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Expos' move, steroids put Selig at hot corner
The baseball commissioner sees television ratings and attendance on the rise despite the two dark clouds
By JOHN HUNT
The Oregonian
Wednesday, July 14, 2004

HOUSTON -- On the relocation of the Montreal Expos -- one of Major League Baseball's two "distractions" -- commissioner Bud Selig said there are no guarantees.

Selig, speaking at a meeting of the Baseball Writers Association of America before Tuesday's All-Star Game, said the Expos and the steroid scandal are the only negatives in a "renaissance" of the sport that has seen attendance and television ratings rise.

"There are no guarantees in this situation," he said. "Whoever gets it will get it on merit."

Selig also said he will not eliminate any of the seven markets -- Washington, D.C.; Northern Virginia; Las Vegas; Norfolk, Va.; Portland; Monterrey, Mexico; or San Juan, Puerto Rico -- until he makes the final decision on the Expos' relocation.

"Oh, I don't think we'll have time to do that," he said. "Once we've made a decision, we'll announce the decision."

That means Portland still is in the competition, at least until baseball agrees with somebody on a stadium deal. David Kahn, leader of the Oregon Stadium Campaign, said the group continues to work on its finance plan and intends to send a finalized plan to the relocation committee well before baseball's latest deadline of the owners meetings in mid-August.

"We're keeping our head down here," said Kahn, who met with a relocation committee member this spring. "But we fully expect that by August 1 or thereabouts, we will have the plan finished and sent on to the committee."

The mutual delays have helped, according to the commissioner.

"I know the delay has been tough," Selig said. "But it's given everybody time to do everything politically and pragmatically that they had to do."

On the subject of steroids, Selig repeatedly called for a tough drug policy similar to that of minor league baseball, with penalties starting at the first offense.

"It's unfair, it's wrong," Selig said of the cloud of suspicion hanging over the sport in the form of the ongoing BALCO investigation. "We're monitoring it in a myriad of ways."

One way is steroid testing, which baseball has not yet begun this season, but Selig said the process was "well under way," blaming the delay, in part, on a change of labs.

Selig said he won't leave the entire investigation up to federal officials, saying there were enough "intervening events" that demand baseball's attention.

"BALCO is one of them, the death of Steve Bechler is another one," he said.

The death of Bechler, a Medford native, has been linked to his use of ephedra, a dietary supplement.

Other topics of discussion . . .

World Cup: Selig said he still was hopeful that agreements could be reached to hold a baseball version of the soccer event in March 2005.

"The international potential is just huge, and we need to tap that," he said.

All-Star Game format: Baseball attaching meaning to the game -- awarding World Series home field advantage to the winning league -- is here to stay. Asked whether the topic is open for discussion, with dissenting views from some players and managers, Selig said, "not in my judgment."

Selig said he will talk with New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, who said he "wasn't crazy about" the format. "Marketing of the sport is a joint responsibility," Selig said. "The economic byproducts are shared jointly."

The commissioner also said he has had to do a sales job on managers to get them to do what they can to increase the competitiveness of the game. Last year's AL manager, Anaheim's Mike Scioscia, was an exception.

Playoff expansion. Selig officially has cooled on the idea of qualifying an additional team from each league for the postseason.

"A year ago, I would have said yes, we will expand the playoffs," Selig said. "But last October was so good, you start to worry about tampering with something that good."

Monday, when Selig welcomed the 14 living members of the 500-home run club, was "one of those days it was great to be the commissioner of baseball." The commissioner glowed about league attendance, which will top 40 million Friday, and ratings for the home run derby that were up about 30 percent from last year.

Selig begins each day, he said, with two items of business.

First, he checks the previous night's attendance, consulting a chart that lists all the average crowds since 1901. Thirty-thousand is the magic number, he said. Currently, major league games are played before an average crowd of 30,053. Next, he checks to see how many teams are still in contention.

"I have it at 21 now," he said.

That, according to the commissioner, is a sign that the system is working, that there is parity.

"The sport, as a whole, is in better shape," he said. "Some of the changes were painful, widely criticized and, I think, widely misunderstood.

"We're having a renaissance, by any classic definition. . . . We have labor peace now, and you can see the difference."

Meanwhile, Portland waits for its renaissance in stadium financing. Kahn met with Portland Mayor Vera Katz on Tuesday to discuss the business district component, of which parking could provide a legitimate chunk.

"I feel really positive that it's more than doable for us to prepare a plan for baseball in the next two weeks," said Kahn, who defended the decision not to attend the All-Star Game or prepare any updates for baseball officials. "Imposing an artificial deadline on ourselves we felt was not necessary."

Selig also said the arbitration and the suit by former minority owners of the Expos against Major League Baseball and former Expos owner Jeffrey Loria would not slow the relocation.

"We want to move Montreal this summer," he said. "And we will."

John Hunt: 503-294-7643; johnhunt@news.oregonian.com