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Speaking of billionaires from Pittsburgh.................

Discussion in 'Steelers Talk' started by MojaveDesertPghFan, Mar 25, 2020.

  1. MojaveDesertPghFan

    MojaveDesertPghFan

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    Since this is an exceedingly boring sports month right now, just read an interesting article about the wealthiest NFL owners, and David Tepper, current owner of the Carolina Panthers since 2018 and former part owner (5%) of the Steelers up until the Panther acquisition is the #1 with a reported worth of $12.5 billion. Tepper has deep Pittsburgh roots having been born and raised in the Burgh and a grad of Peabody High, Pitt and Carnegie Mellon. He's donated a cool $125 million to Carnegie Mellon over the years and they're running out of space for all his nameplates on those new buildings.

    Below is a link to this article/list of the top 15 wealthiest NFL owners of which Tepper is #1. It describes how each made their billions. Tepper made his through hedge fund management. While I'm sure it was all on the up and up, all I can think about is Gordon Gekko (Wall Street: The Movie) who fictionally only had a net worth equivalent to Jerry Jones level at around $9 billion. Too bad that Tepper couldn't have been even more loyal to Pittsburgh and taken the Buccos out of Bob Nutjob's hands.

    https://www.businessinsider.com/the...wners-and-how-they-made-their-fortune-2019-11

    OK - back to your sequestration everyone.
     
  2. thorn058

    thorn058 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah too bad that Mario and his group weren't able to swing buying the team from nutjob and improve on some of those solid seasons a couple of years ago.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  3. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure it is really fair to question Tepper's loyalty to Pittsburgh. He wanted to own an NFL team and the Steelers weren't available. Neither were the Pirates. Nutting has said publicly that he has no interest in selling the team. He seems determined to hold on to his place as one of the worst owners in all of professional sports for a long time.
     
  4. MojaveDesertPghFan

    MojaveDesertPghFan

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    :facepalm: this meaning I agree with you and am disheartened to hear this.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  5. 86WardsWay

    86WardsWay Well-Known Member

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    I thought you were going to speak of Joe Hardy. 97 years young and still kicking it with unbelievably ultra young wife. For his 84th Birthday he had Robin Williams, Bette Midler, Christina Aguluira and Troy Polamalu enjoying the festivities with him.

    Wonder how he will celebrate #100?
     
    • Like Like x 1
  6. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    I think disdain for Nutting is one thing all Pittsburgh sports fans have in common.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  7. 86WardsWay

    86WardsWay Well-Known Member

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    Baseball needs a salary cap in the worst way and it should be comparable to the NFL's while also lowering the number of games played. Nutting knows he has a great facility but also realizes he can't compete with MLB and therefore he is just in it for selling tickets and concessions, sad as it may be.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  8. Vox Ferrum

    Vox Ferrum Well-Known Member

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    I can agree to the 'one of the worst', but he still has a ways to go to beat James Dolan. Owning a small market baseball team is tough...the DRays seem to at least have a decent plan to at least build from within, and their stadium simply sucks. Nutting just seems content collecting the extra income from other teams who are taxed by their huge payroll.

    Dolan though has no excuse. Huge market, owns the arena, has the potential to draw any FA if he was not such an A-hole..and subsequently bans any fan or ex player who challenges his ineptness.
     
  9. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    I'm sorry if this is going too far into a non-Steelers tangent, but what MLB needs is a salary floor, something else the NFL has in place. That would keep teams from tanking the way some do on occasion and the way the Pirates do pretty much every year.

    The thing is, small market teams can complete. The deck is stacked more against them than it is in the NFL, but they can win. The Kansas City Royals proved that in 2015.

    The thing the Royals did is when they were close, they spent a little more money. They added key veterans to put themselves over the top.That is what low-revenue franchises have to do win. That is what Nutting has proven he won't do.

    The Pirates had a run of three consecutive playoff teams from 2013 to 2015. During that run, instead of adding a key veteran or two, they kept cutting payroll. Even worse, they took advantage of the spike in attendance by raising ticket prices without a corresponding increase in the payroll. Predictably, the team went right back down into the depths.

    Honestly, I don't know how any fan can remain loyal to that franchise after what Nutting did. I haven't had a real rooting interest in the Pirates since the early '90s, but then the excuse was a better one. There was no revenue sharing. There was no luxury tax threshold. The deck was stacked even more heavily against franchises like the Pirates. Things have gotten better, but Nutting refuses to allow his franchise to take advantage. Pittsburgh is my hometown. I take pride in it for many reasons, including the fact that it has one of the best baseball parks in the country. I can't bring myself to root for the team any more, but the betrayal of my hometown by Nutting does bother me.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
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  10. MojaveDesertPghFan

    MojaveDesertPghFan

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    May have spoken too soon about Tepper's wealth - looks like the top 500 wealthiest people in the world have lost an average of 20% of their wealth with the recent economy nosedive. But assuming they stayed in, looks like the markets are steadily growing again so they're all probably still quite comfortable in their respective lifestyles - no bridge jumpers yet. Banks are going to have to absorb many loan defaults since loan calls and foreclosures are supposedly on hold for several months. Somebody's going to have to foot the bill for all these empty stadiums, ballparks, arenas, race tracks, ski resorts and golf courses.
     
