Selig calls for owners meeting

Posted 6:11AM on Friday 1st February 2002 ( 23 years ago )

NEW YORK - Even before Montreal Expos owner Jeffrey Loria signed an agreement to purchase the Florida Marlins from John Henry, baseball commissioner Bud Selig called for a meeting of major league owners to approve the deal. The notice sent to teams Thursday said the date and place of the meeting will be announced later. It most likely will be Feb. 11, 12 or 13 in the Chicago area, according to a baseball official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee said it may hold a hearing on baseball's antitrust exemption on Feb. 12 or 13, once again putting the spotlight on the sport's attempt to eliminate the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos, two teams with low revenue and no government funding for new ballparks. Also, the Twins' landlord filed papers urging the Minnesota Supreme Court to refuse an appeal of the injunction that forces the Twins to play this year, claiming baseball created a ``self-inflicted'' emergency. Lawyers for the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which operates the Metrodome, said the case should be not considered on an expedited basis, calling baseball's request for a hearing by Feb. 11 ``absurd.'' Separately, baseball owners and players recessed their talks on a new labor contract after three days of sessions in Scottsdale, Ariz. On Wednesday, incoming Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino told editors and reporters that ``eventually a salary cap will take place.'' ``I don't know what he's doing,'' union head Donald Fehr said. ``Everybody knows the players' position on a salary cap. It wasn't recommended by the blue-ribbon panel, it hasn't been proposed in this negotiation.'' More immediately, baseball must address its musical chairs of owners. Henry heads a group that was given approval Jan. 16 to buy the Red Sox from the Jean R. Yawkey Trust for $660 million. At the time, Selig said the Red Sox sale couldn't close until Henry had an agreement to sell the Marlins and his 1 percent share of the New York Yankees. Henry and Loria have been negotiating a $158 million sale of the Marlins since November, but still hadn't signed an agreement as of Thursday night. Once that deal is signed, Loria intends to sell the Expos for a $120 million to a new entity - either a corporation or a partnership - that is owned by the other 29 major league teams. Selig intends to call for a vote on both deals in record time. Usually, sales are approved 6-to-12 months after they are agreed to. The start of spring training on Feb. 14 is the reason for the speed. Loria intends to bring key Expos staff members with him to Florida, including manager Jeff Torborg and acting general manager Larry Beinfest. Selig has maintained that baseball still could go through with contraction before opening day, but it appears to be an extreme long shot. Owners approved contraction on Nov. 6, but 10 days later a Minnesota judge issued an injunction, saying the Twins must honor their lease at the Metrodome for the 2002 season. The Minnesota Court of Appeals voted 3-0 to uphold the injunction on Jan. 22, but lawyers for the Twins and baseball appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court the following day and requested an expedited review and a hearing by Feb. 11. The Supreme Court gave the MSFC until Thursday to respond. ``Apart from completely undermining its credibility, MLB's shifting series of deadlines demonstrates that it has manufactured the 'emergency' of contraction,'' the MSFC wrote. Baseball shouldn't be considered more important that other matters, ``like reviewing murder convictions and construing the Constitution.'' A St. Paul legislator introduced a bill in the Minnesota House on Thursday for a ballpark that would be built in his city. The bill, pushed by Rep. Tom Osthoff and St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly, relies on a city entertainment and restaurant tax of up to 3 percent and a ticket surcharge of $1 or more. The city fees, along with money from the Twins and private investors, would repay state-issued bonds. In 1999, St. Paul voters rejected a sales tax increase to pay for a new ballpark. In Washington, the Judiciary Committee may decide on a heading date as early as Friday, according to David Carle, a spokesman for committee chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Dec. 6 on legislation to revoke baseball's 80-year antitrust exemption, and Selig used it as a platform to claim teams were losing money and to rail against high player salaries. In Arizona, lawyers for players and owners said bargaining for a labor contract to replace the one that expired Nov. 7 probably will resume Monday in New York, a day before the resumption of the union's grievance to block contraction, which players claim violated the old contract. ``We had three good days of meetings,'' management lawyer Rob Manfred said. The sides wouldn't discuss the substance of the sessions. While baseball has had eight work stoppages since 1972, neither side has threatened another. Paul Beeston, baseball's chief operating officer, left the talks after Wednesday's session to return to New York. Beeston, who may leave the commissioner's office this year, and Manfred have been management's chief negotiators. Selig wants a 50 percent luxury tax on the portions of payrolls above $98 million and to increase the percentage of locally generated revenue shared by teams, after a deduction for ballpark expenses from 20 percent to 50 percent. The union fears this would take away money from high-revenue teams and cut spending on players.

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