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July 16, 1999

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Trouble in Portland: The documents handing over Portland Civic Stadium to the Portland Entertainment Group aren't even dry yet, and there may be problems. The Oregonian are reporting that Metro Council officials are concerned that the city may be attempting to use money the regional government may have set aside for operating the Oregon Convention Center. Mike Burton, the head of the Metro Council told Gregory Nokes that full disclosure hasn't been a part of the process. Burton's concern is that the city may have to use part of a $6 million reserve fund to help bring Triple-A baseball back to Portland. While Lynn Lashbrook and the Portland Baseball Group are working hard to bring a Major League Baseball team to the Northwest city, there doesn't appear to be a lot of support for a Triple-A team. Where that leaves the potential for a Major League team is anyone's guess.

Field of Nightmares: Seattle's Safeco Field, better known as "Field of Nightmares" is set to open tonight. Yet to be resolved is the issue of how the $100 million in cost overruns will be covered. The Seattle Mariners who had agreed to cover any cost overruns over the projected cost of $417 million, want taxpayers to pay an additional $60 million. The matter is likely headed for the courts. As to the stadium, 65 of the facilities 69 luxury suites have been leased. The rental cost, between $75,000 and $145,000, according to the Baltimore Sun. The Sun recalled that the project may have been doomed to fail from the start, when voters initially rejected a plan to finance a new stadium for the Mariners. Then Governor Mike Lowry took the bull by the horns, and called a special legislative session. Lowry managed to get a revised tax plan passed to finance the ballpark. Economic benefits aside, the fans of the Mariners, the taxpayers who thought they had a deal with the team feel betrayed. The questions Major League Baseball should be asking themselves is how have the Mariners made the sport look? The next questions Bud Selig should ask himself are how will the team be thought of in Seattle and what will the impact of the teams' request have on the team? Those are the issues that need to be discussed.

The End is Near, the End is Near: The end is near for the Montreal Expos, at least according to Boston Red Sox owner John Harrington. Harrington told USA Today's Hal Bodley that as far as he is concerned the situation with the Montreal Expos will come to a head sooner than later. Harrington went onto tell Bodley, considered one of the most respected writers covering baseball that he believed that the Expos were close to moving.

And what of realignment: John Harrington's feelings regarding the Montreal Expos is largely based on a number of different points. Firstly Major League Baseball has a schedule ready for the 2000 season, but needs to know where the Expos will be. At the same time, Harrington told the USA Today's Hal Bodley that MLB is giving serious consideration to realignment as early as the 2001 season and again needs to know where the Expos will be. As to realignment, Bodley speculates that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks may switch leagues. While it may make
sense for Tampa Bay and Florida (Miami) to be in the same league, Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo wants to stay in the National League and keep his evolving rivalries with teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. But again, before anything can happen, the situation with the Montreal Expos must be settled, and as far as SBN is concerned the Expos are playing their last season in Montreal.

Baseball and Virginia: While politicians in Portland and Charlotte may be ignoring the possibilities of Major League Baseball coming to their cities in the form of the Montreal Expos, Virginia Governor James Gilmore took the bull by its horns (there's that expression again) by attending this week's Major League All-Star Game in Boston. Richard Justice the acclaimed writer for the Washington Post reports that Gilmore attended the game as a special guest of Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci. Justice reports that on the same day the Virginia Baseball Authority delivered its study to Major League Baseball owners on the feasibility of a team coming to the area (ie. the Expos), Gilmore's presence at the All-Star game served to reinforce the image and strength of a Virginia based Major League team. As Justice points out, the prospects of the Washington area being home to a major league team may hinge on Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos. The Orioles claim that they draw 25 percent of their fan base from the Washington area and that a Major League team in that area would be detrimental to the Orioles. However, as much as Bud Selig may be opposed, sooner or later MLB is going to have to do something with the Expos, and with Charlotte and Portland falling by the wayside, MLB is going to have to take a serious look at the Washington area.

