Weekend Recap – Sox Radio Deal, Twins Vote, Braves Sale, Lerner Group, Hialeah Land Deal
22nd April 2006
It’s the weekend… On Saturday and Sunday’s I’ll be passing over writing articles for the blog and do what a lot of others do… provide snippets of the news with links. Here’s what happened while I was writing about Joe Cronin’s papers and the Forbes valuations that you may have missed:
Sox near radio-rights deal: WBOS-FM said to have edge: The Boston Herald reports that, the Boston Red Sox are within days of announcing a blockbuster multimillion-dollar radio-rights deal that could dramatically reshuffle the team’s broadcast lineup, executives close to the deal said.
The Sox are in ninth-inning negotiations with media companies vying for the deal, with Greater Media’s WBOS-FM (92.9) having an edge, executives said.
An agreement could be announced early next week, if not sooner, executives said.
Panel OKs referendum exemption: In a crucial vote late Thursday, the state Minnesota House Taxes Committee backed the Minnesota Twins’ drive to avoid a Hennepin County referendum on a sales tax that would finance three-quarters of the team’s $522 million ballpark project in the Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis.
Twins fans in the audience, many wearing red Twins caps handed out by the team, rose to their feet and roared as if Torii Hunter had just hit a game-winning home run. The Twins and the Hennepin County Board had said such a ballot requirement would be a deal breaker for their ballpark plan.
The vote supporting them came by a slim 15-13 margin, meaning other attempts to mandate a referendum likely will be made before the full House and Senate vote on the bill. But the Twins were buoyant after the vote, which came at nearly 11 p.m. because the House tax panel seemingly posed the greatest threat to the plan.
Progress made in sale of Braves: It was reported on Friday that, Time Warner, seeking a buyer for the Braves, has made significant progress in negotiations with both Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and Colorado-based Liberty Media, people familiar with the talks said Thursday.Negotiations have progressed far enough that a deal could be completed fairly quickly with either bidder.
Blank and Time Warner have closed the gap that earlier divided them on financial terms, putting a possible deal within striking range.
But Time Warner could opt to instead include the team as part of a larger transaction being negotiated with Liberty Media.
Two other bidders for the Braves —- a group led by Atlanta-based real estate executive Ron Terwilliger and the family of Atlanta radio mogul Lew Dickey Jr. —- also continue to have talks with Time Warner about buying the team. But their negotiations have not progressed nearly as far as those with Blank and Liberty.
If the battle to buy the Braves comes down to Blank vs. Liberty, the contest offers a stark contrast of potential owners: the well-known local individual vs. the unknown out-of-town corporation.
Lerner Group Adds African Americans: As the selection for the new owners of the Washington Nationals approaches, The family of Washington area developer Theodore Lerner has added two prominent African Americans to its bid to buy the Washington Nationals, according to several sources.
Rodney E. Slater, 51, a secretary of transportation under President Clinton and a partner with the law firm of Patton Boggs LLP, and B. Doyle Mitchell Jr., 44, president and chief executive of Industrial Bank NA, have joined several other minority partners in the Lerner effort, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Slater and Mitchell did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
Highly placed Major League Baseball sources said last week that the Lerners risked losing their chance to buy the Nationals because the family had not acted swiftly enough to add minorities to its investors. Washington Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) also criticized the Lerners for not having enough minority representation.
Williams, other District politicians and baseball officials have said it is important that the Nationals’ ownership group has local members and reflects the Washington community. The District is building a $611 million stadium project for the Nationals along the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington.
The league is believed to be nearing a decision on the Nationals’ sale. MLB President Robert DuPuy told Congress on April 7 that he expected Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig to decide on the new owner within two weeks. However, Selig and DuPuy have now scheduled meetings next week with the Lerners and with another front-running group led by local businessmen Fred Malek and Jeffrey Zients, according to sources familiar with the sale process.
Development OK’d for Hialeah land; area potential ballpark site:With the focus of stadium talks now on Hialeah, the city and the Marlins got a boost Wednesday when Miami-Dade County Commissioners agreed to allow development on a swath of land in the western portion of the city.
The property, which includes 1,140 acres between Florida’s Turnpike on the west, Northwest 97th Avenue on the east, Northwest 170th Street on the north and Northwest 154th Street on the south, had been located outside the “Urban Development Boundary,” meaning building could not occur there. Commissioners voted 12-1 to move the property, which includes an old landfill and is zoned for industrial and office space, into the development boundary.
The Marlins began meeting with Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina in January about the possibility of building a ballpark in the city, and the western site was among the potential locations.
“I’ve always made it very clear this is one of the steps,” Robaina said after the commission’s vote, which occurred with no discussion of the Marlins locating there. “This makes it much easier. This gives us another option we’re able to bring to the table.”