While the headline in yesterday's Journal de Montreal
read, "They Want To Dissolve The Expos," MLB Exec Dir of PR
Richard Levin said that talk of possible MLB franchise
consolidation is not accurate. Levin: "Apparently, a couple
of the owners have discussed this. But no action is being
taken in that area at all. ... It's the old adage: Don't
believe everything you read" (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 9/23). On
CBS SportsLine, Mike Kahn examined possible consolidation
under the header, "Shrinking, Not Expanding, Might Be Answer
For Major Leagues." Kahn, on the A's and Expos: "It's time
to contract. It's the era of the big mergers. And if you
thought expansion drafts were fun, just imagine contraction
drafts, when all players must go" (CBS SportsLine, 9/22).
GETTING READY FOR NEXT LABOR PAIN: In K.C., Jeffrey
Flanagan writes that MLB is "being so careful about
approving" the sales of teams such as the A's and Royals
because it "is trying to ensure that all new owners of teams
have deep financial pockets in preparation for the upcoming
Armageddon after the 2001 season" when owners and players
will negotiate a new CBA. Flanagan, on CBA talks: "This
upcoming war between the owners and the players' union will
make the strike of 1994 look like a BB-gun battle. This
time, expect the owners to try to bust the players' union."
Flanagan writes that the "most logical means" to solving
MLB's economic woes is a payroll cap, which "won't get by"
MLBPA Exec Dir Donald Fehr "unless baseball's owners try to
break the union. That means lockout, friends. A very long
lockout. That's why baseball wants any new owners to have
deep pockets -- the owners will have to prove they can
starve longer than the players can" (K.C. STAR, 9/23).
