So you want to own a professional sports franchise. are you sure about that?

What is the number one reason people buy professional sports franchises? The simple answer seems to be money. Buying a major league team means you’re crazy rich, and you’ll be crazy rich when you decide to sell it.

According to Forbes, Rams’ fortune is $6.2 billion, double what it was just five years ago. The magazine reports that the 50 most valuable sports franchises in the world are worth 30% more than they did last year.

So money, right? Do people buy teams to make more cash?

No. Ego is the reason so many wealthy people aspire to own a major sports franchise. Buying a team is officially a big deal. You are in an exclusive club. You are every fantasy team fulfilling his owner’s dream. Previously owner of a multi-billion widget company. Now even people who don’t know your gluttonous widget can recognize you in public.

Ironically, however, from the moment someone sat in the owner’s chair for the first time, their egos have come under attack from fans and the media. Who do you think owns our team? By the age of two or three, that ego should be completely wrecked, but thanks to an immediately noticeable phenomenon, it’s only been damaged.

Put aside the huge amount of money that comes with owning a team. (We get it: it’s hard.) Wouldn’t he own five major franchises in Chicago—few people in the city get ridiculed as regularly as they do? That ridicule is the sport itself on a par with the game on the field.

If I had to describe being an owner in one word, it would probably be “boo”.

Fans booed chairman Tom Ricketts at a Cubs convention four years ago. But two years later, fans at the convention told him they weren’t happy with the fees attached to the franchise’s new television network.

Rickets and other members of his family are set to take questions from fans on Saturday at this year’s convention, and if history is any guide, more blood will be spilled. means that the ownership has had two seasons of fanatical losses to its fan base.

How does someone with rickets cope in the face of such abuse?

Quite unconscious, I think. He looked genuinely confused by the boos at his convention four years ago. Marquee seemed like he had no idea someone would be offended by such a grand idea as the sports network. It’s clear in his mind, and in the minds of other people who own professional teams, that they charge fans for the privilege of watching the game at home. am. that’s what you do.

Ultimately, that oblivion becomes your protector and constant companion.

Why did White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf start thinking that hiring 76-year-old Tony La Lussa as manager two years ago was a good idea? He has withdrawn into himself. It’s hard to get in touch with someone wearing earplugs at an executive candidate meeting. Leinsdorf rarely gives media interviews. That hasn’t stopped the howls from paying customers.

If things go on like this, Ricketts will build a similar bunker.

Bears chairman George McCuskey is an accidental owner, like everyone in his family. His mother, Virginia, is the daughter of team founder George Halas. However, football genes weren’t passed on and the franchise didn’t do much to win the game. That doesn’t sit well with the fans who routinely rip him off on radio talk shows.To his credit, McCaskey walks the Soldier’s field parking lot before the game and talks to the tailgator. I would describe his ability to walk away from those encounters unscathed, either to his fan politeness in front of celebrities, or his amazing talent for regenerating amputated limbs.

Blackhawks owner Rocky Wertz became a hero when it was revealed that he was not his father Bill. The Hawks won his three Stanley Cups under Rocky’s Wirts, but when it was revealed that his organization tried to cover up accusations of sexual assault against team employees by players. , much of the goodwill he had built up was lost.

All of these people have their money through their own hard work and talents, but most have their money through the hard work and talents of their successful parents. They came to professional sports looking for something other than more wealth: ego-stroke. They then shut down.

Team owners rarely step onto the field, court, or ice to hand out awards or speak to the crowd. Politicians will get a better response. The same is true for tax audit announcements.

So you want to own a professional sports franchise.

are you sure about that?