The fate of the current incarnation of Major League Baseball, Inc., in Montréal, currently rests in the hands of two legal bodies: The American Arbitration Association in New York, and United States District Court, Southern District of Florida. In Florida, a complaint filed under the RICO act alleges a conspiracy on the part of Jeffrey Loria and Major League Baseball to defraud the Canadian partners in the Expos of their share in the major league franchise and to destroy baseball in Montréal. Subsequently, the judge in Florida, Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages, ordered arbitration on the matter of fraud allegedly being committed by Loria against the Canadian partners. The arbitration order was based on a clause in the contract agreed when Loria bought into the team.
This section of my Web site is a blog devoted to keeping track of internet-located information about the progress of the arbitration and law suit, and of Major League Baseball's plans to move the franchise to another city. Some of the material and commentary will be posted after the fact, so to speak, but will enable people to follow the story in chronological order. The most recent entry is posted first, so if you are unacquainted with all details, start at the bottom.
I've been putting it off, but the time has come to acknowledge it's all over. The Canadian Partners lost the arbitration hearing, and the RICO suit was allowed to lapse. Although there do remain question marks over the future of MLB in Washington, DC, now that an anti-new-stadium council majority exists, it would be utterly pointless to move the Expos back to Montréal. There is no viable ownership group there.
Tomorrow is the day everyone expects some kind of announcement concerning the arbitration case. Since the arbitration process is done in private, the public may have to wait a day or two more before we know the result; or it may be that we will learn at once. Either way the uncertainty for fans of the Expos in Montréal will soon be over. I can't believe that MLB will be too eager to see the RICO suit advance very far down the road to a resolution in court.
It seems, according to a Montréal newspaper, that Loria offered $15 million to the Canadian partners to go away in one of two offers. They turned it down. It probably wouldn't even cover their legal costs, so perhaps ranks as something of an insult. I suspect Loria's afraid he'll lose the arbitration in some form, and that he may even wind up losing control of the Marlins to the Canadian Partners. That would be a pretty kettle of fish for all parties. (Article in French.)
The Bronfman Interview
A poster to the French-language board at the official Expos' site reports an interview between one of the Canadian Partners, Steven Bronfman, with CKAC, a Montréal French-language radio station. The summary reports that Bronfman believes that the Canadian Partners will win the arbitration, but that the Expos won't be coming back to Montréal. Not having heard the interview, one can't really say much more than that if the summary is correct, there is little hope of seeing the team back in town. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to track down any more information about this exchange.
A big scandal in Québec concerns a federal programme that funnelled money to Québec public relations and advertising firms in order to promote Canadian unity in the wake of the 1995 referendum on Québec sovereignty. (Non-Canadians may not know that Québec came within in a whisker of voting for separation from Canada that year, which gave the heebie-jeebies to a Liberal government heavily dependent on Québec ridings for their majority.) It turns out one of the indirect beneficiaries was the Expos, who received at least one sponsorship deal from Publicité Martin. PM's former president, Jacques Paradís, has been arrested by the Mounties, accused of making false expenses claims as part of this deal. I have often wondered if part of the hostility of the Parti Québecois toward the new stadium is down to the Expos agreeing to promote Canadian unity in this way. It is not like they are a symbol of Québec in the way Les Habitents in hockey are.
16 October 2004
The Associated Press reports that the Washington city council has chosen to vote on the financial measures to renovate Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium on 7th December. Meanwhile, the day before, the Miami court where the RICO suit will be heard has schedule its hearings on the injunction that could prevent the Expos from moving to the District of Columbia. Rather sadly, to the likes of me, the lawyer for Jeffrey Loria has suggested he may ask the media to be blocked from attending the injunction hearing, for fear that sensitive and private financial information concerning the Marlins would become public knowledge. Of course, they are in negotiations concerning the construction of a stadium themselves, are they not?
