If there were something like "Rules of Subversive Investing," one of them would be to keep your company private to avoid filing financial statements. It works if you want to play Pollyanna (witness the rosy pre-IPO filings J.Crew has been cranking out) or cry poor.
For proof of the latter, ask Ralph Wilson of the Buffalo Bills. He threatened to move his team out of town in the 70s if he wasn't given a bigger stadium, then demanded that luxury boxes be provided in the late 90s to give additional revenue. Now, he claims that the NFL's revenue-sharing arrangements will break his small-market team.
It is, I guess, possible to have someone rat you out despite your best efforts at obfuscation. Forbes puts together a rough valuation of all the NFL teams each year, and they say he's full of it; the team should be raking in a profit of about $36MM a year. Not too shabby in a small town.
Locals have suggested he pimp out the stadium's naming rights if he's so desperate for cash. Some company flush with cash will probably think it's a good enough idea.
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