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Selig says Davis remarks not a factor in Nationals sale

By RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
July 12, 2005

DETROIT (AP) -- Baseball commissioner Bud Selig says remarks by a congressional committee chairman against billionaire George Soros won't be considered as the sport weighs offers for the Washington Nationals.

Rep. Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican who chairs the House Government Reform Committee, told Roll Call last month that ``major league baseball understands the stakes'' if the group Soros is a part of purchases the first-place team.

``It has no affect on how we select the ownership in Washington,'' Selig said Tuesday during a pre-All-Star game question-and-answer session with the Baseball Writers' Association of America. ``This is a baseball decision. It is not a political decision, nor should politics interfere with any decision we're making.''

Soros, who supports liberal causes, and his Soros Fund Management are partners in the Big Train Holdco Bid, headed by former Washington Capitals part-owner Jon Ledecky. Davis chaired congressional hearings critical of baseball's steroids rules and has pushed for federal legislation to override them.

``I don't think they want to get involved in a political fight,'' Roll Call quoted Davis as saying.

``I don't think it's the Nationals that get hurt. I think it's Major League Baseball that gets hurt. They enjoy all sorts of exemptions,'' he said, referring to the sport's antitrust exemption.

As many as eight groups are bidding for the Nationals, the former Montreal Expos. The franchise was purchased by the other 29 clubs before the 2002 season and moved to Washington last winter.

``Davis certainly didn't intend to politicize the subject,'' said Dave Marin, a spokesman for the congressman. ``He was asked by a single reporter for his opinion on George Soros owning the Nationals, and he simply said he hoped that didn't happen.''

Selig anticipates the team will be sold within a few months.

``We're moving along,'' he said. ``I'm very confident it will be done this summer, no question, have a new owner there.''

Selig originally hoped to sell the team by 2003 but said there were reasons the process has dragged out.

``Do I wish we could have done this a year or two ago? Of course,'' he said. ``The cities weren't ready. They couldn't produce on stadiums. The political process, as those of you from the Baltimore-Washington area know, moves slowly, and not only there but everywhere.''

AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich in Washington contributed to this report

So this statement from Bud caught me alittle because I thought the final OSC proposal met the deadline.
``The cities weren't ready. They couldn't produce on stadiums. The political process, as those of you from the Baltimore-Washington area know, moves slowly, and not only there but everywhere.''

He really doesn't take us seriously. He moved on to San Juan, Monterrey, etc.. We never got back into the race even though we followed the letter of the original RFP.

BB is a little bit upset.

It's been commented on by Maury and others that the upper echelon of the league looked at the Washington/N.Virginia area as their most-coveted option. You may recall when word come out of the league agreeing to a conditional award proposed by the D.C. people and it was then concluded that the other suitors were placed at a disadvantage. The league wouldn't agree to a conditional award unless they want to get into a geographical area. So the rest is plainly spin.

Well, the league is about to make a killing with the sale and stadium plan, but that's been also discussed before.

Portland had (and has) HALF the plan ready.

If Portland had the FULL plan ready and enacted (not just silently arranged and subject to more negotiation), it might have been considered. I do believe that they'd have taken half a DC plan over all of a Portland plan in the end, but I'm betting it would have received more than the usual publicity.