MLB owners are meetings in Carlsbad, CA, and the
following lists some highlights of Wednesday's first day:
I AM HENRY THE OWNER I AM: MLB owners voted unanimously
to approve the sale of the Marlins to FL commodities trader
John Henry. Henry will pay Wayne Huizenga $150M for the
team and $8M in repairs to Pro Player Stadium -- $63M "more
than Huizenga paid MLB for the rights" to the '93 expansion
team. In Miami, Mike Phillips writes that Huizenga gave an
"emotional" farewell speech (MIAMI HERALD, 1/14).
ECONOMICS TASK FORCE CREATED: MLB Commissioner Bud
Selig named former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George
Mitchell, former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, Yale
President Richard Levin and TV commentator & Newsweek
columnist George Will to a "Blue Ribbon Task Force on
Baseball Economics." The group will examine MLB's economic
structure and payroll disparity (WASHINGTON POST, 1/14).
Meanwhile, Padres President Larry Lucchino called MLB's
current CBA "an abject failure." Lucchino: "Revenue sharing
(among clubs) is inadequate, the luxury cap (designed to
stem payrolls) is a joke and the competitive imbalance has
been exacerbated" (Ross Newhan, L.A. TIMES, 1/13).
NOTES: Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner was replaced
on MLB's Exec Council by Mariners Chair John Ellis (NEWSDAY,
1/14)....Red Sox CEO John Harrington, in charge of MLB
realignment, said that the league "put off" realignment for
"at least a year" because of "questions with the future
location" of the Expos, Twins and A's (USA TODAY, 1/14).