MLB announced yesterday that Thursday's expansion committee
meeting scheduled for Chicago has been relocated to Washington to
accommodate Red Sox CEO John Harrington and Braves President Stan
Kasten, both members of the expansion committee. The committee
is expected to recommend a price for the first two new
franchises, but they will not release a preference order of the
four finalists: Phoenix, Orlando, Tampa Bay and No. VA (Bill
Chastain, TAMPA TRIBUNE, 1/31).
TAMPA BAY -- WHAT'S IN A NAME? If Tampa Bay is approved as
an expansion city, the team probably won't be called the Thunder,
Tarpons or Thunderbolts -- the three top names suggested the last
time Tampa made an expansion bid. Two entrepreneurs, Teresa
deArrigoitia and Tony Karcher, have registered those names with
the FL Secretary of the State for $87.50 per name. If expansion
is approved next month, the bidding groups will have to decide on
a name and logo by the March 8 owners' meeting. Tampa Bay
expansion head Vince Naimoli has said he would avoid trademarked
names in selecting the team's name (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 1/31).
NORTHERN VA: U.S. Rep. Tom Davis has asked the leaders of
the two "increasingly combative groups seeking" an expansion team
to meet with one another, perhaps this week. Davis and the
leaders of the two No. VA groups, telecom exec Bill Collins and
attorney Bart Fisher, declined to discuss the purpose of the
meeting, "but it appears some local government officials would
like the two groups to combine" (Mark Maske, WASHINGTON POST,
1/31).
ORLANDO: Last week, developer Norton Herrick released the
list of minority investors helping to bring a franchise to the
Orlando area. In addition to Herrick, Rockies General Counsel
Paul Jacobs and Denver financial adviser Steve Kurtz are general
partners. Local minority partners: businesspersons David
Siegel, Joanne McLendon, Paul Mears; physicians Tom Winers,
Pevecca Moroose and Roy Ambinder; and attorney Ruion Munns.
Also: The Sports Authority Chair Jack Smith, real estate
investors Robert Harmon and Ken Raznick, Herrick family members,
Rosalind Robbins and William Richards, as well as Marc Sinensky,
Exec VP of Herrick's Boca Raton company (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 1/27).
