Stars, Thunder owners eye A’s

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999 | 10:36 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Two Hollywood moguls responsible for the movies "Batman," "Basic Instinct" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" -- and who also head the company which owns the Las Vegas Stars and Thunder -- have expressed an interest in buying the Oakland Athletics, two newspapers reported.

Peter Guber, founder and chairman of Mandalay Entertainment and former head of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and his vice chairman, Paul Schaeffer, have submitted an application to go through major league baseball's preapproval process -- required before prospective buyers can examine financial documents.

"This opportunity came along and we found it to be interesting," Schaeffer told The Oakland Tribune. "It's close to home, the team is young and it has some terrific young stars."

Guber and Schaeffer's company, Mandalay Sports Entertainment, already owns the triple-A Las Vegas Stars, the class-A Lake Elsinore (Calif.) Storm and the Las Vegas Thunder International Hockey League team. The company also is building a baseball stadium in Dayton, Ohio, for a Class A team from Rockford, Ill.