Expos Majority Owner Jeffrey Loria met with the team's
players yesterday at Olympic Stadium for about five minutes
and reportedly told them to "disregard fact and fiction
regarding the off-field drama currently surrounding" the
team's ownership situation, according to a report in the
Montreal GAZETTE. Loria, who is seeking additional
financing from the team's minority partners, told the
players that "when there was any news at all" on the team's
future, "he would advise them" (Montreal GAZETTE, 6/20).
STEPPING UP? In Montreal, David Johnston reports that
Expos Minority Partner Stephen Bronfman, the wealthiest of
the team's 15 local investors, is "under pressure from his
colleagues to step forward and buy out Loria" to keep the
team from relocating to the U.S. One local investor, on
Bronfman: "When I look around the table, he's the only one I
see doing it. No one else is willing to put up any new
money." But Johnston writes that while Bronfman is "able"
financially to buy out Loria, "is he willing?" Bronfman,
asked about a possible buyout of Loria: "There might be
something to say in a few days" (Montreal GAZETTE, 6/20).
JOIN TOGETHER FOR THE BAND: In DC, Eric Fisher reports
that neither of the two DC-area groups seeking to bring an
MLB team to the area "are willing to merge, a factor that
could complicate efforts to land a team." The two groups,
led by DC financier Fred Malek and VA-business exec William
Collins, continue to ignore "growing suggestions" to form
"one powerhouse bid team and agree on" one ballpark site.
Malek group spokesperson Winston Lord: "We are completely
committed to D.C. They [the Collins-led group] are
completely committed to Northern Virginia. We respect what
they're trying to do, but at this point our plans are too
different." But MLB sources said that a "strong push from
Commissioner Bud Selig could bring the two groups together."
Fisher notes that competing groups could "complicate the
process" of a possible team relocation. One NL team exec
said of the DC bid groups, "There's a lot of energy there,
but I'm not sure all the leaders there, political and
otherwise, are all on the same page with regard to baseball.
It's very important to have every leader involved unified
and heading in the same direction" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 6/20).
ANGELOS CRIES MENTAL INSTABILITY: Orioles Owner Peter
Angelos, on his opposition to a DC-area team: "Nobody's
who's mentally stable could defend what's being proposed
there. Let's put franchises 35 miles from the Atlanta
Braves and every other existing team" (BUSINESS WEEK, 6/26).