Battling and Broke Pens Update: As SBN reported yesterday, the saga of the battling and broke Pittsburgh Penguins may not quite be over. Mario Lemieux had an imposed deadline of this Friday, July 16, to have $50 million towards his purchase of the team. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review are reporting that Lemieux after seeing Roger Marino pull out his $2 million yesterday, has yet to reach terms with another key investor. Kris Mamula and Joe Starkey are reporting that Los Angeles supermarket executive Ronald Burke is negotiating to invest as much as $20 million. Lemieux has been granted a ten day extension to raise the $50 million. That isn't the only challenge Lemieux faces, according to Mamula and Starkey. Yet to be finalized is payment for the $9.5 million in back wages current and former members of the Pens are owed. As SBN said yesterday, Paul Allen and Portland are you still interested?

Trouble in the Heartland: Once Major League Baseball sorts out the problems it has with the Montreal Expos, the next franchise it has to deal with will be the Minnesota Twins. As Jay Weiner points out in yesterday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins attendance remains at the bottom of the American League. According to information Weiner obtained from the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, through the end of June, more than one-third of all Twins ticket buyers purchased tickets for a game but failed to attend the game. Weiner went back in time to discover that in 1987 when the team won the World Series and sold 2,081,976 tickets, only 9,723 ticket holders failed to show up. In 1991, when the team won the World Series again, and sold 2,293,842 tickets, 130,980 ticket holders or 5.7 percent failed to show up. The Twins sold about 4,000 season tickets in the Metrodome's upper deck at $99 per ticket this year. The Tribune reports that most of the people who have failed to show up are from those tickets. However, as far as SBN is concerned when someone buys tickets for something and doesn't bother attending, the end result more often then not is that they no longer continue to buy tickets for that teams' games. Thanks to Darren Stout for his help with this piece.

The End of an Era (July 15, 1999): Last night's Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Fenway Park will be the last game played at the old Fenway Park. Despite pleas from among others like Mark McGwire after Monday night's Home Run Derby, that baseball preserves one of its shrines, the Boston Red Sox will build a new Fenway, which incorporates much of the old ballpark. The new Fenway will include the Green Monster (the famed left field). The new Fenway will also include three decks, more than 45,000 seats (as opposed to the current 33,817), 100 luxury suites and 5,500 club seats. According to the Associated Press's Ronald Blum, the new Fenway will be 618 feet southwest of its current location. However, as the teams' owner John Harrington told Blum, before anything moves forward, a determination of how much taxpayer dollars will be used to finance the stadium will have to be established. In reality, both McGwire and Harrington are right. It is too bad that one of baseball few remaining shrines can't be saved. However, the reason need for a new home has more to do with the economics of baseball then anything else. If you want to be able to pay the contracts players are demanding you need revenues from luxury suites and club seats. A sad testimonial to the state of the game. Thanks to Darren Stout for his help with this piece.

Expos saved by the bell: Another deadline has arrived for the Montreal Expos and no big surprise here has gone. Major League Baseball commissioner Bud "B.S." Selig told the AP's, Ronald Blum that while he is monitoring the Expos situation on a daily basis, before B.S. pulls the plug on the Expos, he wants to be very sure everyone exhausted that every last avenue concerned. And now, SBN will take to the real root of the problem. There is no place for the Expos to go. Washington, the Baltimore Orioles draw 25 percent of their attendance from Washington. Baseball also fears that if the Expos move to Washington, a Peter Angelos lawsuit will follow. Charlotte, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of support for a Major League team. Portland, it's a case of "show me the money". There doesn't seem to be anyone willing to step forward with $125 million to $200 million needed to buy the Expos and get the ball rolling in Portland. The end result, there is no place for the Expos to go, other than stay where they are. The problem there is that there is no interest in the Expos in Montreal. For the second straight year the team will draw less than 1 million fans. As to the Expos new stadium? The current owners have been talking about a stadium for so long now its old news and no news. Baseball in Montreal is a dead issue.

