In the spirit of South Side history, please say what they say ain’t so, Joe
Dear Mr. Ishbia,
Please forgive this intrusion on your valuable time, but I have been a Chicago White Sox fan for longer than you’ve been alive and, like all my fan brethren and sistren, was delighted to see that you have decided to increase your stake in the Sox. However, there are a couple of questions I have that could either enhance or constrict said delight, which I hope you might take a moment to answer.
As I’m sure you’re aware, shortly after the announcement that you would no longer be pursuing purchase of the Minnesota Twins, but would instead be trying to purchase more White Sox shares, the Sox VP of Communications issued a statement that said increased purchase “has no impact on the leadership or operations of the Chicago White Sox and does not provide a path to control.”
That statement was slightly disconcerting for those wishing for the end of the Jerry Reinsdorf era, which is every Sox fan. But only slightly, given that no one has believed a single word coming out of that communications office for decades now, and also because it makes no sense. Still, it would be most kind of you to clarify the situation.
Obviously, you and your brother have been very successful not just in business, but specifically in sports business, so you are able to evaluate the White Sox situation well. And that situation is that no matter how much stock other people may have, Reinsdorf has set the organization up so that he and he alone has any say about anything, and that he is a total control freak who listens to no one (giving rise to headlines like, “An owner who ‘thinks he knows everything’”). There have been other owners of larger shares than his in the past, which made no difference to the power structure.
Given that, it makes no sense that someone who is himself used to being in control would spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to just be another Reinsdorf lapdog. Surely there is some sort of arrangement, and, since you are a Chicagoan, an arrangement you ran by a team of least a half dozen top attorneys before signing, to ensure Reinsdorf could not weasel out of it.
Presumably, that arrangement could be something that only takes effect upon Reinsdorf’s death, given his extreme desire to avoid taxes in every (legal) way possible and thus have his heirs benefit from the stepped-up basis of a property worth 100 times what he and others paid for it (through no accomplishment of his own, just the inevitability of sports franchise ownership growth). Since he is 89 and you’re only 47, you obviously can wait him out, but actuaries give an 89-year-old male a life expectancy of 4.55 years, and 89-year-old male billionaires are apt to be able to stretch that by replacing every possible body part, so it could be a long wait. In the interim, Reinsdorf’s growing disdain for the team, its fans and even the game of baseball will make future ownership less something to be desired, for either economic or ego reasons. The man could live to be 105, just out of spite.
Alternatively, perhaps there is an arrangement where Reinsdorf avoids capital gains taxes by keeping his shares until death, but concedes control to you, with a definitive amount to be paid (either in fixed price or by formula) upon his journey to That Great Tax Shelter in the Sky. That could only be done if Jerry desires it, but he could easily rewrite the corporate arrangement to make it so.
You could then hold a smiling joint news conference, as you say nice things about him and he says nice thing about you, everybody cheers, and then he drops you off at your fortress in Winnetka on his way home to Highland Park.
Perhaps you are saying nothing because it feels maudlin to discuss another man’s death, particularly a death which would make so many people happy. No doubt you see that as bad karma. If so, hundreds of thousands in the Chicago area are in a karma conundrum.
Still, all the White Sox fans who remain after 44 years of abuse by Reinsdorf ardently wish to know what the circumstances are, so they can fairly judge how long that might still be abused — and whether perhaps switching fandom to another team is called for.
Do you mayhaps have a non-disclosure agreement that precludes you saying how and when a transfer of control might happen? If that’s the case, let’s work around it.
You could respond to this letter with a short note (I know how valuable your time must be) that does not directly answer the questions, but contains an appropriate clue word. You might just write, “apologies for the delayed response, but I was dead tired last night,” or any other phrase containing the word “dead” or “death,” or you could say, “our Phoenix Suns sure had good ball control last night,” or use any other mention of “control” or “transfer” to indicate change could happen soon.
Or, if you want to make sure there is no violation of an NDA in writing, you could just make sure you wear white socks the next time you sit in your front-row seats at a Suns game to indicate a transfer of control fairly soon, or black ones to indicate we may have a very long wait.
Or, if the Sox are telling the truth and you have no path to control, just … no, it just makes no sense that’s possible. And it’s also depressing.
My, I have rattled on. Sorry about that.
Thank you for any guidance you’re able to give,
Leigh Allan