  11. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Beer is good

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    Not this

    But this
     
  12. DukeDukeDaDaDa

    DukeDukeDaDaDa Well-Known Member

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    Wow there was a time when Dan Snyder would have been in the top 5 or number 1. Rooneys are paupers in comparison to this list.
     
  13. The Glory Days

    The Glory Days Well-Known Member

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    ...and the Chief wouldn't have it any other way. ;)
     
  14. DukeDukeDaDaDa

    DukeDukeDaDaDa Well-Known Member

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    What not having more money? I'm sure even back then the owners were trying to make as much money as they could.
     
  15. The Glory Days

    The Glory Days Well-Known Member

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    Not "having more money." The Chief wasn't about being the richest. He wasn't even about getting rich.
     
  16. steel machine

    steel machine Well-Known Member

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    As an avid BUC fan I hate him more then any other human on earth. He couldn't care less if the Pirates win. All about the $$$$ for him. We had a mild winter and I hope he took big losses on his ski resorts. (I think he still owns them?)
     
  17. santeesteel

    santeesteel

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    Let Spanos pay. He's used to an empty stadium!
     
  18. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    If he did, he would probably have the team trade it’s highest-paid player for a warm six pack to make up for it.
     
  19. Hanratty#5

    Hanratty#5 Well-Known Member

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    That's exactly right. There is no way that Nutting would say "Oh well I guess I just lost a lot of money, easy come, easy go". No he will leave no stone unturned before he recovers every last nickel he lost this winter.
    If he had to lay off the bat boy to save a dime, he would do it.
     
  20. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    By the way, that highest-paid player is Chris Archer at $9 million. I'm not sure they could get a warm six pack in that deal. They would probably have to eat part of the contract. The funny thing the contract was supposedly one reason for the deal because it was relatively cheap for a good pitcher. There are just a couple of problems with that. One is that Archer isn't a good pitcher anymore. The other is that the Pirates gave up Austin Meadows in the deal. It isn't just that the Pirates are cheap. The thing that makes it worse is the GM of every other team in the majors knows it and they use that to take advantage of the Pirates in trades. Giving up even just Meadows for Archer is a disaster. He emerged as a star last season while making only $557,400. He isn't even arbitration-eligible until 2022 and he won't be a free agent until 2025.

    To make things even worse, the Pirates also gave up Tyler Glasnow, who was great when healthy last season, and quality prospect Shane Baz.

    Of course, the general manager is to blame for making a horrible trade, but ownership forces the situation by its refusal to spend.
     
  21. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Beer is good

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    The Chief was trying to make payroll.
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  22. thorn058

    thorn058 Well-Known Member

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    I was reading an article that said if the season is cancelled the players still get the year accrued towards free agency and that the Pirates are hoping Archer rebounds from last season so they can get full value for him in a trade.
     
  23. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    That is correct. MLB and the player's association agreed that the players will get the year toward free agency, which kind of screws the low-revenue franchises like the Pirates. Those team rely on controlling players as long as possible before they hit free agency. I don't think they had much of a choice, because doing it the other way screws the players even worse, but it's bad for the Pirates.

    That said, I'm not 100 percent sure how that all works. Is it a year accrued toward being eligible for free agency, arbitration and a pension? Or does it take a year off player contracts, too? The latter wouldn't make much sense, so perhaps the final year of Archer's contract gets pushed back to 2020. If not, the team has an $11 million option on him for 2021, but cutting him loose saves them money. Nutting almost always forces his team to do the thing that saves money, so that trade would become even more of a disaster.


    Edit: Here is a story about it on The Boston Globe's website. Unfortunately, the one thing it doesn't make clear is what happens to players under contract. It does mention players still getting to become free agents next offseason, but I'm not sure how it works for existing contracts.
    https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03...eason-until-travel-gathering-bans-are-lifted/

    Players won't be paid their salaries if there is no season, but MLB will provide a $170 million advance to players in April and May that won't be paid back if the season is cancelled. I'm not sure how they will split that up.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2020
  24. Roonatic

    Roonatic Well-Known Member

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    I would guess that it will take a year off players contracts also. Moreso if they don't get paid for the season while under contract.
     
  25. Stone

    Stone Well-Known Member

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    If you're talking the worst you have to include the Haslems. They have win-win scenario in Cleveland and they would be immortalized if they could produce an above average team but they have been horrendously bad and refuse to get out of the way, they will continue to produce garbage indefinitely.
     

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