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Article
New Direction for Team Ownership? The Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation
Journal Articles
  • Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, Notre Dame Law School
  • Craig A. Sharon
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-1998
Publication Information
16 Ent. & Sports Law. 1 (1998-1999)
Abstract

Consider every loyal sports fan’s worst nightmare. Your community invests millions of dollars to keep a professional sports team in town. Your local city and county governments not only provide various tax exemptions and subsidies, but they also build, expand, and maintain the team's stadium. But one day the voters balk at paying for a particularly expensive improvement. The team's owners are soon heard complaining that the community is not supporting the team. Rumors that the team will be sold or moved begin to circulate. Then the team calls a press conference to announce that it will be moving to a new, more supportive city (in terms of dollars and cents). Your city begins scrambling to find a new team, but even assuming that your community is able and willing to spend the money necessary to attract a new team, your excitement is tempered by the knowledge that the new team may prove as disloyal as the old one.

So how does a baseball team qualify as a charitable organization under these criteria?

Comments

Reprinted with permission of Entertainment and Sports Lawyer.

Citation Information
Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer and Craig A. Sharon. "New Direction for Team Ownership? The Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation" (1998)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/lloyd_mayer/14/