Marlins Owner Wayne Huizenga said Friday that "he still
plans to sell the team but suggested he would change his
mind if the club gets a new publicly financed stadium,"
according to Barry Jackson of the MIAMI HERALD. Huizenga:
"Nothing has changed, except a lot of business people and
politicians are calling me who I have not had a chance to
talk to. They say don't be hasty. I want to call them
back." Huizenga, on whether he would contribute to the cost
of a new stadium: "We've spent a lot already. If we got the
stadium only half paid for, we are at a disadvantage."
Jackson wrote that Huizenga has not told Marlins President
Don Smiley "to slow down his efforts to put together an
investment group to buy the team" (MIAMI HERALD, 10/18).
TALKING BEISBOL: In Ft. Lauderdale, Tessie Borden wrote
on the Marlins efforts to market to the Hispanic audience.
Marlins Hispanic Marketing Dir Jorge Plasencia put together
an ad campaign this year that included billboards in
Hispanic neighborhoods, radio spots on Spanish stations and
commercials on Latin TV. The goal "was to persuade people
that Pro Player Stadium ... was not hard to get to, and that
people who could not afford season tickets could still buy
smaller packages of seats." The "centerpiece" of the
campaign was Marlins En Miami, a ticket office and souvenir
shop in Little Havana, and the team "has sold more than
40,000 tickets from that office" (SUN-SENTINEL, 10/19). In
DC, Donald Baker wrote, "Even though 'beisbol' is enormously
popular in many Latin countries, its rise [in Miami] came so
quickly -- the Marlins won the pennant only in their fifth
season of existence -- that it may have caught people off
guard. Unlike in Cleveland, there are few outward signs of
baseball fever in downtown Miami. Shops display Marlins
caps and T-shirts, but more of them display soccer equipment
for customers more likely to speak Spanish" (WASHINGTON
POST, 10/18). ABC's "Good Morning America" correspondent
Rex Hudler watched Game Two from Miami's Little Havana:
"This atmosphere is outstanding ... The Florida Marlins have
really brought this community together" (ABC, 10/20).
NOTE: Saturday's crowd of 67,245 for Game One was the
largest to see a Marlins game at Pro Player Stadium, and the
largest to see a World Series game since '63, when a
Yankees-Dodgers drew 69,000+ at Yankee Stadium. The all-
time Series record crowd was 92,706 at the L.A. Coliseum for
White Sox-Dodgers Game Five in '59 (SUN-SENTINEL, 10/19).
