Ah, we don't want the Rays anyway. We should get the 'Spos.

quote:

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Sale? D.C. group may look into buying Rays
JOE HENDERSON of The Tampa Tribune
Published: Jul 15, 2001

A group dedicated to bringing Major League Baseball to Washington, D.C. has asked to examine confidential financial information and other data belonging to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a possible first step toward buying all or part of the franchise.
However, Rays Chief Executive Officer Vince Naimoli said the team has provided no such information to any group, adding, "As far as I'm concerned, this team isn't going anywhere."

The Washington Baseball Group, a high-powered investment consortium that includes a leader from one of Tampa Bay's failed expansion efforts, signed a confidentiality agreement last month for "the potential purchase of an equity interest" in the Rays.

The Tampa Tribune has obtained a copy of that agreement, which further states the group received "certain documents or information" from the Rays relating to the sale.

Naimoli said that isn't true, adding he wasn't even aware of the request. He said the Rays are "absolutely not" in negotiations with groups from Washington or anywhere else, and have not provided the information requested. He suggested the Washington group may have been reacting to Naimoli's announcement April 27 that he will explore a potential sale of the team.

It is standard business practice for investors contemplating a major purchase to ask for detailed financial information, and Naimoli said he may be keeping the group's request on file in case he does decide to sell.

Stephen W. Porter, a lawyer who was part of a Tampa Bay bid for an expansion team in 1993, is part of the Washington effort. His signature is on a June 14 letter to Rays general counsel John Higgins, stating "I will be in touch with you about commencing due diligence and providing you with a list of financial information and documents which we will need to examine."

Reached Saturday at his Washington law office, Porter wouldn't discuss the matter, adding "If you have a letter that bears my signature and you feel it's newsworthy, go with it."

Commissioner Bud Selig would have to approve the release of such internal financial information, Naimoli said. Selig was unavailable for comment Saturday, but Naimoli said he hasn't mentioned the Washington group's request to the commissioner because "we have provided nothing to anyone" and have no plans to do so.

It wouldn't be easy to do such a deal anyway.

The Rays general partners, who collectively own controlling interest, would have to agree to any sale of their shares. If they do, two- thirds of baseball's 30 owners would have to give their approval before the sale would be complete.

If the Washington group got that far and later tried to move the Rays, the move also would have to be approved by the owners. Selig also can veto any move under his "best interests of baseball" powers. Baseball also as an exemption from the nation's antitrust laws, making it difficult to launch legal challenges against failed ownership takeovers.

The Devil Rays' lease at Tropicana Field runs through 2027 and prohibits the Rays to even negotiate with anyone who might try to lure the team to another stadium. The team's lease states "any violation of this provision will result in irreparable harm and damages that are not readily calculable."

No baseball team has moved since 1972, when the Washington Senators left the nation's capital for suburban Dallas. The Bay area was blocked at least three times from trying to buy teams in the 1980s and early '90s before Naimoli led a successful effort to land the expansion Devil Rays.

Rays' attendance has steadily declined since their inaugural season of 1998 and investors in the team have lost millions. This season's attendance ranks last in the American League and exceeds only Montreal in the majors. The Rays have routinely been mentioned as a likely candidate to be dissolved, should Selig follow through with a threat to fold two or more franchises after this season.

The team even was reportedly in danger of missing payroll in May before, sources said, Naimoli provided an infusion of personal cash estimated at nearly $10 million to cover operating losses for the remainder of this season. As part of the move, sources said, Naimoli offered to find investors to buy out his partners if they were tired of losing money.

The Washington group was believed to be concentrating efforts on Montreal, which is considered baseball's top candidate for relocation.

---

Well, isn't this interesting....


-New Yorker
Did you really think that Hoboken was the birthplace of Base Ball?

And by a long shot, too. So now I've heard that Montreal, Florida and Tampa Bay are moving to D.C. Can they really support 3 teams?

I'm sure Angelos is having a fit. Obviously, Washington will get its team, but if Montreal isn't the one to move its absurd. That franchise has to go. Portland's still in this thing...

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

Well, I think this is a little different than the rumors we've heard before.

For the first time in this relocation discussion (and since Beaver "bought" the Twinkies), we have an active ownership group making inquiries about a franchise. They have apparently requested the financial data.

I'm thrilled with this prospect, as I really want to see a new Senators pick up the neglected history of DC baseball.

On the other hand, this is still a long shot. The basic issues are no closer to being resolved. Angelos will still have to be paid off (although he should kiss the feet of anyone willing to bring a fierce rivalry to his backyard), the Tropicana lease will need to be resolved, etc. etc.

Not even Rays fans trust Naimoli, so take his comments with a shaker of salt.

But still, the fact that a group is taking the first steps toward buying the Rays and moving them north ought to help convince MLB that contraction isn't needed. Once they become convinced that one new market can support a team, it will be easier to convince them that a second can as well.

I think this bodes well for us.


-New Yorker
Did you really think that Hoboken was the birthplace of Base Ball?

