Because of the sagging economy and because of President-Elect Obama's restructured tax plan that will heavily tax the wealthy, there is a belief that we will see more teams put up for sale in 2009 than we've seen in the previous several years combined.
The San Diego Padres have started that parade by hiring Goldman Sachs to search for a potential buyer.
Most sports owners make their money off of the value of the franchise increasing over the course of their ownership - but most teams are operated at a slight profit or even a loss from year to year. So if you are a cash strapped owner, you probably can't afford to run your team at a loss and you may be needing the equity you've made from your franchise value to support the other businesses in your portfolio.
Values were up in 2008 according to Forbes. However, the current economic climate could make 2009 a down year.
