In the End, Contraction Became Part of Equation

In November, after major league owners voted to eliminate two teams, Commissioner Bud Selig dismissed any connection between a plan that would eliminate 50 jobs for players and looming negotiations with the players’ union.

“It is absolutely not a negotiating ploy,” Selig said that day.

In the end, however, the so-called contraction plan did become part of the negotiations. As part of a labor agreement in which the players’ union made concessions regarding revenue sharing and a payroll tax, owners agreed not to eliminate any teams through the term of the agreement, which extends through 2006.

Major league owners appear likely to approve the first franchise move since 1971, when the Washington Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers.

The Montreal Expos, a franchise bought back by the owners after the contraction plan collapsed last winter, could move to the Washington area as soon as next year.

And the Minnesota Twins, the other team targeted for elimination last winter, can continue a summer of celebration. The Twins enjoy the largest lead of any team in the American League, appear destined for their first playoff appearance in 11 years and now are guaranteed to survive four more years, a respite that could allow the team to secure a new owner and a new ballpark. Owner Carl Pohlad, who has put the Twins up for sale, had volunteered for contraction last winter.

“It’s a very positive day,” said Clark Griffith, son of former Twin owner Calvin Griffith. “We were within an eyelash of disappearing as a baseball community.

“This at least solidifies us for the next four years. I think we’re in pretty good shape for the long term.”

With a labor agreement in place, one designed to aid markets such as Minnesota that generate comparatively less revenue, Griffith said he plans to pursue a bid for the Twins.

With no buyers for the Expos, owners pooled $120 million last winter to buy the team from Jeffrey Loria, in a deal that allowed Loria to buy the Florida Marlins. There still are no buyers for the Expos, but two groups in the Washington area jockeyed for position upon announcement of the labor agreement.

In January, Selig reiterated that owners would not move any teams until after reaching a new labor agreement but called Washington the “prime candidate” for any team that would relocate. When owners assumed control of the Expos, chief operating officer Bob DuPuy said he would be “shocked if it went on more than one year.”

One group wants to buy the Expos and move them within the boundaries of Washington; another proposes a purchase and move to Northern Virginia. Neither group has finalized a plan for financing and construction of a new stadium, leading Winston Lord, executive director of the D.C. group, to suggest that owners might wait until 2004 before putting a team in the Washington area. Still, a team could play in a temporary home at RFK Stadium next season.

And, with relocation an option, a top official in the Northern Virginia group suggested that efforts to lure a team might not be limited to the Expos.

“Obviously, there’s Montreal, but you look at Miami and Tampa and the Oakland problem, with them so close to San Francisco,” said Gabe Paul Jr., executive director of the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority. “Now that contraction is off the table, the only way you’re going to satisfy and rectify those situations may be to move a club.”

The Expos’ situation is complicated by a federal lawsuit that charges Selig, Loria and others with conspiring to eliminate the franchise. The lawyers representing the defendants, former minority partners in the franchise, have indicated they would seek an injunction barring any attempt to move the team. In addition, Baltimore Oriole owner Peter Angelos believes that any franchise moving to the Washington area would harm the Orioles, and owners widely believe they would have to compensate Angelos in order for him to withdraw his opposition to such a move.

The two Washington area groups could bid as much as $300 million for the Expos. So, after compensating Angelos and splitting the costs of buying and running the Expos, owners could split a nice profit on their investment, a little more revenue sharing.

“Sometimes you’re forced into an investment,” former Angel President Richard Brown said. “In this case, it will turn out to be a very good investment.”