Hospitality and Franchises

Last night we were at one of our local (walkable) venues to check out Brooklyn band Hospitality. I had got around to buying the album with some of my birthday money a while back and have been really enjoying its hooky indie pop tunes. The nights before and after they played Columbus they were opening up for Wild Flag on their massive US tour; seems that Carrie and her buddies fancied a day off while their touring mates were in Ohio. Shame. The excellently named Amber Papini was doing her best to fight off a cold, so was supping on some sort of herbal tea between numbers. As the crowd dwindled after earlier popular Columbus openers, they ripped through the album and even though there wasn't too much atmosphere about the place, I left pretty happy.

Only a few days after the college basketball season had concluded (Kentucky taking the national championship after Ohio State lost out to Kansas in the Final four), the baseball season started last night. Lots of people were watching the rebranded Miami Marlins in their brand new $500 million dollar stadium. The formerly Florida Marlins are notoriously unpopular in South Florida and, last season, played in the Dolphins' football stadium that has the potential to seat 75,000, which meant that their 2000 season ticket holders kind of got a bit lost in all the empty seats. One rescheduled game last season drew 347, less than a bad day at Twerton Park. The image above shows what two of the $515 million that built the new stadium went towards. When one of the Marlins scores a home run, the sculpture is put into action and marlins jump in and out of the water, music plays and there is an LED light show. Nothing like understatement.

Oh and also, there are aquariums behind the home plate, apparently tested with a few 97 mph fastballs before they put the fish in, all very stylish stuff. As well as splashing all that cash on a new ball park, the owner was still able to scrape together a few bucks for a new coach and some players, three of which come in at a total of $191 million. They lost their first home game 4-1.

This, though, is pretty small-fry compared to the contract Albert Pujols (pronounced poo holes) signed to the LA Angels from the World Series winning Cardinals for $240 million over ten years. This is just the bare bones: there are numerous milestones, including an additional $3 million if he manages 3000 hits, nice symmetry there. He is 31 now, so will still be earning millions on his 41st birthday; pretty good going for a pro athlete.

Finally, one last crazy bit of baseball money madness. The LA Dodgers were bought for $2 billion in March. Magic Johnson and a few of his buddies found the cash to buy the most expensive team in history, more than double the $700 million paid for the Chicago Cubs in 2009.