in Minnesota. "It's every boy's dream when he stops playing to own a team."

Why the Reds?

Steiner and Osher, both 58, grew up in North Avondale and graduated from Walnut Hills High School.

Osher has the kind of deep pockets necessary to buy a ball club. In 2001, he sold SpinBrush toothbrush to Procter & Gamble for a reported $475 million. Staton and Landesman are St. Louis natives.

Steiner met Landesman in Minnesota when they were teenagers. They were roommates at the University of Wisconsin.

Landesman is the president of the Jujamcyn Theaters. He bought Jujamcyn Theaters, which owns five Broadway houses, last year for $30 million.

Steiner has a small stake in Jujamcyn Theaters. Among the friends' Tony Award-winning efforts: "Big River," "The Producers" and "Hairspray."

The next step is for Landesman to come to Cincinnati and further things along.

"That will happen sooner than later," Steiner said.

Landesman did not return phone calls Saturday, but told the New York Times recently that he would soon be traveling to Cincinnati.

When reached at his Florida home, Staton said he had no comment.

Steiner thinks his group would be ideal for the Reds.

"We'd be very innovative and enthusiastic," he said.

Steiner is hopeful that the bid will succeed.

"We're just starting the process," he said. "If this works out and the decision is made that we're the right entity, we'll make the city proud. If not, that's fine, we want what is best for the team and the city. I'll still be there the first Monday in April cheering."

MAKING THEIR PITCH

A look at four members of a group interested in buying the Reds.

Rocco Landesman: President of Jujamcyn Theaters, which owns five Broadway houses.

Dan Staton: Former head of Duke Realty, venture capitalist investor.

John Osher: Entrepreneur.

Rick Steiner: Broadway producer who lives in North Avondale.

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[Geki Ace]

I don't know that I like the sound of Landesman, but he'd be balanced out by the others. We need someone who wants the team because he wants a winner, not because he wants to make money.

[redsrbetter]

I used to say anyone but Lindner. But, I really don't want to get the same typw of business natured owner that we have now. So, we have to go BETTER than Lindner. Not sure if these guys could amount to that, but hopefully they would.