While Blue Jays Owner Interbrew SA has set a November 15
deadline to sell the club, Bob Elliott of the TORONTO SUN reports
the deadline is expected to be "waived" largely due to MLB's
unresolved labor situation. MLB Exec VP /Communication Rich
Levin: "I don't expect anything to happen by Friday" (TORONTO
SUN, 11/14). A consortium comprised of Toronto realtor/dentist
Murray Frum, Toronto theater exec David Mirvish, TVOntario Chair
Peter Herrndorf, Canadian TV/film director Ted Kotcheff and
unidentified U.S. investors are believed to be interested in
buying the Jays for C$185M. The deal is also rumored to include
a 50% stake in Skydome and 100% interest in the CFL Argonauts for
another C$115M (Bertrand Marotte, OTTAWA CITIZEN, 11/14). A
source "familiar" with the Jays situation, on the Frum group: "I
think there's a ring of truth. [However], I find it hard to
believe the numbers they are talking about are ones the Frum
group would be seriously considering" (James Walker, FINANCIAL
POST, 11/14). Meanwhile, Steve Simmons of the TORONTO SUN
reports speculation that Blue Jays President Paul Beeston "won't
have anything to do" with the Frum group because he was "duped by
Herrndorf, who was asking all sorts of baseball questions but
didn't bother to inform Beeston he was part of an ownership bid."
Beeston maintains he "hasn't met with anybody" and that he does
not "know who are the new owners are going to be." Beeston: "I'm
not going to stay in the wrong situation" (TORONTO SUN, 11/14).