Here's an unusual thought I haven't seen yet:

Move Tampa Bay to D.C., then move the Marlins to Tampa Bay to fulfill the terms of the lease and see how Tampa Bay supports a winner (which I expect the Marlins to be in the future). After all, they are the Florida Marlins. I've seen the reverse proposed but this actually might be more reasonable.

The Expos (or A's) move to Portland and MLB gets Miami to dangle in front of teams with no stadium deal (once that city gets its stuff together).

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

quote:

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Rays Chief Executive Officer Vince Naimoli said the team has provided no such information to any group, adding, "As far as I'm concerned, this team isn't going anywhere."

---

Well, that could be taken in more than one context.

Yeah, not to mention the little detail that nobody, not even Rays fans, ever believe him.

Bud, your theory is interesting, but I'm not sure what it would accomplish.

First of all, I'm not sure that losing the Marlins would in any way encourage Miami to get its act together and come up with a ballpark plan. So they would have as much value as, say, Montreal, in threatening other cities.

Second, I'm not sure that the Tampa area is better for a team than Miami is. You say they might support a winner. Well, so might South Florida- their previous owner cheated them of that opportunity.

Yes, the lease will need to be taken care of. But it's better for MLB just to pay it off than to force another team to linger there, losing money in a crummy, outdated and ill-advised park.

Sorry, Bud. I just don't see it.


-New Yorker
Did you really think that Hoboken was the birthplace of Base Ball?

Ryan, if you doubt DC's ability to support three MLB teams, you probably haven't read anything from Timmer, Washington Senator, DCFan, StevenBJ, and the other DCers....

I too question the Marlin move to Tampa scenario. If the Marlins swim to better waters SOMEPLACE, MLB will use Miami as the Tampa of the 2000-2010 decade. I can see either or both Florida teams moving, but not both moving with one of them moving back to Tampa. But again, we are all equal in this crystal-scrying game.

I agree that the Rays moving to DC will be good for us. And yer right: We DO want the Expos.

Portland in the National League.

Just throwing it out there. I would have never predicted the Anaheim A's thing either, but that seems to be getting a lot of play in stories and on TV (when people stop to talk about things other than the great playoff races that seem to be shaping up).

Who knows what will happen. I guess we'll find out in the off season (I hope).

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

I think the Anaheim thing is getting as much play as it is because it's bizarre enough to be a good story. Plus it comes out of nowhere.

I still highly doubt it. Contraction fees or the sale, Disney's on the hook for a tax hit either way. And we know that they want out. I see them selling the club to an owner who keeps it right where it is.

And changes back the uniforms.


-New Yorker
Did you really think that Hoboken was the birthplace of Base Ball?

I think of the Anaheim issue as a Sidd Finch story. To think a company like Disney would simply dissolve the Angels in the country's #2 city is a bit ludicrous, IMNSHO.

BTW, aren't the White Sox going to be dissolved right after the Angels so the Royals can move to Chicago?

But getting back to the Rays, what does McGriff's refusal to move to the Cubs say about the franchise? I doubt he has any "inside information" that the team is going to stay put in the long run, but it certainly looks good for them in the short run if they can point to him and say, "See? We're not going anywhere soon."

Portland in the National League.

The Chicago Royals? Ohh, there you go again, starting Internet rumors.

I love it.

It's almost as unlikely as the Milwaukee White Sox. Wait a tick....


As for the Rays, if it looks good for them in the short run if they can point to him and say, "See? We're not going anywhere soon" then why did they put him on the block?

Anyway, maybe Crime Dog's been talking to the Mayor. From today's St. Petersburg Times:

quote:

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Mayor tells investors: Devil Rays stay or else

A Washington investor group looks at the Rays. St. Petersburg's mayor tells them not to get any ideas.

By BRYAN GILMER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 19, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Mayor Rick Baker sent a warning Wednesday after learning that a group of investors working to bring Major League Baseball to Washington, D.C., signed a confidentiality agreement to consider investing in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

In a letter to a partner of the Washington Baseball group, Baker wrote that the team is legally bound to play in St. Petersburg for years and that the city is not willing to let the team out of that deal.

"Under this agreement, which we will actively protect and enforce, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will be playing baseball in Tropicana Field through the year 2027, and hopefully beyond that date," Baker wrote to Stephen W. Porter, a partner in Washington Baseball. Baker attached copies of the relevant portions of the stadium use agreement.

Porter's Washington group has an elaborate plan for building a new stadium there and has been in the market for a franchise. The group's partners have a combined personal net worth in the billions. Porter and a different group mounted an unsuccessful effort to bring a baseball team to the Tampa Bay area in the early 1990s before the group led by Vince Naimoli succeeded in getting an expansion team.

Porter denied Wednesday that his group wants to move the Rays to D.C., despite the signed confidentiality agreement his group sent to the Devil Rays to gain access to confidential team information "in connection with the potential purchase of an equity interest" in the team. The St. Petersburg Times obtained a copy.

