The efforts to bring baseball to Orlando is examined in two
parts by the ORLANDO SENTINEL. Developer Norton Herrick, who
heads the current expansion effort, is profiled in a front-page
layout. Calling Herrick the "mystery man," the headline states
"Orlando knows little about Norton Herrick except that he had a
$150 million letter of credit." Herrick was not viewed early on
as the front-runner in the derby to lead an Orlando bid, but a
"key" was a $150M letter of credit "bearing the signature of
Herrick's private Citicorp banker in Miami and a list of
references that included H. Wayne Huizenga" (Dan Tracy, ORLANDO
SENTINEL, 11/27). The SENTINEL also ran a front-page piece on
how Orlando hopes to duplicate the success of the Colorado
Rockies, noting that Herrick's partner, Paul Jacobs and Steve
Kurtz, were instrumental in making the Rockies such a financial
bonanza. Jacobs "negotiated a stadium lease considered the most
lucrative in all of baseball." If Orlando gets a team, the two
will be "key players in determining just how profitable the team
will be, how much it will keep from every hot dog, beer and
program sold at the new ballpark" (Larry Lebowitz, ORLANDO
SENTINEL, 11/28).
