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DeBartolo's latest move's got game
By Tom Zucco
Published December 22, 2006
Two weeks after saying he would add the role of sports agent to his portfolio, Tampa billionaire Eddie DeBartolo Jr. took another step back into the sports world Thursday. DeBartolo Jr., who ranks as the richest person in the bay area, is launching a hospitality division that will sell ticket packages to events such as the Outback Bowl, the Masters golf tournament and the Kentucky Derby. The new division is part of DeBartolo Sports and Entertainment, an arm of DeBartolo Holdings, a company run by DeBartolo Jr. that deals in commercial real estate development and banking. Heir to a shopping center fortune and a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL, DeBartolo Jr., had kept away from sports-related business since 1998, when he pleaded guilty to failing to report a bribe to former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards. In the aftermath of the scandal, DeBartolo Jr. was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $1-million. The NFL also fined him $1-million and suspended him from the league. Since then, he's been relatively quiet on the sports front until earlier this month, when his company said it had acquired Cindrich & Co., a Pittsburgh sports agency run by former NFL player Ralph Cindrich. Cindrich has represented more than 50 NFL players, including Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Bruce Gradkowski and former Buc Brian Griese. DeBartolo Jr.'s net worth is listed by Forbes at $1.4-billion, the largest noted by the magazine in the Tampa Bay area.
[Last modified December 21, 2006, 22:59:21]
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