"I know what the lease says," Porter said. "There hasn't been any discussion whatever about relocating the franchise. We can't. We absolutely can't. We have no right to move the Devil Rays."

So why buy into the Rays, then?

"Our team has been advised it wouldn't be so bad for us to buy a minority interest in a baseball team," Porter said, just to improve the group's relationship with Major League owners and increase its chances of getting another franchise for Washington.

Washington Baseball partner Fred Malek, who signed the confidentiality agreement, formerly owned a stake in the Texas Rangers at the same time President George W. Bush did.

Naimoli announced in April that the team would hire an investment banker to explore a possible sale of the Devil Rays. Though Naimoli said there have been "quite a number" of groups interested in buying the team, no banker apparently has been hired.

Devil Rays vice president and general counsel John Higgins corroborated Porter's account.

"Relocation was never any part of any discussion with Stephen Porter and was not going to be," Higgins said Wednesday. "They contacted us about a possible equity participation in the existing Tampa Bay Devil Rays, which play at Tropicana Field."

Higgins added that the team requests a confidentiality agreement before talking with any potential investor, and that since the agreement was returned June 14, the Rays have decided not to talk further with the Washington group.

"At this point in time, we have no interest in going in that direction," he said.

Naimoli said Sunday that he has no plans to sell his controlling interest and is committed to keeping the team in the Tampa Bay area.

The city's lease with the Rays prohibits the team from "any agreement or negotiations directly or indirectly for the use of any facility other than the dome for the home games of the franchise," and it allows the city to get an injunction to prevent that.

But Baker did not write a letter to the Rays on Wednesday.

"The comments made by Vince were that they weren't having any conversations with them," Baker said.

- Times staff writer John Romano contributed to this story.

---

Another salvo fired. Of course, the current owner of the Grizzlies also said he had no intentions of leaving Vancouver when he took over just a few years ago....


-New Yorker
Did you really think that Hoboken was the birthplace of Base Ball?

Just heard Jim Rome's sub quoting this from the mayor blasting the DC group. DCers sure know how to make friends.

Oh, the Romie clone scoffed at the idea that any MLB team would be playing in that "concrete pile of crap" [Tropicana] in 26 years.

Portland in the National League.

is that he mentioned no financial penalty. None.
Why isn't there one on the contract? Most contracts I know have financial penalties if you break them. Wonder how much it would be to move the Devil Rays? I'm curious. BTW,I take it Crime Dog doesn't want play in DC. My question is that why don't the Braves try to make a play for him? Hmm, more interesting stuff to mull over.

Long live SB978 and HB2941. So Long Hannon and Derfler!! You will not be missed!!! Na Na Na, Hey Hey, Goodbye!!!

What was that you said New York about the Grizzlies owner saying he would not move then a few years later move, you mean months not years NY, he bought the team officially last summer and 6 months later announced his intention to move. As for all the denials in Tamapa and DC its typical political BS, say one thing for legal purposes and do another.

You're right, I did mean months.

I also seem to recall that a St. Louis millionaire made a bid on the franchise but was quite clear that he intended to move them to St, Louie if profits didn't improve. As a consequence, he was turned down and another bid accepted.

...and, sure enough, the team is now in Memphis.


-New Yorker
Did you really think that Hoboken was the birthplace of Base Ball?

PirateNBama: I take it Crime Dog doesn't want play in DC.

He would be too overworked. Murder capital of the US. Jaywalking capital of the US. Graft, corruption, bribery capital of the US. Elected officials buying drugs and getting stung by the FBI capital of the US. Racketeering, drug-running, money-laundering, bad hair-sporting, prostitution, illegal alien houseworker/nanny, double-parking....



Portland in the National League.

Excuse me? Ahem? The "jaywalking capital of America?" I think not.

Besides, anyone willing to make a public affiliation with La La Land ought to be reluctant to point fingers about racketeering, drug-running, money-laundering, prostitution, illegal alien houseworker/nanny, double-parking and especially bad hair-sporting.


-New Yorker
Did you really think that Hoboken was the birthplace of Base Ball?

"jaywalking capital of America...La La Land"

You guys are brining back bad memories for me... I got a jaywalking ticket when I lived in L.A. while walking in the crosswalk on a green light -- apparently I entered the intersection when the red hand had already started flashing. A cop pulled over to give me that ticket. I told him, "Nobody better die in L.A. tonight while you're handing out jaywalking tickets in Westwood (just south of UCLA)." Unbelievable.

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

Wait. He pulled over to give you that ticket? Yikes.

I myself jaywalked thrice in Midtown this morning.


-New Yorker
Did you really think that Hoboken was the birthplace of Base Ball?

To quote Dale Bozzio (Missing Persons): Nobody walks in LA. The cop probably was trying to protect your out-of-town behind from being run over by some drive-by car driver. Remember, in LA, you're either a dodger or an angel.

No jaywalking or kay-, ell-, or emwalking in LA.

Portland in the National League.