Living Out of Suitcases (Registration Required)
Tony Tavares is apparently running the D.C. [Team Name to Be Announced] out of an hotel room. One could make all kinds of cheap remarks about the kinds of business conducted in hotel rooms, but I'll restrict myself to just the allusion. Meanwhile, back in Montréal, it seems that Claude Delorme, the longstanding executive vice-president for business affairs, is winding things up for the Expos. But it gives me the opportunity to point out that the Expos hold an option on 81 home games at Olympic Stadium. I guess that's MLB's fallback position.
2 October 2004
Kennedy (registration required)
So read the official campaign button of the RFK for President campaign in 1968. And, having said that I wasn't going to follow the D.C. stadium finance story closely, my next blog entry covers exactly that. A D.C. council member, Adrian M. Fenty, has proposed that no new stadium is necessary when the Franchise Formerly Known as Expos can play at RFK Memorial Stadium. This would, of course, invalidate the agreement between the city and Major League Baseball. What would happen then is anybody's guess at the moment. However, as far as MONTRÉAL baseball fans are concerned, this news should offer no hope. The Commissioner has done with a city his statements and actions suggest he has come to hate viscerally. The only people capable of bringing Major League Baseball back are the Canadian Partners, via the RICO suit. And while that provides no certainty, it is a plausible longshot.
1 October 2004
Selling D.C. Stadium Finance Legislation
Mayor Anthony Williams, backed by seven members of the city council, appeared at a press conference that launched the public relations campaign on behalf of the financing legislation for the new stadium. The Washington Times report, looked to above, is more sceptical about the proposed scheme than the Post's, which kid of reflects the attitudes of the respective reporters. I won't be following the course of this story closely, since the only game in town for keeping the Expos in Montréal is now the fraud arbitration and the RICO suit, and any possible associated injunction.
30 September 2004
Of course, the Expos can't be the Expos any more. Past relocations have produced mixed results for names. The Browns became the Orioles, while the Braves stayed the Braves. The Athletics gradually became the A's via Kansas City and Oakland, although Athletics still features on the logo. The Dodgers and Giants are still the Dodgers and Giants, but the Senators became Twins or Rangers. Oh, and the Pilots became the Brewers when a certain Milwaukee car salesman got a hold of them. But can the name be changed before the team is sold? That's an interesting question.
29 September 2004
Washington Wins! Wins What? Higher Taxes!
First in war, first in peace, last in the NL East? At least it might rhyme now. The point being that MLB officially announced Washington the winner in the 2002-2004 Relocation Steeplechase. Well, what happens next? We have to await the filing of any injunction on behalf of the Canadian Partners by attorney Jeffrey Kessler. See you in court, Bud.
18 September 2004
MLB on Course to Meet Another Deadline (registration required)
Having laughed at MLB's deadlines for years, I may now have to eat my words. This article suggests that the Executive Committee will meet to discuss both relocating the Expos and compensating Orioles' boss Peter Angelos. It also defines how to handle the tricky issue of local broadcasts, which is to create a combined Washington-Baltimore network, and split the proceeds between the teams. Now why can't that kind of creative energy be used in Canada? Incidentally, the article lists who is on the Executive Committee. With the exception of Peter Magowan, I'm not impressed. Replace Mr Magowan with Steinbrenner and you'd almost have a long list of the most offensive owners in MLB.
No, No November (Article in French)
A curious report appeared on Reseau TQS in Québec, suggesting that MLB was evacuating Montréal on 30 November. Of course, this was promptly denied by Expos executive vice-president Claude Delorme.
'Major League Baseball Is So Screwed Up…'
More words of wisdom from a District politician, as Jack Evans, the DC Council's finance committee chairman engages in a little needling as District officials dicker with MLB ones over the use of RFK. I don't read too much into this, it sounds like posturing in connexion with negotiations to me. But a lot of truth comes out in politicians' posturing; it's just they forget it when it's convenient to them.
The Daily Press in Hampton Roads reminds the world about the Norfolk bid. Coming from a nautical family (as opposed to a political or gambling one), I've always kind of liked this one best; but no way is it a comparable baseball market to Montréal.
