UPDATED: Bucs For Sale Rumor, Take 32

October 29, 2009 at 01:14pm by Scott   •  5 Comments »

Every year at some point during the season, someone floats a rumor out there that the Glazers are considering selling the Buccaneers. Usually the blame is placed on their debt related to the Manchester United, but this year there’s a fun twist.

Massive losses due to investments with Bernie Madoff have forced the owners of the Buccaneers to run the team on a minimal budget, according to WDAE-AM’s Dan Sileo, and may lead to the team’s sale.

Okay, all this may be true. It seems a little weird that they’d want to sell the team when it is at the nadir of its value, but as anyone who has hocked their wedding ring knows, sometimes you just need cash. But I’m sure as hell not taking Sileo’s word for it. Sileo is a notorious liar, exaggerator, and rumor monger. There was a piece that came out in the Tribune a few years ago… I can’t find it through a search now, but it’s out there somewhere. He claims to have sacked Joe Montana, but he did not. He claims to have played for the Cowboys, but he was a camp cut before the season started. He claims to have been on the field for the Lions when Montana played his last game for San Francisco, but he never played for them, either (I think the Lions owned his rights at the time, but he was not playing). And this is all in addition to his ignorant, hate-filled nonsense that he spews on air daily. And he is almost never right about these rumors.

Forbes’ 2009 NFL valuations rank the Bucs as the eighth-most valuable franchise, at $1.085 billion. When Malcolm Glazer bought the team in 1995, it was for a then-record $195 million.

But if the Bucs were winning and had a franchise quarterback (one that was a known commodity — don’t get all in an uproar), they’d likely be worth a good bit more. But like I said, $1.085-billion gets you out of a lot of jams.

Forbes also ranks the Glazer family #305 in its list of 2009 billionares. It writes much of the family’s $2.2 billion worth is “in an asset class that holds value in a recession: sports teams.”

Another reason not to sell. My point is that this particular rumor, though it was picked up by a local TV station and newspaper does not have any more merit than any of the others, and in fact probably has less due to its source.

UPDATE: Roy Cummings twitters on what he has learned regarding the rumor:

Did some legitimate, responsible digging on the Bucs-for-sale rumor. My source inside the league tells me “The team is not for sale.”

That may not mean much, either, but if I have to choose who is the better source between Cummings and Sileo, I’m taking Cummings every time. Now excuse me, I need a shower.

UPDATE 2: From Joel Glazer via Pewter Report:

“The report today by WDAE’s Dan Sileo about our family and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is 100 percent false. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not, nor have they ever been for sale. In addition, our family or any of our related companies have never invested one penny with Bernie Madoff. The report is baseless, irresponsible and slanderous. This type of behavior by Mr. Sileo and his company Clear Channel will be dealt with in the appropriate manner.”

Categorical denial. Fuck and yes. And it sounds like the Glazers might take some action against Sileo, too. Good. I hope that man chokes on something unpleasant.