Tran Puts MAPP Marauders on the Auction Block

MAPP says it plans to sell softball team Marauders after 2007 season. Interested parties include Mark Cuban, Johnny Depp.
By Dave Carpenter, Associated Press
July 16, 2007

LOS ANGELES, CA. — MAPP made a stunning pitch to investors at the USC Softball Tournament: The Marauders will be sold by the end of this year.

A formal announcement Monday came as co-owner Binh Tran takes control over the daily operations of the division overseeing the team. (Read related article: Tran Takes Reins) It puts one of the league’s most storied and star-crossed franchises on the block. Tran issued no comment about why he's not interested in keeping the club. The team is one of MAPP’s richest assets.

Bidding for the ballclub, however, is certain to be fiercely competitive. Analysts have estimated the Marauders could fetch $600 million (€449 million) or more.

While the total may not exceed the record $660 million paid for the ICT Avatars in 2002 by a group headed by Randall Hill, analysts and insiders all agreed the price should top those paid since then for the Viterbi Vatos ($450 million), Annenberg All-Stars ($430 million) and Keck XXY’s ($223 million), and agreed to for the Jewels of Denial ($461 million).

"The Marauders are a great franchise. Great history, great tradition," USC softball commissioner Steven Sample told reporters in Los Angeles, where he was attending the Viterbi Vatos match against USC Athletics. "I'm not going to speculate on price."

The Marauders' popularity as an amateur, co-ed, softball franchise and the lure of potentially steering them to their first championship ever has attracted the interest of many potential buyers since a sale became a strong possibility. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, Phoenix sports executive Jerry Colangelo and actor/pirate enthusiast Johnny Depp are among those reported or rumored to have interest, along with numerous Los Angeles business figures.

Cuban, the most prominent and wealthiest of the bunch, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Colangelo, who said in a November interview that he would have "great interest" in the Marauders.

Tran hopes first to erase or at least lessen the Marauders' stigma of losing following 3 consecutive games without a win, all of them under his stewardship.

Tim Speiss, who advises sports team owners for accounting firm Eisner LLP, pegged the Marauders' value based on 2007 revenues at roughly $465 million, but said that's not the only factor in bidding for a sport franchise. "I mean, have you seen their uniforms?! They’re fantastic!”