"Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the crowd ... Buy me some peanuts and ... tofu dogs?"

Continue reading Fifth Third, AutoZone ballparks named vegetarian-friendly

Fifth Third, AutoZone ballparks named vegetarian-friendly originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A new feature on Forbes.com looks at the big business of minor league baseball, and has a ranking of the 20 most valuable minor league baseball teams in America.

The Oakland Athletics AAA affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats, is the most valuable team, with a price tag of $29.8 million. To put that in perspective, George Steinbrenner paid about one-third that amount for the New York Yankees in 1973 -- talk about inflation!

Here's the really cool part: If you don't have $30 million to blow on the River Cats, assuming Art Savage would sell them, you can buy a share of the #5-ranked Indianapolis Indians (PINK SHEETS: INDN) for about $23,000. The team paid $350 per share in dividends in 2007.

But the company does not file regular reports with the SEC and the shares are extremely thinly-traded and illiquid -- there have been no trades in the stock in the past ten days.

According to Forbes, the economics of minor league teams are very compelling because all of the baseball operations salaries -- players, coaches, scouts, etc. -- are paid by the parent club, leaving the owner in charge of operating expenses. Draw big enough crowds to attract considerable sponsorship dollars, and you have a veritable cash cow.

The downside is that you don't have any control over the rosters -- if you're looking for the ultimate fantasy baseball experience, you'll have to pony up the hundreds of millions for a big league team. Or consider an independent league.

Minor league baseball is big business ... and you can invest! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.