Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss. Of course, Rocky Wirtz seems to be a bird of a different feather than his dad was, so who knows. Not that I've been as critical of old man Jerry as I was of Bill Wirtz, but still...
There was a great discussion on Boers & Bernstein on Friday (they stream!) about the ups and downs of having family ownership -- this was in reference to some of the Cubs bizarre maneuvers as of late. I think you can make an argument that the Bears are also similarly strange because of family ownership, and the Hawks up until recently. I don't think the Bulls fit into that pattern. Yes, they're somewhat family run. But they have an investment board, mainly consisting of family trusts of deceased people who are not related to the Reinsdorfs, that seems to even everything out. It's much more like a standard closely-held corporation than it is like a family.
Gack. This has actually been presaged by a couple things, notably Michael Reinsdorf's consulting and design role in the generally disastrous (for the locale... which still ended up paying the Reinsdorfs) attempt to have an NHL team in the middle of the Arizona desert. As I wrote back then: The terms "fiduciary duty" and "conflict of interest" spring to mind rather quickly. Ultimately the Glendale, AZ city council appears to have wised up, exercised some oversight of the local bureaucracy, and rejected the sale of the to the Reinsdorf group. They withdrew from negotiations after it appeared the city struck up a deal with another group of owners. Though nothing is signed yet, so who the hell knows. In any case, the only meaningful discussions of Michael Reinsdorf as an independent entity relate to him having a significant role in this boondoggle and the Reinsdorfs in general having massive conflict of interest issues here. Which is par for the course for a government made man like Reinsdorf. Also worth considering is this interview given by Reinsdorf a while back, in which he lets slip he thinks the White Sox would be tough for his kids, but they might be able to handle the Bulls. Heh Somewhere I here tiny violins
Here is some more blah blah on the Michael R/Ariona connections, some PR fluff, some as yet unsubstantiated allegations. The truth is out there somewhere, somewhere between the poles. http://makeiteighteh.com/2009/07/15...acility-group-ifg-director-michael-reinsdorf/ The link also includes a ton of other links on the issue for anyone who really wants to pursue it.
Here's a few more: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2009-08-06/news/glendale-the-coyotes-and-the-john-kaites-connection/ and more http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/westsideinsider/57810 and a bit more, but this time it's Michael Reinsdorf greasing the palms of city officials in Harrisburg, PA over a minor league baseball team http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2008/06/possible_hall_of_fame_donation.html and http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1214871017268080.xml&coll=1 Ick.
