domains Restaurant turns down Tampa Bay Rays for Rays.com domain

[Lox]

Seattle seafood restaurant turns down Tampa Bay Rays for web domain, ‘we’re true to who we are’

The Tampa Bay Rays are no closer to getting the desired web address Rays.com than when Major League Baseball first approached the long-time Ballard restaurant that owns the domain.

Ray’s Boathouse is a seafood restaurant that sits on the waterfront overlooking Shilshole Bay in Ballard with its iconic red sign and has been at its location since the 1940s, when it was little more than a coffee shop. As a restaurant, it will soon be celebrating its 50th anniversary.

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[MadAboutDomains]

And so they should

 

[bmugford]

Good for them.

I like reading stories about small end users that beat everyone else to premium domains, and still use them.

Brad

 

[cooljub]

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
If the baseball people are using the sale price of 'rangers' as a yardstick, I reckon they'd do well to think again.
I notice the full name of the restaurant was registered in August. Whether this was somebody involved or an ignoramus devoid of scruples remains to be seen. It's for sale on GD for $13k.

 

[youaintme]

That means, as of now, MLB owns 28 of 30 team names in .com per this 2015 article.
https://domainnamewire.com/2015/02/12/rangers-com/
And Giants is untouchable, harder than Rays.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

Good for them.

I like reading stories about small end users that beat everyone else to premium domains, and still use them.

Brad

Yeah, but think of how many "clams" that restaurant could get out of the deal!
(For those unfamiliar with that American idiom, "clams" is a nickname for dollars.)

 

[J.D.]

Ray's Boathouse was there first and ownership understands the value of Rays.com.
No way MLB get's Rays.com for same price as Rangers.com. Twins.com was sold for an undisclosed amount, but from interviews with the prior owner, its clear they knew the value.

Inflation, increasing value, and strong interest from MLB guarantees a $400K+ sell price.

Imagine how the guy who sold Commanders.com for $20K to Washington NFL feels seeing the level of restraint Rays Boathouse is exercising in their valuation.

https://roanoke.com/sports/professi...cle_87c3c751-5d0e-5b9e-a7b6-26d1ddf0a053.html

 

[J.D.]

That means, as of now, MLB owns 28 of 30 team names in .com per this 2015 article.
https://domainnamewire.com/2015/02/12/rangers-com/
And Giants is untouchable, harder than Rays.

MLB has been willing to negotiate to get the 29/30 matching nickname.coms of team brands.
Based on comments from Rays.com owner, a good pitch along with the right price might get the deal done.

But New York Giants were wise to beat MLB Giants to Giants.com.

Sounds like seller wants an in-person meeting.

Rays Boathouse can use another domain for their restaurant. And there is a catch-22 to this MLB v. Rays Boathouse negotiation. The Tampa Bay Rays may be relocating and may end up with an entirely new nickname and city.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/sport...r-open-to-relocation-without-new-rays-stadium

So, this offer from MLB Rays is not guaranteed to come around 2-3 years from now. What if Tampa Bay relocates and takes a nickname they can secure in EMD dot-Com?

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

Rays Boathouse can use another domain for their restaurant. And there is a catch-22 to this MLB v. Rays Boathouse negotiation. The Tampa Bay Rays may be relocating and may end up with an entirely new nickname and city.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/sport...r-open-to-relocation-without-new-rays-stadium

So, this offer from MLB Rays is not guaranteed to come around 2-3 years from now. What if Tampa Bay relocates and takes a nickname they can secure in EMD dot-Com?

Well, perhaps the money doesn't matter to the restaurant owners? Your point is well taken, that there is a risk that they will lose out completely on the deal if they continue to hold out. Maybe they simply want to keep their domain anyhow. That's OK, if that's the case.

 

[J.D.]

Well, perhaps the money doesn't matter to the restaurant owners? Your point is well taken, that there is a risk that they will lose out completely on the deal if they continue to hold out. Maybe they simply want to keep their domain anyhow. That's OK, if that's the case.

Absolutely you could be correct.

So, we will see if Ray's Boathouse truly wants to keep Rays.com more than a $500K check.