Loria's Legal Insurance (Article in French)
La Presse de Montréal has a note concerning a legal action being pursued by Jeffrey Loria. In April 2001 he took out an insurance policy covering the costs of potential legal actions in relation to his ownership of the Expos. (An interesting chronology there, although I'm sure such policies are commonly taken out by companies, and it might just have been renewed each April.) American Home Assurance has been reluctant to pay out the C$12.4 million, and Loria has been forced to take the matter to court. There's irony for you.
Washington Expos (Registration Required)
Jerry Reinsdorf led the relocation committee to Northern Virginia and Washington, DC, this week. A very long meeting with DC officials appears, according to the Washington Post, to have been concerned with arranging the use of RFK stadium for a transplanted Expos team. As usual, one of the Commissioner's moves begs more questions after answering one. The intent, in line with his statements about getting rid of Montréal earlier this summer, is to move the Expos to the District. Here they will be like the Expos currently, owned by the other 29 teams, and waiting for someone to buy the team. But what if public financing of a new stadium proves difficult to get? Then they will be really like the Expos, playing in an old facility with little hope of a new one – and in that case will the relocation committee get a new lease of life? Will anyone be willing to pay the high price MLB appears to want for the Expos then? And what if another owner thinks he or she can make a go of District baseball? Do we face another franchise shuffle, like the one that took Loria to Florida and Henry to Boston? Methinks the Commissioner's heartfelt hatred of Montréal is getting the better of his head nowadays.
'These Owners Stick You Up' (Registration Required)
He's right, you know. This is a more worrying development for MLB hopes in the District than observers have yet admitted. One option available is to ram any project through before the new members take their seats on the District Council, but it's worth bearing in mind that boycotts have a good record of success in the African-American community. Does MLB really want to alienate from the start a portion of its potential fan base, even if it is a portion unlikely to be able to buy season tickets? Or they could seek to buy off the opponents somehow.
16 September 2004
Canadian Partners to Seek Injunction
ESPN reports an Associated Press story by Ronald Blum (who goes unrecognized by the sporting behemoth) that Jeffrey Kessler, the Canadian Partners' attorney, has said they will be filing an injunction in due course to prevent the move of the Expos prior to the resolution of the RICO suit. However, it is worth bearing in mind that in order to maintain the status quo, the Partners have to demonstrate they would suffer irrecoverable losses if MLB pursued its still-secret plans. It's conceivable that a court would say that since the partners are not benefiting substantially in the current MLB-owned setup, the team can be moved now, even if it is subsequently re-relocated back to the jewel of the St Lawrence. The hearing on the injunction may not be until November, so don't let fretting about it spoil your hopes concerning the postseason prospects of the Florida Marlins, swept yesterday by the Expos in a doubleheader.
15 September 2004
MLB Informs Court: Relocation Imminent (Registration Required)
Tucked away in an article about the governor of Virginia's concern about the bonds intended to fund the construction of the Northern Virginia stadium is the statement from a Loudoun County official that MLB has informed the court where the RICO case has been filed that it is giving notice of moving the Expos from Montréal. However, MLB declines to say where the team is going yet. Credit where it's due, though, as MLB seem to have stuck to a deadline.
14 September 2004
Round and Round and Round They Go…
You may recall that the Washington Times reported at the end of August that a decision was expected in two or three weeks. (See below, 'Ask Me Tomorrow, Not Today'.) And now a new round of relocation committee meetings has been scheduled for this week. However, this time they are only meeting the Northern Virginia (Tuesday) and Washington (Wednesday) claimants to the Expos. Where that leaves Norfolk is an open question. It could be the case that the merits Norfolk's proposal are clear. Or alternatively that they have been ruled out of contention. Whatever way one looks at it, MLB is in danger of letting another leaked self-imposed deadline slip.
28 August 2004
A busy week at work and in relocation reporting means a very long blog entry for today. But it's really worth working through it all, as there have been some important developments. The most recent story is first, so you might want to start at the bottom. I predict next week we'll hear all about the glories of Norfolk, navy town.