Portland and MLB: While there doesn't appear to be a major money group behind Portland, Oregon's bid for a Major League Baseball team, Lynn Lashbrook and the Portland Baseball Group refuse to give up the dream. The group has issued a statement, denouncing the current plans for Portland's Civic Stadium, which call for a Triple-A baseball team to play in the stadium. Lashbrook cites a recent Oregonlive poll that indicated that only 13.5% of the respondents supported the actions Portland civic leaders took last week in handing over the Stadium to Marshall Glickman's Portland Entertainment Group. While the group has a great deal of enthusiasm (maybe more than any other group) it's time for someone in Portland to "show us the money", or this bid may die before it gets off the ground.

The Mariners and Safeco: Safeco Field, Seattle's "Field of Nightmares" will open on Thursday, with so many key issues yet to be resolved, one has to wonder if Armageddon is set to break out in the Northwest city. The battle lines have been drawn. The team agreed to pay for any cost overruns above the stadium's $417 million cost (the original estimates had the stadium costing $300 million, with the team paying $45 million. When the team and the city signed their 20-year lease agreement on December 23, 1996, according to the Seattle Times, the received literally everything and any revenue streams. These included as the Times reports all money from signage and naming rights (Safeco) to the stadium. It would appear to SBN that the deal favors the team, and sticks it to their fans (err the taxpayers). The Mariners sold more than $55,000 worth merchandise last week alone on the day the teams' store opened at Safeco Field, according to the Times. The team believes it will net more than $100,000 on merchandise that incorporates the Safeco Field logo in the next month alone. The biggest unresolved issue is how the $100 million in cost overruns will be covered. The agreement between the Public Facilities District and the team calls for the team to pay for any cost overruns. The team has come back to the public through and asked for an additional $60 million in public funding. As to the Safeco Field logo. The team is protecting their right to the logo. According to the Times, any vendor in the area around the stadium who attempts to use the logo will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The Mariners are once again sticking it to some of the same people whom are being forced to pay even more money for the teams' new stadium. Thanks to Darren Stout for his help with this piece.

An Example of the Challenge Baseball Faces: The St. Paul Pioneer Press takes an interesting look at how Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan is going to balance his budget. The Press reports that the teams' current payroll stands at $16 million, and according to the paper Ryan isn't quite sure he will have to decrease the budget (trade away talent), keep it as it is, or be allowed to increase the payroll. As SBN reported on several months ago (at the time of baseball's winter meetings), Twins owner Carl Pohlard was giving serious consideration to cutting the teams' player budget to $10 million. One member of the Twins the Press spoke to was Marty Cordova, whose current salary stands at $4 million a season. Cordova told the Press that he has no intention of playing for the team next year, calling the Twins a bunch of losers. One thing Pohlard should consider as the Press pointed out, the St. Paul equation. How interested will voters be in financing a stadium for a baseball team that is at, or near the bottom of the Major League talent pool? St. Paul voters will decide on November 2 if they support a new stadium for the Twins.

And Even Yet, another look at the current state of Major League Baseball: Well respected Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Bob Smizik takes yet another look at Major League Baseball at the All-Star break. Smizik wonders were the game will be in two and a half seasons when Major League's Baseball's current collective bargaining agreement comes to an end. As Smizik points out, the Pittsburgh Pirates will have played their first season in their new home, PNC Ballpark, a likely period of tremendous optimism for the Pirates and their fans. As Smizik points out MLB is poised for their first big labour battle a face off with Richie Phillips and the umpire's union this fall. While Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy doesn't believe that the end is near, he's only fooling himself. As Smizik points out there is no clear indication that baseball (both the owners and the players') have any real understanding of the current state of the game. As San Diego Padres owner Larry Luccino told Smizk the only group the current agreement is working for are the players, not the owners, or the fans that are faced with escalating ticket prices every year. As to if the players have any conception as to what is taking place, Andy Van Slyke told Smizk that there would be peace in the middle east before baseball had a salary cap When SBN spoke with the Montreal Expos Ryan McGwire, he acknowledged that while salaries where out of control a salary cap wasn't the solution. Asked what could be done, McGwire didn't have an answer. Revenue sharing, well New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, is a blind visionary, a man who still likely has the first nickel he ever made.