 

[AEProgram]

Real visionaries to get that name in the 90's. Rare for restaurant owners to make good domain choices even now. I do believe every domain has a price. I found an article that says in 2013 they were doing about $9 mil a year in gross sales and they had 4 partners. https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2013/01/remodeled-rays-boathouse-aims-to.html

If that is the amount they do now, I would figure the annual net is about $1.2 million, split between 4 people about 300k a year. If I was asked what offer would be interesting I would say offer 8-10 million plus for the first year after the sale have a banner on the page that says "Looking for Ray's Boathouse in Seattle? Click here".

Rays would have to spend money chasing down all the backlinks that matter and have them update the links. About 20% of those sites will update. It is a lot of work to contact sites a few times and many will be newspaper articles.

 

[J.D.]

If that is the amount they do now, I would figure the annual net is about $1.2 million, split between 4 people about 300k a year. If I was asked what offer would be interesting I would say offer 8-10 million plus for the first year after the sale have a banner on the page that says "Looking for Ray's Boathouse in Seattle? Click here".

COVID had severe impact on restaurant business between 2020-2022, I'm betting Ray's Boathouse didn't maintain $1.2 million net income.

NFL, NBA & MLB seem to stop negotiating around $400K. For example, Rams.com has been offered to LA Rams for a few years now. I've seen listed price between $500K-$1 million; today $300K-$750K. Yet, LA Rams even during last seasons run to the Super Bowl chose not to buy Rams.com.

Cowboys are Forbes most valuable NFL team, so Cowboys.com is the most valuable EMD. LA Rams are #3, so Rams.com is inherently more valuable than Rays.com. But neither has sold.

Rays are 29/30th valued by Forbes for MLB with 3rd lowest attendance record. They are 1 of 3 MLB teams often mentioned as a relocation candidates.

$8-$10 million for Rays.com is pure fantasy. I suspect MLB is stuck around $400K, and Rays Boathouse is seeking $1 million or genuinely doesn't want to sell.

Either way, I wouldn't be surprised if Tampa Bay relocates and changes its name but secure EMD in new nickname beforehand like Washington Commanders.

 

[AEProgram]

COVID had severe impact on restaurant business between 2020-2022, I'm betting Ray's Boathouse didn't maintain $1.2 million net income.

NFL, NBA & MLB seem to stop negotiating around $400K. For example, Rams.com has been offered to LA Rams for a few years now. I've seen listed price between $500K-$1 million; today $300K-$750K. Yet, LA Rams even during last seasons run to the Super Bowl chose not to buy Rams.com.

Cowboys are Forbes most valuable NFL team, so Cowboys.com is the most valuable EMD. LA Rams are #3, so Rams.com is inherently more valuable than Rays.com. But neither has sold.

Rays are 29/30th valued by Forbes for MLB with 3rd lowest attendance record. They are 1 of 3 MLB teams often mentioned as a relocation candidates.

$8-$10 million for Rays.com is pure fantasy. I suspect MLB is stuck around $400K, and Rays Boathouse is seeking $1 million or genuinely doesn't want to sell.

Either way, I wouldn't be surprised if Tampa Bay relocates and changes its name but secure EMD in new nickname beforehand like Washington Commanders.

Both of your examples are dead websites, Rams.com is a page about Rams the animal.

There is no way that people that own an active business with an active site for over 2 decades will let go of a name for an amount of money they earn in the next few months especially considering you have 4 partners.

I did not say that they will be offered 8-10 mil, I said that it will probably take 8-10 mil.

Facebook paid 60 million for the name and rights to MetaBank.com. It was an active company using that name. Would they have paid 60 million for a name parked somewhere doing nothing? Would the owner even ask for 60 million?

These sports teams are not FB, however, they are business people. They might find the idea of a dead domain going for over X amount unacceptable, however, a live business domain might make sense to them to go for more.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

I did not say that they will be offered 8-10 mil, I said that it will probably take 8-10 mil.

Facebook paid 60 million for the name and rights to MetaBank.com. It was an active company using that name. Would they have paid 60 million for a name parked somewhere doing nothing? Would the owner even ask for 60 million?

