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Technology Stocks : Blank Check IPOs (SPACS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (2032)	5/2/2009 9:36:07 AM
From: jrhana	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3862

I have no idea whether or not this will be a good investment and I have no idea about the deals chances for approval; however it would certainly be great to further remove the stench of Wayne Huizenga from the South Florida sports scene. IMO they should have kept the team in Miami-but Huizenga had this illusion about reaching out to some large mythical fan base in Broward and Palm Beach which simply doesn't exist: <Huizenga owns 5% of the Miami Dolphins, as well as half of Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens. He held 50% of the team until Jan. 2009. He will retain 5% of the team. He purchased 15% of the team and their sports venue in 1990, during a period of financial hardships for the proud franchise. Long time owner Joe Robbie had recently died and his family found it difficult to keep the team afloat. In turn, Huizenga bought out the remaining shares of the team to become full owner in 1993. He then pulled the Joe Robbie name off the building and sold that space to a corporate sponsor who later went under (Pro Player). It has since been renamed Dolphin Stadium. On February 22, 2008, Huizenga sold 50% of the Miami Dolphins and 50% of Dolphin Stadium to a Stephen M. Ross, a New York City-based real estate developer and founder, chairman and CEO of The Related Companies. [3] He introduced baseball and hockey to the South Florida area as the initial owner of the Florida Marlins and Florida Panthers. He was criticized for naming his two teams for the state of Florida rather than the city of Miami, but as an advocate for the city of Fort Lauderdale, he explained that his goal was to include Broward County and Palm Beach County in his teams' fanbase. (Indeed, Huizenga claimed at the time that he had not even considered naming the teams after "Miami" as an option, and that in his view the only legitimate choices had been "Florida," "South Florida," and "Tri-County.") This goal of expanding the team's fan bases has not been achieved, as both the Marlins and Panthers have consistently finished near the bottom of their respective leagues in annual home attendance; the name has had little observable impact on the teams' popularity in Huizenga's favored suburbs, while decreasing their popularity among fans who identify themselves with the city of Miami.[citation needed] Huizenga, in keeping with his previously stated intentions, sold the Marlins to current Boston Red Sox owner John Henry at the end of the 1998 season. Since then, however, relations between Huizinga and new Marlins management has been tepid, mainly because of stadium lease disagreements. Huizenga operated the Panthers as a public holding company, buying numerous real estate properties in the name of his Panthers Holding Group. In 2001, Huizenga sold the Panthers to pharmaceutical juggernaut and friend Alan Cohen and his partner, former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, for a discount price. However, Huizenga maintained his status as owner of the BankAtlantic Center, from which he still collects all arena revenue. In all three team ownerships, he is very well known for minimizing costs while maximizing profits.> en.wikipedia.org That said with the further removal of Huizenga, I may get inspired to spend over 3 hours in my car and go see a few Panthers games nest season. I know nothing about ice hockey, but the one time I went I was impressed with the organization and cleanness of the site. Edit: Any South Floridian that attends an ice hockey game, should bring along his winter coat.