Hal Bodley, at USA Today, has a little box saying the schedule for 2005 currently has only the franchise nickname, and not a location, for the Expos. Maybe, as with the recent make-up game in San Francisco, the Expos could play all their home games in their opponents' stadiums.
Loudon County Chairman Scott York sounds a pessimistic note about the Northern Virginia bid. I'm not surprised, reading this article, since people are quoted as saying all the kinds of things that the Commissioner does not want to hear: 'Baseball is not a priority, education is;' 'the stadium should be a private venture, not a public venture.' Maybe the Commissioner wants to 'get rid' of them, too.
Eric Fisher, relocation expert at the Washington Times, has heard that a decision on the Expos' future will be taken in two or three weeks. Well, we've heard lots of deadlines before. The only thing that I'd say gives this one more weight is that I understand the final arguments on the arbitration case will be held in mid-September. If the arbitrators issue their decision promptly, this deadline could stick. The article talks about the meetings held by the MLB relocation committee with the two District bids. Interestingly, the relocation committee spent twice as long with the D.C. group as with the northern Virginia one. Next week, more meetings for the relocators. Don't these guys have teams and leagues to run?
How to Rob the Fans in Other Cities
Portland mayor Vera Katz, and stadium campaigner David Kahn unveiled their new financing plan for a facility in Portland that would help the city steal a team from another area. It has these elements: a tax on salaries of players and team officials, a tax on tickets that has gone up by nearly three-quarters since the original proposals (so Portland baseball fans will have to pay extra for the privilege of a team), taxes on businesses in the stadium district such as hotels, reallocating money currently being used to pay the cost of reconstructing PGE park, and a $3.5 million annual lease paid by the team. PGE Park would be torn down. At least one possible successor to Mayor Katz doesn’t like the scheme. The usual suspects are listed as possible tenants –the Athletics, the Twins and the Marlins. How do you like those apples?
District of Columbia finance committee chairman Jack Evans says that the District may not welcome a team intended eventually to occupy the Loudon County site in northern Virginia playing at RFK. He's skeptical about Virginia Baseball's development scheme for the area surrounding the stadium, too.
D.C Voters Say No to Stadium Plan (Registration Required)
A survey conducted by a labour union, and reported in the Washington Post, suggests that voters in the District are not enthusiastic at the prospect of paying for a $300 million stadium. They would rather any extra money raised from the District's economy went towards needy social programmes. Mayor Williams thinks he can have both. Given the global reluctance of businesses to pay for anything that they cannot calculate a direct return on, I'd be surprised if the mayor is right.
State Senator John Chichester, apparently an old-fashioned Main Street Republican, points out that moral obligation bonds, intended to help finance the construction of the Northern Virginia stadium, are not intended to help out private enterprise. Well, the MLB owners have constructed a kind of socialism for the rich, so the idea that capitalism is meant to be risky might be culturally alien to them.
The Knothole Gang Looks Forward
An article summarizing the state of play on Portland's bid for a Major League team includes a reference to the possible relocation of the Oakland, Florida and Minnesota franchises. Fans of these teams should join with fans of the Expos in condemning not necessarily the principle of relocating a weak franchise, but the manner in which the Commissioner and his cohorts have managed the process involving Montrèal. Setting communities against one another is a no-win situation for fans of baseball wherever they may be.
Several big cheeses from MLB took a tour of RFK stadium in the presence of several big cheeses in the D.C. civic administration. They also held a meeting at the Washington offices of a Milwaukee-based law firm, who no doubt charged them for the privilege, and may have served Wisconsin cheese. Remind me, which team did the Commissioner own? The article also suggests that officials anonymously have expressed a preference for Northern Virginia.