These sports teams are not FB, however, they are business people. They might find the idea of a dead domain going for over X amount unacceptable, however, a live business domain might make sense to them to go for more.

Sounds like you're ready to negotiate for them! Maybe consider offering your services?

 

[E-Thunder]

Love the story. Looks like a nice restaurant too! Tampa Bay was originally the "Devil Rays" versus "Rays" but shortened the name some time later. I would bet they sell but it'll take more $$$ for sure!

 

[StartupNames]

Good for them!

 

[J.D.]

These sports teams are not FB, however, they are business people. They might find the idea of a dead domain going for over X amount unacceptable, however, a live business domain might make sense to them to go for more.

No idea what a dead website is. Cowboys.com & Rams.com are LIVE, undeveloped URLs.
The value of Cowboys.com, Rams.com & Rays.com to pro sports teams is in the locator for their brand equity.

None of the pro teams care about the history of Rays Boathouse or backlinks, etc.

You are correct, Rays Boathouse might imagine $8M-$10M. But I'm betting asking price is closer to $1M, and these pro teams so far as public knowledge is concerned stop negotiating around $400k-$500k.

If Rays.com was sold for $8M-$10M to Tampa Bay MLB, prices of Cowboys.com and Rams.com would be raised to $20 million for objective reasons I mentioned earlier in regards to team valuations. If aforementioned owners learned one of the lowest valued pro sports franchises was willing to pay over $8M for Rays.com, that'd reset market expectations.

So, unless Ray's Boathouse is willing to take around $500K, no deal gets done.

 

[bmugford]

You are correct, Rays Boathouse might imagine $8M-$10M. But I'm betting asking price is closer to $1M, and these pro teams so far as public knowledge is concerned stop negotiating around $400k-$500k.

If Rays.com was sold for $8M-$10M to Tampa Bay MLB, the prices of Cowboys.com and Rays.com would be raised to $20 million for the objective reasons I mentioned earlier in regards to team valuations. So, unless Ray's Boathouse is willing to take around $500K, no deal gets done.

Most sports teams have values in the billions, for instance the Cowboys have an estimated value up $8B.
It is silly these teams don't just pony up (pun intended) the money and buy the domains if they are available, even for several million.

In the case of Rays there are many other uses. It would be great for anything in the solar field.
There are also many thousands of companies around the world called "Ray's" whatever.

Brad

 

[J.D.]

Most sports teams have values in the billions, for instance the Cowboys have an estimated value up $8B.
It is silly these teams don't just pony up (pun intended) the money and buy the domains if they are available, even for several million.

I'm surprised none of the sports teams have paid over $500K to our public knowledge.

But when a team like Washington Commanders was able to secure Commanders.com for $20K in 2021; it impacts the valuations of pro team buyers. Owners are business partners, so imagine Dan Snyder telling Jerry Jones, we bought Commanders.com for $20K last year. These owners are competitive and some of the best business minds around, so Jerry Jones will want to pay less not more for Cowboys.com.

So there is this public market range between $20K-$500K, until a pro team is so desirous of a EMD nickname they set a new range precedent. I'm betting it won't be with Rays.com, but maybe Cowboys.com will fetch the highest price of EMD nicknames purchased by a pro team.

 

[bmugford]

I'm surprised none of the sports teams have paid over $500K to our public knowledge.

But when a team like Washington Commanders was able to secure Commanders.com for $20K in 2021; it impacts the valuations of pro team buyers. Owners are business partners, so imagine Dan Snyder telling Jerry Jones, we bought Commanders.com for $20K last year. These owners are competitive and some of the best business minds around, so Jerry Jones will want to pay less not more for Cowboys.com.

So there is this public market range between $20K-$500K, until a pro team is so desirous of a EMD nickname they set a new range precedent. I'm betting it won't be with Rays.com, but maybe Cowboys.com will fetch the highest price of EMD nicknames purchased by a pro team.

Well, the Commanders is also not a very good term for a multi-billion dollar sports team.
How many other uses are there for "Commanders"?

Terms like Cowboys, Rays, etc. have a much larger pools of potential buyers. They are not just sports team names.

The New York Jets don't own Jets.com. That domain has far better uses than an NFL team.

Brad