CBS: Can Buy Sports?

What do your favorite show and your favorite sports team have in common? They could be owned by the same company. For years, media companies purchased sports teams to save money on broadcasting rights.

Today is just one of those days. In 1964, CBS purchased the New York Yankees for $11.2 Million.

This trend is not uncommon. Today many sport teams are owned by large corporations, broadcast or otherwise.

Here's a current look at who owns who

• Atlanta Braves. The Braves are currently owned by Liberty Media. Prior to this sale in 2007 they were owned by Time Warner, and before that from 1976-1996 they were owned by Ted Turner (CNN, TBS)
• Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox are currently owned by a company known as Fenway Sports Group. It is made up of investors such as John Henry, Tom Werner and The New York Times. 
• The Chicago cubs are  now back in private control, but from 1981-2009 they were owned by the Tribune company (known for owning several newspapers)
• The Los Angeles Angels are also back in private control, but they were owned by Disney from 1996-2003. 
• The 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers are owned by Comcast.
• The Texas Rangers weren't owned by a media company or even any kind of corporation, but fun fact, they were owned in part by George W. Bush from 1989-1998.

And with a list this extensive, it may be surprising to hear that some media companies are shying away from purchasing teams. In an interview with Forbes's Mike Ozanian in 2011, JP Morgan top sports banker Scott Milleisen broke down the reason behind it into four simple words. Companies can't manage teams. Many of these big media corporations found out the hard way they knew nothing about managing a sports team. When their teams started to do poorly, they all of a sudden had to answer tough questions from their shareholders.

This creates a conundrum in my mind. Is it better to have a team owned by someone local who has an allegiance to the team and to its fans? Or, do you allow a large, faceless corporation buy the team and benefit from the corporation's vast resources and capital? I say, why can't we have our cake and eat it too? Why not let a big company with a lot of resources buy the company and then just employ someone local to actually manage it and run it. The company could write the checks. It would be a win-win. The company gets the broadcasting rights it desires and the team is successful.

What do you think? Should companies be allowed to purchase sports teams? How do you feel about companies owning too much? Does the corporate world have too much control over our sports?  Let's keep this discussion going in the comments!

Sources:
Forbes: Media Companies No Longer Want to Own Sports Teams http://goo.gl/XNTeU
Wikipedia: List of Professional sports team owners http://goo.gl/n1icQ