Chris Chambliss on the Relocation Crisis
This doesn't really add anything to the story, but perhaps one ought to pause and reflect on the possibility that ballplayers might be more intelligent than owners when it comes to recognizing the best interests of baseball. Chambliss's 'best comment' is absolutely correct. The fault all this has dragged on for so long, in such a demoralizing manner for baseball fans in Montréal, D.C., Norfolk, and elsewhere, rests with the people responsible for the ownership la ronde that took Loria to Florida and Henry to Boston.
'But the Expos will not be in Montréal next year'
And you can add that to the list published by Canadian political commentator Colby Cosh here. The Commissioner visited Jacobs Field and passed a comment about the Expos. Am I the only person writing about this subject that remembers what a lame status the Cleveland Indians possessed in the 1980s and early 1990s? Does that mean the irony of the Commissioner making such a statement at Jacobs Field is lost on everyone but me?
Because there are important people and huge sums of money involved, you'll often see the media stories surrounding the issue of the Expos saying one thing in the headline, and then revealing something really important — if they bother at all — in a concluding paragraph. Financing the Northern Virginia plan involves an extensive commercial and residential development in the area surrounding the stadium. Well, how about this — the Virginia Baseball Club doesn't actually own all the land yet. Now that is not a problem in itself, because the new stadium is not due to be functioning for about three years. But it does throw another variable into the problem of moving the Expos to D.C.
September, October, November (registration required)
A round-up about the decisions taken at the owner's meeting in the Washington Post includes a long description of issues affecting the possibility of relocating the Expos. There is much more interesting information than I can summarize here, but some owners are reported to have said in private that the decision might be delayed to their next meeting in November. There is also a horrendous quote from the Commissioner which just underlines why his handling of the Expos' situation should have compelled the owners to fire him, not give him a contract extension. Having imposed a deadline on moving the Expos, he then admits that none of his alternatives is ready to receive them. How many millions has he lost the owners by having them buy the Expos from Jeffrey Loria? Are the owners stupid?
The Dark Force on the Side (registration required)
Barry Levinson has a conversation with a tinfoil-hatted friend about the real power in Major League Baseball. Now here is a funny thing: This is from a Baltimore paper, and I've noticed in surveying the media that you can tell an owner's views through what the local press's opinion pieces say about any given baseball matter. You don't mean to say…
New Relocation Shortlist Emerges
An unattributed source told Ronald Blum of the Associated Press that the shortlist of possible sites for a moved Expos franchise had been reduced to four: Northern Virginia, Washington city, Las Vegas, and Norfolk. President DuPuy was also reported as saying: 'Eventually, these discussions are going to have to evolve to a point where either we say or the municipality or governmental entity says, "We're as far as we can go."'
Meanwhile, William Somerindyke, a key pitchman for the Norfolk bid, says that the ball's really in MLB's court. Norfolk Baseball can't go any further without knowing that they have the team.
Washington Waits, Patience Plummets
Eric Fisher, who has been following this story for the Washington Times, launches his report on the relocation committee's meeting with some barely veiled annoyance. Problems connected with math are beginning to have an impact on the plausibility of the Expos' relocation in time for next season. D.C. officials need four to six months in order to prepare RFK stadium for baseball, and that means they need to start work in October. But add at least another month to that to allow the D.C. legislative Council to put the financing package in place. Meanwhile, Viriginia needs to get the funding together by December 31st. That could take a month and a half. Time is pressing hard against the Northern Virginia bid, which needs to use both RFK and a new stadium, and is reportedly far less sympathetically viewed by the D.C. politicians.
An impartial news source omits our favourite name in a round-up of the agenda set before the owners in Philadelphia. You have to get to the last paragraph before Nos Amours are mentioned.
