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[QUOTE="Stew Crew, post: 5299197, member: 12799"]
Andrew Zimbalist has written extensively on the economics of baseball.  Granted, baseball is its own animal but some concepts apply:

1.  Asset appreciation.  I doubt any owner ever sold a franchise for less than he/she paid for it.  
2.  Feeding revenue to other businesses of the owner.  I remember Zimbalist using the St. Louis Cardinals as an example.  Busch owned the team, stadium, and rights to concessions.  The Cardinals showed little or no profits, presumably so ownership could claim poverty when negotiating with players' union.  The stadium overcharged the baseball team for rent of the facility.  The team did not receive any revenue from concessions (sounds like UConn playing in Hartford).

Other teams funneled payments to the partners, which showed up as expenses to the teams.  Over the years, owners have committed to opening their books but it has only happened on a limited basis.

3.  Consumption/entertainment value.  For many of these owners, the franchise is like an ordinary guy buying a sports car.  Making money is secondary to the entertainment value they derive from owning a sports team.
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