Short answer: Not a whole lot.
Longer answer: It doesn't matter what Forbes says the Astros are worth. It doesn't matter what price tag the Financial Experts place on the Astros. What matters is what one person/faceless conglomeration wants to pay to get into baseball. So Ken Williams thinks it's asinine to pay Albert Pujols $30m/year. All Albert needs is for one GM to think it's the greatest idea since putting a flagpole in center field.
Back in November it was rumored that Drayton was asking around $800 million for the franchise. So when Forbes said earlier today that the Astros were valued at $474m (a 4.6% increase over 2010), it likely made a lot of potential investors laugh even more at Drayton's asking price.
The Texas Rangers, according to Forbes, are worth $561 million - but sold for $590 million.
So if the investment group for the Rangers is willing to overpay (though if you're spending $561 million, what's another $29m?), who's to say that the future owner(s) won't do the same? That said, I find it quite hard to believe that anyone would be willing to pay $326m OVER Forbes' valuation.
The Astros operating income is put at $14.4m, or 18th in MLB, and the Astros rank 21st in television rankings (not counting the new network to come). Is this a team worth $800 million?
This reminds me of a buddy who has an old Corvette in pretty good/not great shape. His wife wanted him to get rid of it, so he put it in the driveway with a For Sale sign. When people called to ask about it, he said he was selling it for $70,000. Of course, he still has his car, but he's going through the motions. Kind of like the Astros. But all it takes is one Tom Hicks...
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