Martin Dion at RDS offers his view that the Expos will still be in Montréal in 2005. He bases it on a combination of management comments to the staff of the Stade Olympique and Claude Delorme's negotiations with the stadium authority. I hope he's right, but you wouldn't think it reading U.S. sites. (Article in French)
D.C. Owners in Waiting (registration required)
An excellently written Washington Post piece describing the some of the highlights of the race to own the D.C. Expos, from a D.C. perspective. There was the Snyder-Johnson offer, that the Commissioner lost when he took so long because he wanted to sort out a stadium first, and make sure the other 29 owners made a handsome profit on the sale. Mark Broxmeyer joins a few others in wanting to own a D.C.-area ballclub. A price tag of $500 million is set by a sports business analyst after adding up the purchase, the expense of building a stadium, and compensation for Mr Angelos. New president and CEO of the Washington Baseball Club (the Malek group), Jeffrey Zients, dismisses the Northern Virginia bid as 'too far out'. (In what sense?) Does anyone think that if an ownership group was willing to spend US$500 million on baseball in Montreal that the team there wouldn't be a success after years of penny pinching? And a team could still play in D.C., all it takes is an expansion, which might win concessions from the MLBPA on other matters. But spending money to make money is apparently not in the current ownership crowd's interest. Unless it's the taxpayers' money to make the owners' money.
An L.A. Times Dodger diary includes a note about the lineup of those likely to vote with Angelos. It's the same list of suspects, with the exception that San Francisco is substituted by Anaheim. The logic is that the Blue Ribbon panel a few years back suggested that third teams could be placed in certain large markets, and this would not be in the interest of the likes of New York or L.A. teams. I suspect some log-rolling by Angelos, but it might be the case that San Francisco, the Mets, and the Angels would be more worried and less susceptible to the Commissioner's arm twisting than the others on the list. So that gives Baltimore Peter four votes to play with.
Montréal purgatoire, Sacrament!
USA Today columnist Hal Bodley, who is very close to President DuPuy, weighs in with his opinion about the whole situation. It can be summed up with, 'get a move on, Mr Commissioner'. He characterizes the absence of a baseball stadium in D.C., the potential financing problems of building a new one there, not actually having an owner, and the objections of Mr Angelos, as 'minutiae'. Well, Hal, how'd you like to invest in my idea for a trans-Atlantic railroad tunnel. Take a train from New York to Paris. What? The Atlantic is really wide? Aw, Hal, that's just minutiae.
Would You Buy a Used Franchise from Him?
Hal Bodley also does a little reporting in USA Today, with quotes from the Commissioner, President DuPuy, and Mr Angelos. He also says the relocation committee likes the D.C. area best. Mr Angelos says that the Commissioner's word is good enough for him. Peter, the man's a used-car salesman.
U.S.A. Today columnist Bob Nightengale, in his 'The Buzz' note on the top right of this Web page, suggests that the Expos will be moved temporarily to D.C. for a couple of years, without necessarily having its ownership issues sorted out. This announcement would trigger the 90 days' notice of any move injunction held by the Canadian Partners. Legal battles would ensue. Lawyers would make money. Fans in two of North America's leading cities would grumble. Yes, it's another public relations' nightmare for MLB under the current Commissioner's watch. Why, let's give him a contract extension!
Columinst Tracy Ringolsby lists seven potential opponents to a move by the Expos to DC: the New York teams, the Chicago teams, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and of course Baltimore. Well, maybe. Reinsdorf is a good friend of the Commissioner and has headed up the relocation committee, and Steinbrenner was the catalyst in the current Expos crisis. McCourt got his team through the grace and favour of the Commissioner. The rest can look at the large sums of money they are paying to the Expos.
Finally, someone has something to say about the RICO suit. Jayson Stark at ESPN suggests that it will cause MLB to delay it's decision on the Expos. Good for him.
D.C. Votes No to Las Vegas (registration required)
The Washington Post, which fearlessly set the tone for a generation of wannabe news reporters with its journalistic assault on the Nixon White House over Watergate, now uncovers one or two unpalatable facts about the Las Vegas bid for an MLB franchise.
