Phillies Chair Bill Giles said for the first time
yesterday that the team "would be willing to pay" 20-33% of
the more than $200M needed to build a new baseball-only
stadium, according to Jim Salisbury on the front-page of the
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Giles: "We can't survive without it.
If we don't see a stadium on the horizon by 1999, it'll be
very difficult for this group (of investors) to continue."
Giles' timetable for having a stadium plan in place is two
years, and that runs concurrent with Philadelphia Mayor Ed
Rendell's term in office. Salisbury writes that Giles sees
Rendell as a "stadium ally" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/25).
Giles, on taking on a corporate partner to help support a
new stadium: "I'm not ruling that possibility out. But
we're going to try to do it in the next year or two without
that happening" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 6/25).
FROM THE HEART: Giles spoke for the first time since
his announcement Friday that he was stepping aside as team
President & CEO. Giles, reading from notes: "It's been like
a Chinese water torture since the ['94] strike. I never
believed there should have been a strike. ... Replacement
players. Agents who don't tell the truth. Injuries to key
people. Losses. Not making people happy. Major league
owners suing other owners. An industry that has created an
economic situation that is so difficult right now. All
those things kept gripping my mind. ... I had too many
hurts. I was no longer as effective as I used to be."
Giles, on the Phillies: "The empty seats. ... the empty
seats bothered me more than the losses" (DAILY NEWS, 6/25).
