An attorney for the St. Petersburg Times wrote that the
Devil Rays "violated" their marketing agreement with the
newspaper Sunday when they removed racks containing issues
of the Times from Tropicana Field "in response to a spoof of
team officials," according to Kyle Parks of the ST.
PETERSBURG TIMES. In a letter to the team, Times attorney
George Rahdert wrote that the newspaper's multiyear,
multimillion dollar marketing deal with the Devil Rays
"prohibits the [team] from violating the agreement if it
disagrees with something the newspaper runs in its sports or
editorial pages." Part of the deal calls for the newspaper
to be sold at Tropicana Field. Devil Rays officials became
"incensed" Sunday when they saw a "spoof" in the Times
sports section "suggesting fictional casting for a movie
about" Devil Rays P Jim Morris. In the cartoon, team
Managing General Partner Vince Naimoli "was paired with"
actor James Gandolfini, who plays mob boss Tony Soprano in
HBO's "The Sopranos," with the caption, "Keeps it all in the
family." In response, the team moved five Times racks to
the loading dock area of Tropicana Field and security
personnel were told not to let Times carriers into the
facility (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 4/11).
NAIMOLI WANTS APOLOGY: In a letter to Times CEO Andrew
Barnes, Naimoli wrote, "This supposed attempt at
`lighthearted' humor is not only insensitive and highly
offensive to me and to all Italian-Americans, but I believe
is damaging and defamatory and subject to possible
litigation." Although Naimoli asked the newspaper for a
front-page apology, Times officials defended their actions
as "clearly ... a spoof." Times Editor & President Paul
Tash: "We don't let our news report be tailored to anybody's
business interest. To borrow a phrase from baseball, we
call 'em like we see 'em." But Naimoli "may not be easily
persuaded to drop the matter," as he met Sunday with MLB's
head attorney about the situation (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES,
4/11). Devil Rays VP & General Counsel John Higgins feels
the team did not violate its deal with the Times: "The
material in it we think is something potentially defamatory,
we would think the less number of people that read it, the
better off it is" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 4/10).