Speaking of the 1972 campaign to re-elect the president, Fred Malek is in the news again. His firm, Thayer Capital Partners, didn't follow proper SEC procedure in handling some matters for the for the state of Connecticut Retirement and Trust Funds. So now he has to pay $250,000 to avoid fraud charges. There's just so much red tape these days…
'A lot of holes in the desert…'
While the media stories have implied that the future of the Expos lies in the vicinity of the District of Columbia, Commissioner Selig and President DuPuy have been more guarded than people have emphasized. Thus, now that the Angelos factor and stadium-financing issues have emerged more prominently, PR machines go to work to remind us that there are alternatives to D.C., such as Las Vegas. This is why all baseball fans should completely oppose the process instituted by the Commissioner, which sets one community against another, and one set of fans against another, in an ugly zero sum game in which the only winners are the owners. Today my team, tomorrow yours - unless you stump up a few bucks for a new stadium, in addition to buying tickets, merchandise, etc.
A Murray Chass column from the New York Times (appearing on the azcentral.com Web site to save people the hassle of registration) manages to overlook the question of the RICO suit and arbitration. Sportswriters aren't legal experts, and they need to ensure themselves access to the MLB trust's franchise holders. So we shouldn't be too censorious of its going unmentioned. But Web bloggers have no such qualms, and MLB's propaganda war to make us all forget about the biggest potential problem to the Expos' relocation deserves every challenge. It would go against the grain of the American legal system for a group of foreign entities to win over a pillar of the U.S. establishment, one that certainly has the ear of the White House, so one shouldn't get overconfident. But it remains the case that this could not only trip up the attempt to move the Expos out of Montreal, but also cause considerable embarrassment to MLB should they give a contract extension to a man subsequently found to have been running a racket.
The speaker of the Virginia House, is not so keen on using taxpayers' money to subsidise the construction of the stadium near Dulles. And it turns out the financial calculations made by the Northern Virginia ownership group are based on a payroll of $53 million with an attendance of 1 million. Is that the profile of a winner? Or another small-market whine waiting to happen?
Interview with the Tidesmaster
It won't be up for long, in my experience, but The Virginian-Pilot's interview with Alfred E. Abiouness reveals that he had a chat with Angelos at the All-Star Game. I expect the link will be dead within a few days, but I'll leave it up as a monument to the ephemerality of the Internet – one can't even wrap fish in it.
MLB Officials Visit Northern Virginia
Of course, I spend some time away from the Internet to deal with a family barbecue and lots happens. President DuPuy and Relocation Committee chairman Jerry Reinsdorf (also owner of the White Sox and a close ally of the commissioner) made a fact-finding visit to the NoVa ownership group to discuss their arrangements for financing a new ballpark. According to the story, DuPuy declined to announce a new deadline for a relocation announcement. Finally somebody has learned a lesson? Of equal import, perhaps, is the following: 'District officials have promised Northern Virginia a difficult negotiation process [over use of RFK] should the commonwealth prevail.' So we can already see one possible long-term effect of this whole exercise: MLB officials get to play one community off against another, just like the International Olympic Committee has been known to do. Wasn't there a scandal about that a while back?
The financing arrangements for the construction of a major-league facility in Portland, Oregon, are going through the legislature. But one of the objections to the Norfolk, Virginia, bid for the Expos was the absence of a principal owner to lead the group (just like Montreal?). This role has now been filled by Alfred E. Abiouness, who is involved with the Tides, the local minor-league team.
Peter Angelos was quoted in the New York Times as saying "You don't destroy a franchise in return for some kind of cash payment." Not mentioned here, but a factor in the negotiations, is that the financing on the plans for moving the Expos to Northern Virginia or Norfolk are partly dependent on a 31st December deadline related to the use of state tax revenues generated at any. In coming months we may see more agitation from DC for a quick decision on the part of the Collins-led ownership syndicate than by the rival Malek-led one. MLB or whoever needs to sign a document of intent before that 31st December deadline.
Dupuy Announces Possible Delay
This item is by USA Today columnist Hal Bodley. Scroll down to see the short item saying that the expected announcement of the fate of the Expos at the owners' meeting in Philadelphia on August 18-19 may not made. Veteran Expos' watchers will know this is nothing new. MLB has presented numerous deadlines for a decision about the Expos' ownership, and has missed them all. You'd think MLB's leaders would learn something.
