A spokesperson for Expos Majority Owner Jeffrey Loria
yesterday denied several media reports over the weekend that
the owner "has put the squeeze on local investors for an
immediate" C$30M, according to Stephanie Myles of the
Montreal GAZETTE. However, if the investors "cannot come up
with their agreed-upon share" of C$75M by the time the
team's restructuring plan is presented to MLB, "an `interim
loan' will have to be taken out by the local investors to
make up the difference." FTQ Solidarity Fund President
Raymond Bachand, who spearheaded efforts to keep the team in
Montreal, put the amount of the potential loan at C$16M.
But he also revealed that the possible loan "was no surprise
to anyone," as it had been "discussed" during the initial
sale negotiations last November. Recent reports "have put
[the] new local investment short only" by C$10-12M, "so it's
possible" that C$16M "would be the amount needed to preserve
the debt-to-asset ratio [MLB] mandates for all its
franchises." The team's refinancing is scheduled to be
completed in mid-April (Montreal GAZETTE, 2/22). Loria, on
securing investments: "[Investors] knew a month and a half
ago about this. We talked about it in November when we were
negotiating with them." Although one report in Saturday's
Montreal La Presse said that the Expos' proposed downtown
ballpark "might be in jeopardy and that the team would
leave," Expos VP David Samson called the report "malicious"
and said that it was "made up of bits and pieces" of an
interview he had done with the newspaper. Meanwhile, in
Toronto, Jeff Blair reported that Loria "continues to play
hard ball" in radio and TV contract talks, and is asking for
C$350,000-500,000 for English-language rights "that used to
go for little or nothing" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 2/21). In
Montreal, Mike Boone wrote that the price is more than
bidding radio stations CKAC, CJAD and CKGM want to pay and
that all three "are refusing to commit a guaranteed-rights
payment" (Montreal GAZETTE, 2/19).
LABATT TALKS CONTINUE: Samson said that talks are
continuing with Labatt regarding a naming rights deal for
the Expos' new ballpark (Montreal GAZETTE, 2/20). For this
season, the team has sold more than 3,200 season tickets, up
from about 2,000 last year (USA TODAY, 2/22).
