Expos ‘cut-down’ nears

Wednesday, April 28, 2004 | 9:09 a.m.

The groups that are trying to buy the Montreal Expos and move the Major League Baseball franchise to Las Vegas will have no interest in other teams, according to multiple sources involved in the project, should their Expos bid fail.

For the first time, it was also disclosed to the Sun on Tuesday that the potential "Las Vegas Expos" ownership group has been stonewalled in its attempts to secure public funding to help finance a stadium.

"The state of Nevada hasn't been forthcoming," said a key figure in the negotiations. "There has to be some public support. No new taxes, but there needs to be support."

That might be an omen as factions from the candidate cities vying for the Expos prepare for a May 15 meeting in New York, where MLB's nine-person relocation committee will present its final list of two or three cities to owners.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has set mid-July, during the All-Star break, to announce where the Expos will be relocated. That could begin next season, but MLB wants the team permanently settled in its new home by 2007.

An insider in the proceedings, which have been purposely executed very privately and have left many details unanswered, said the mission has been challenging.

"Everybody is tired and stressed out," he said. "It's been a long, hard journey, but baseball has finally said, 'Get your final proposal in here and we'll make a decision soon.' We're getting down to it. It's been quite a process."

One that could affect the future of the defending World Series champion Florida Marlins, who are awaiting a decision by the Florida Legislature to receive some state funding for a new stadium.

The Marlins have extended a May 1 deadline to May 6, to allow the Legislature to vote on one of the final financial hurdles -- a $60 million sales-tax rebate to be paid over 30 years -- in their quest for a new ballpark.

Should they be denied, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, who once owned the Expos, might seek to relocate his team to either Washington, D.C., or Las Vegas, depending upon what baseball does with the Expos.

"It's clear that team can't stay in its present facility," Selig told ESPN's Web site of the more football-friendly Pro Player Stadium in Miami. "It's just not an economically viable baseball stadium."

The New York Post reported April 25 that Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos might be "handsomely compensated" for allowing the Expos to move into his territory, then he would sell the Orioles.

However, Angelos, a successful lawyer, hasn't sounded as if he's ready to get out of the baseball business. And he just acquired New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner as a territorial-rights protection ally.

"Two major league franchises within 35 miles of each other spells mediocrity for both," Angelos told the Baltimore Sun three weeks ago. "Furthermore, I don't think a team is necessary in the District. The Orioles have well served this region for 50 years and will continue to do so."

ESPN's Web site also reported that Loria considers the Las Vegas market to be a "gold mine." He even flew his players here in the middle of a West Coast swing last season.

"Relocation in baseball was always a fantasy -- but now, because of the Expos' situation, it's a reality," Marlins president David Samson told ESPN.com. "It's not something in the abstract, it's real ... I know when politicians hear that, they assume you're crying wolf.

"Well, they can continue to assume that. But if they do, eventually somebody is going to get burned."

Even with the $60 million from the rebate tax, though, the Marlins would fall short of paying for a 38,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium whose cost they estimate at $325 million.

Loria has committed $137 million and $73 million would be raised from a hotel bed tax in Miami-Dade County, leaving a $55 million deficit. About half of that could be gained from the sale of Miami Arena.

Meanwhile, Teamscape and the Las Vegas Stadium Co. (LVSC), the two main groups who have been working for a year to acquire the Expos for Las Vegas, are scrambling to assemble a proposal that will woo the relocation committee.

They also consider Las Vegas to be a gold mine because of a population base that is expected to hit 2 million by 2010.

Of the top 35 metropolitan areas from the 2000 U.S. Census report, Las Vegas had the biggest increase (83.3 percent) from '90. Phoenix (45.3 percent) was next. Norfolk, one of several candidates for the Expos, experienced 8.8 percent growth over the same span.

Recent U.S. Census reports show single-digit (percentage) growth for Norfolk, and its surrounding area, since 2000, compared to double digits for the Las Vegas area.

The two Las Vegas groups also covet a tourism market that is on pace to attract more than 36 million visitors to Las Vegas this year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Those are the hard figures that Teamscape and LVSC find so enticing. What might not be so enticing is paying for a versatile, retractable-roof stadium, which could come with a final bill of more than $450 million, without a dime of public funds.

Caesars Entertainment Inc. has proposed land behind its Bally's and Paris Las Vegas properties as a stadium site, and it would act only as a landlord.

Where the team would play before '07 is another issue, although a Selig confidant suggested Tuesday that the Expos might split their home games between San Antonio and Monterrey, Mexico, if Vegas were to win its longshot bid.

Mike Shapiro, a consultant for the San Francisco Bay Area-based Centerfield Management Group who was hired by Teamscape and LVSC to facilitate a deal with the relocation committee, said his superiors are only interested in the Expos.

In other words, Teamscape and LVSC would not attempt to buy the Marlins from Loria and attempt to move them to Las Vegas if their efforts to purchase and relocate the Expos fail.

Oakland and Tampa Bay have also drawn regular attention as possible future relocation candidates.

"The number of teams could be double, or triple, what they are," Shapiro said. "But we are determined to do everything we can to get the Expos to move to Las Vegas."