Investing in a Professional Baseball Team

I have a confession to make: I would like to invest in, and become a part-owner of, a professional baseball team.

Major League Baseball teams are usually owned either by a single person or by a limited partnership. For example, the world champion San Francisco Giants (By the way, Let's Go Giants!) are owned by the San Francisco Baseball Associates, L.P. (limited partnership). Because Major League Baseball teams, in general, are not publicly traded or open to the average investor, investing in a Major League Baseball team is probably out of the question.

With investing in a big-league team as a non-starter, that leaves the possibility of investing in a minor league baseball team. After a little bit of research, I discovered that the cost of purchasing a minor league baseball team usually ranges from around half a million dollars for a rookie team to upwards of ten million dollars for a Triple-A team. Of course, it goes without saying that I cannot afford to buy minor league team. But I would absolutely love to invest in a minor league team as a very-minor partner in an ownership group. The problem is that I have no idea how to locate an investment group for a minor league team willing to accept a small investment from an average investor like me. (If any of you readers have any information about how to invest in a minor league baseball team, please comment below with the information!)

Let me be clear that I am not looking to replace my long-term investment strategy with grandiose plans of becoming a big-time baseball owner. I would be content to own a few shares of a minor league team as a splurge investment, just for the fun of partially owning a baseball team. If you are looking for a real long-term investing strategy, roll over to my series on investing for the absolute beginner. But with the 2011 baseball season right around the corner, my imagination (for investing or otherwise) is preoccupied with the smell of the grass, the sound of the crack of a bat, and the roar of the crowd rooting for the home team. Investing in a professional baseball team would be icing on the cake for a baseball fan like me!