'Mais nous devons être prêts…'
Claude Delorme, Executive Vice President for Operations of the Expos, has been discussing a one-year renewal of the Expos' lease for Ståde Olympique with the stadium's administration. 'L'intention du baseball majeur est de déménager les Expos mais nous devons être prêts si l'équipe resta à Montréal.' There is a November deadline for a lease to be in place in time for the 2005 season. (Article in French.)
US$40 million Reasons Against Relocation!
Peter Angelos, owner of the Baltimore Orioles, set the cost of moving a franchise to Washington, D.C., to his team at US$40 million. Of course, he enthuses on how fans can easily travel between the two cities to see a game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, but one has to wonder whether his real concern is the potential impact of a 'Washington Expos' on the Orioles' cable market.
Tony Tavares, president of the Expos, performs a routine worthy of Just for Laughs, describing how he has been speaking in good faith the last three times he said the Expos were playing their last season in Montreal. It turns out only Bud Selig knows for sure about any decision to relocate the Expos. (Article in French.)
After yesterday's certainty, player leader Donald Fehr denies he told the Expos' player representatives that the franchise was moving to the D.C. area. MLB president DuPuy also said that the reports exaggerated the certainty of the Expos' destination for 2005. One gets the impression that perhaps a player rep expressed what he wanted to hear about certainty, and not what he was told, in a conversation with a journalist.
Players Told They Are Going to D.C.
Major League Baseball Players' Association leaders Donald Fehr and Gene Orza apparently told Expos' player representatives Brian Schneider and Brad Wilkerson that the team would be relocated to one of the District of Columbia sites. This is the most certain announcement yet made by anyone in an official capacity of the future destination of the Montreal franchise. But where does the RICO suit stand in all this?
Evan Weiner writes perceptively about the whole strategy employed by the Commissioner of Baseball to get new stadia built for franchises. The grim reality is that the threat of contraction in 2002 was levied against two municipalities where support for publicly funded stadium construction was unforthcoming. Baseball in Montréal is as much a victim of the commissioner's determination to have new stadia built, as of any lack of support from Montréal fans.
An interview with William Collins in which he suggests that Peter Angelos shouldn't have a problem with a D.C. team at the Dulles site. I'll believe it when I hear Angelos say it.
Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig spoke to the Baseball Writers' Association of America and touched on some matters affecting the Expos and contraction. He said that contraction was no longer being considered. He also said that a permanent home would be found for the Expos this summer. Where have I heard that before? And he more or less threatened Miami and Oakland with the loss of their teams. Where, I wonder, does all that leave Minnesota?
Meanwhile, MLB president Bob DuPuy was doing some talking of his own. He declared a 'good working goal' for a solution to the Expos' home would be the August 18-19 owners' meeting in Philadelphia. Well, I guess that might depend on how busy Jeff Loria's lawyer is, since supplementary arbitration hearings are due to be held in August.
This Year, Next Year, Some Time…
DuPuy: 'I believe it is very important we get this done this year.' Yes, I'd agree, but maybe not in the way you mean.
MLB's plans suffered a serious setback when the arbitrators arranged for a supplementary meeting in August, well past the All-Star break deadline set by MLB. The arbitrators have to report their findings thirty days after their last hearing, so theoretically that means no decision could be released until September. Or they could release their decision promptly after the last hearing. We'll see. We also need to see what the Commissioner is going to do. Will he announce the move of the Expos anyway come July? (Article in French.)
Finally, the arbitration hearings get underway. There was some delay thanks to Jeffrey Loria's lawyer needing to tend to other business out of the country. The panel is headed by Paul Friedland. Several important people are to give testimony, including Paul Beeston, former MLB president, who will be appearing for the plaintiffs, the Canadian partners.
16 July 2002
Not my headline. Sports Illustrated trotted that one out when they reported on the filing of the lawsuit under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations action in July 2002.
© 2004 Paul Brewer