McLane close to selling team

[love_that_reefer]

Astros owner Drayton McLane is nearing a deal to sell the team to Jim Crane, according to Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle. Though McLane denies that he has a deal, Justice hears from insiders who insist the sides are close.

It’s not clear how much McLane will obtain for the Astros, but he will certainly turn a profit on the club he purchased for $117MM in 1992. Justice hears that the team's price tag definitely exceeds $523MM, which is how much the Rangers sold for last summer. That’s well above $474MM, the price at which Forbes recently valued the franchise.

McLane was close to selling the Astros to Crane in 2008, but the deal fell through. Crane has also attempted to buy the Cubs (2008) and Rangers (2010).

Maybe 4th time's the charm for Crane

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If Crane buys the Astros, who is Mark Cuban going to partner with now to buy the Dodgers? Jamie McCourt?

[love_that_reefer]

It won't be long before the Astros have a new owner. After 19 years of ownership, Drayton McLane confirmed to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com that he has agreed to sell the Astros to a group led by Houston businessman Jim Crane. Though the sides are finalizing details and it will take weeks for MLB to approve the pending sale, McLane is confident the deal will be completed.

"We have an understanding, and Jim's an honorable person, and I am, too," McLane said. "We have an overall agreement, but things come up."

McLane had been negotiating exclusively with Crane and the sides have agreed on a price, reportedly about $680MM. McLane hopes to make an announcement by the middle of next week. Houston attorney Kenny Friedman, the father of Rays executive Andrew Friedman, also had interest in buying the Astros.

I wonder if the Astros will have a firesale and start fresh. Pence could bring in a good package and Myers could bring a nice piece to a desperate team. Wandy and Norris are keepers.

[realmofotalk]

sportsguy33 If you could spend $680 million on something, would "buying the Houston Astros" crack the top-10,000 on your wishlist?

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forbes.com posted a neat article dishing out the dirt on Jim Crane, among other things allegations that he instructed the hiring managers in his company not to hire blacks because "once you hire blacks, you can never fire them."

I'm sure that's a quote Donald Sterling would be proud of.