As was reported last night, Bill Neukom was forced out as the Giants CEO and he was replaced today by Larry Baer. There was a press conference about all of this earlier this afternoon and Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea.com was there to cover it. The highlights:
- Although the original reports of the ownership group’s displeasure with Neukom (that he didn’t communicate well with the other owners and that they learned about stuff in the newspaper first) were downplayed, they weren’t denied, either. No one said Neukom was “forced out,” but no one said he wasn’t either (Neukom quibbled with that characterization). Which, if you’ve been around business people for any amount of time in your life means that (a) there were communication problems; and (b) he was forced out;
- Payroll is not going to go down. This doesn’t mean it will go up, but it’s not going down; and
- There will be no change in the Giants’ views about the A’s in San Jose. Meaning: the Giants still don’t want the A’s in San Jose.
- Neukom is divesting his ownership interest. Which is sort of what happens when a guy gets shoved aside by his partners.
As a whole, this sounds like a primarily internal thing. It doesn’t sound like the ownership group had grave issues with what Neukom was doing in any way that will affect the fan experience.
