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Marge Schott, that crude and insensitive soul from Cincinnati, has been forced to yield control of her club for the next 2 1/2 years, punished for her well-publicized racial and ethnic slurs. There was the additional innuendo, hurled by her fellow owners, she is incapable of operating a major-league franchise.
A new stadium for Schott’s Reds has been approved by the voters of Hamilton County and is on the drawing board. The indications are Schott’s financial contribution will be minimal, possibly zero. The new park is expected to open before the 2000 season.
Now for the Milwaukee Brewers. Club President Bud Selig, the majority owner, who is also the acting commissioner–he is the chairman of baseball’s powerful executive council–has been lobbying for a new stadium for five years without success. Friday yet another plan was offered–this one a bond issue–to help the Brewers build a ballpark. Most of the principals–ownership and politicians–are optimistic once again that the final $90 million in financing for the $250 million park can be obtained.
Still, if Selig fails, it will be an ironic embarrassment. The franchise may be moved to Charlotte, N.C., or northern Virginia. It would be an incredible defeat for Selig. In his three years as baseball’s reigning czar, he repeatedly has testified before congressional committees emphasizing baseball’s stability.
The last franchise relocation was 24 years ago, when the expansion Washington Senators moved to Dallas-Ft. Worth. In the years since, a half-dozen attempted moves have been blocked: The Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants were denied permission to jump to Florida. Last season, when owner Drayton McLane expressed dissatisfaction with his Houston location, he was advised to stay put.
“We’re just not into wholesale migration,” said John Harrington, chief executive officer or the Boston Red Sox.
Next to Selig, Harrington is baseball’s most influential owner. He is a member of the executive council and chairman of the owners’ labor policy committee that has been negotiating with the Players Association for a new collective bargaining agreement.
The Brewers are in a big financial hole. According to what appear to be reliable reports, their losses have escalated to $50 million. No relief is in sight. Their average home attendance is 13,500, the lowest gate in either league with the exception of the Oakland A’s.
Would the baseball owners allow the Brewers to sink into bankruptcy?
“No, we’d have to take some kind of action,” Harrington replied.
And what would that be?
“The executive council could force the Brewers to move to another city,” he said.
With or without Selig’s approval?
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“Yes, that could be done,” he said.
Harrington went on to explain that the Brewers, who are in baseball’s second-smallest market–Kansas City is the smallest–“have been a marginal operation in terms of fan and sponsor support. They have to buy their own broadcast time to get on radio and television.”
According to most estimates, the Brewers have annual broadcasting revenues of $5 million, one-fourth of the major-league average. The New York Yankees pull in $50 million from this same source.
A new stadium, Harrington insists, could change the equation.
“We have seen what happened in Cleveland and in Baltimore. Cleveland, in particular, had a weak financial structure. Then came the electricity of a new ballpark. Now you can’t buy a ticket. I never heard of a team that sold out every game before a season began. It happened in Cleveland.”
But the Indians have a championship team. Certainly, that’s a big part of the attraction.
“There is no denying that,” Harrington said. “But the increased revenues helped management to hire more players who have been able to help the team.”
What about all this talk of revenue sharing–the strong helping the sisters of the poor.
“It will help,” added Harrington, “but it isn’t the answer. It could have an opposite effect. The richer clubs could say, `We’re throwing money down the drain. Get that club out of there.’ “
County Stadium, home of the Brewers, is the fourth-oldest big-league park. The only parks older are Wrigley Field, Boston’s Fenway Park and Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Wrigley Field and Fenway are absolute gems. It is hoped they never will be replaced. A new stadium is on-line for the Tigers.
“A new ballpark is essential,” insisted Bill Bartholomay, chairman of the Atlanta Braves. It was Bartholomay who moved the Milwaukee Braves to Atlanta 31 years ago.
“Nobody has been more loyal to a community than Bud Selig,” Bartholomay said. “He lives there. He brought baseball back to Milwaukee. I admire him tremendously for what he has done. He even eliminated all the bad feelings I left behind.”
Bartholomay offered a prediction.
“If they get a new ballpark they’ll draw 3 million,” he said.
And if they don’t the curtain could drop.