 There are rumblings today that Peter Magowan, managing partner of the San Francisco Giants may be stepping away from his ownership tenure with the club. While the change is unconfirmed, a staunch denial from the Giants organization has not been issued either. As reported by Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle: Neither Magowan nor his manager/cut man Larry Baer has chosen to respond for the record (a possible first in the history of this ownership). Neither was on hand to watch Tim Lincecum dismiss the Phillies 8-2 on Saturday, which is not that unusual. On the other hand, vice president for communications Staci Slaughter, referring to Magowan, told Our Team's John Shea the other day, "He's 66, and has thought about it from time to time, but no decision has been made at all. At this point, he has no decision on that." In other words, an era in Giants baseball may be coming to an end. We think.
As Ratto further outlines, Magowan’s age – in and of itself – seems a thin reason for stepping down. At 66 Magowan would rank 17th in terms of age – somewhere close to the average age (Carl Pohlad leads the pack at 92). As for the worth, if they were to be sold, the Giants rank 8 out of the 30 clubs with a $494 million value, according to Forbes. They also show that operating income for the Giants was a healthy $19.9 million. Given the prime location of AT&T Park, $550-$600 million might will be within reach. Both Bay Area clubs (Giants and Athletics) are seeing considerable drops in attendance this year. While the Giants can point to the standings, and not benefiting from the homerun chase that Barry Bonds was engaged in last year, the A’s are sitting in first place with a .5 league on the LA Angels. But, regardless of the wins, the A’s are seeing a decline in attendance. As reported by Jorge Ortiz of USA Today: The A's average attendance of 19,955 through 21 dates -- 2,903 lower than at the same stage last season -- ranks third from the bottom in the American League, ahead of only the Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals. And even that figure is deceptive because it includes two "home" gates totaling 89,363 from when the A's played the Boston Red Sox at the Tokyo Dome. In their 19 games at McAfee Coliseum, the A's are averaging 17,352. "I'm very, very depressed over the attendance, because we have an exciting product," co-owner Lew Wolff says. "And the excuse that we traded away our best players -- what really should count is performance."
Read the Business of Sports Network interviews with Lewis Wolff and Billy Beane of the Athletics
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