From Sports Business Daily....

MLB in the Sunshine State in a Crisis (Bucs Owners Not Interested):
Spokesman Reggie Roberts made it clear Friday that Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer is not waiting for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to be put up for sale.
"The Glazers' focus is on the upcoming football season, and right now they have no interest in acquiring the Rays franchise," Roberts said in a report in the St. Petersburg Times.

Eddie DeBartolo, former owner of the 49ers, also was adamant. In a statement read over the telephone by his secretary, he addressed speculation he may be interested in buying the team by saying, "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor."

The Rays are not for sale yet but are contemplating that possibility.

If they do go on the block, they could get tire kicks from potential buyers from as close as Orlando and as far away as Portland, Ore. There are groups in Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia also looking to buy.

The catch is, these groups want to bring teams to their areas, and commissioner Bud Selig has said franchise relocation will not be seriously considered until a new agreement has been reached with the players union. The current contract runs out after this season.

The Rays also have a contract with St. Petersburg that makes it extremely difficult to move them out of Tropicana Field.

But as Don Logan, president and general manager of the Las Vegas 51s minor-league team, said, "One thing I have learned is there's no such thing as an ironclad contract."

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Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser. - Sandy Koufax

"Commissioner Bud Selig has said franchise relocation will not be seriously considered until a new agreement has been reached with the players union." -- from the Tampa article posted by TBGR

Not surprising -- I've felt all along that nothing would happen with teams moving until the new collective bargaining agreement was in place. I would anticipate the negotiations going down to the wire and being settled right before the season starts (I just hope none of the season gets wiped out or you're going to have some seriously-angry baseball fans!). This would make it extremely difficult for even the Expos to move here for 2002, though they could probably get here for 2003 (unless they're planning all off-season to move, and are ready to jump the moment the CBA is signed -- but wouldn't that screw up the 2002 schedule, with Portland in the NL East!!!)

"Portland Pergrines -- that'll fly!

Selig doesn't want relo before the new CBA because that would shoot down his contraction threat. And that's all it is - a threat to try to scare the player's union. Selig should drop this empty threat, all he's doing is pissing off people. He should be worried about saving the game, not hurting it!

Maybe they'll just have the Expos take a year off as opposed to a costly lame duck season, then bring 'em to Portland.

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Chicago Cubs -- Back-to-back World Series Champions 1907-1908
EAMUS CATULI -- AC125693

You can't have players take a year off. More costly to pay them not to play than it is to pay them to play before a hundred people a game.

I think that you're being a bit harsh, dadda. Bud has to acknowledge the concerns of the owners. Many of them have publicly suggested that contraction is better than relocation. Not all, but enough to make it a serious possibility. I defy you to prove that they aren't seriously considering ways to implementing contraction despite the players union's opposition and the legal issues involved. Just because it would be extremely difficult doesn't mean that they aren't considering it.

Don't discount real possibilities just because we don't like them. Face the options and offer an alternative.


-New Yorker
Swinging for the fences....