Allen in the House?: When you are the co-founder of Microsoft, and you already own three professional sports teams (and wanted to own a fourth), needless to say your name is always going to be linked with the potential sale of any teams
in the area you live and own your teams in. Paul Allen already owns the Seattle Seahawks, Portland Trailblazers and the new Portland franchise in the WNBA. He wanted to buy the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins before Mario Lemieux saved the franchise. Allen's name has been linked to Portland's efforts to secure a Major League Baseball team for the city. Blaine Newnham, a columnist with the Seattle Times has a new suggestion for Allen to consider. Newnham, wants Allen to give serious consideration to purchase the Seattle Mariners. As Newnham sees it (and we agree) given that the Mariners current owners are complaining about baseball's high salaries and the team claims they will not be able to afford both Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. when they become free agents at the end of the 2000 season, now is the time to sell. While Allen may be a billionaire, and someone who seems to love sports, whether or not the man wants to throw away tens of millions of dollars on a baseball is another story. However, Newnham is right about one thing, the sooner the Mariners current owners' sell the team, the better off baseball will be in Seattle.

Determination spelt with a CAPITAL D: The St. Paul Pioneer Press takes an interesting look at St. Paul's bid to build a new multi-million stadium for the Minnesota Twins. Not a great deal of people give St. Paul or their Mayor Norm Coleman much of a chance. But as Tom Powers points out, who would have ever guessed that next year St. Paul would be the home to a NHL team, in this case the expansion Minnesota Wild. Coleman believes that most taxpayers are keeping an open mind to the concept of building a $300 million stadium for the team. The plan under consideration calls for among other things, the Twins to contribute $100 million, with St. Paul taxpayers paying most of the remaining $300 million associated with the project. St. Paul taxpayers will have their say with a referendum on November 2. One of Coleman's strongest points according to Powers is the arena being built for the Wild. Coleman also points out that the Twins could bring more than 3 million to St. Paul and have an economic impact of $300 million. One issue Coleman seems to have forgotten. A few weeks ago, Wild president Jay Rutledge announced that announced that the teams' yet to be completed, yet to ever be played in facility is already outdated and needs $150 million in improvements.

Playing the Stadium Game: The Denver Post are reporting that the Denver Broncos new stadium has a maximum construction price of $364.2 million. Earlier estimates had the cost of the stadium 76,125 seat stadium fixed at $360 million. According to the Post the taxpayer portion will be $289 million, with the teams' paying $111 million. Hold on, that's $400 million, not $362 million. The other costs are associated with what is being referred to as 'development costs.' The budget also sets aside $10.4 million for cost overruns. Interesting according to the Post's Julia Martinez, the guaranteed cost means that the developers and not the team or taxpayers would be responsible for any additional cost overruns. This of course comes on the heals of the fiasco involving the building of Seattle's Safeco Field, with cost overruns for that stadium topping $100 million, and a developing battle in Raleigh, North Carolina where the new home of the Carolina Hurricanes is so over budget developers there are being told that they will be responsible for any additional overruns.

Has it already been a year?: In an interesting article, Associated Press reporter Ronald Blum takes a look at Bud Selig's first year as baseball commissioner. Blum points out that essentially little if anything has changed about Selig in the last year. Blum feels that most of Selig's decisions are made later than sooner (we couldn't agree more), and that he often tells people what they want to hear (two for two). SBN appreciates Selig's lifelong love for the game. Furthermore, SBN appreciates how challenging the times are for the game and professional sports altogether. Nevertheless, SBN has many questions about the future of Major League Baseball. The season began with a belief that for 18 to 20 of the teams they would not be able to compete with baseball's upper echelon. Baseball's class system has never been more apparent than it is today. Last year the only teams that played .500 or better baseball had payrolls in excess of $48 million. Is that a competitive sport, is that a sport headed in the right direction, is that a sport with strong leadership? Ask yourself those questions and then determine what kind of a year Major League Baseball had under the leadership of Bud Selig.

Read this entire article on the Sports Business News website.