Prentice Ups Bid For Bosox; Will It Be Enough To Top Dolan?

A source said yesterday that N.Y. attorney and Red Sox bidder Miles Prentice "has increased his offer and is now ranked among the top tier of bidders" following a second round of bids for 53% of the franchise, according to Meg Vaillancourt of the BOSTON GLOBE, who notes Prentice's bid "is being fueled by a partnership" with The Quadrangle Group. The addition of Quadrangle "appears to give [Prentice's] group the funds needed to match the reported high bid" of $405M submitted by Cablevision Chair Charles Dolan. Vaillancourt reports that Prentice, like Dolan, "has also expressed an interest in buying out some or all of the team's limited partners" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/11). Meanwhile, in Boston, Scott Van Voorhis reports Dolan "was apparently content yesterday to wait to see if his rivals could find ways to match his" more than $250M offer to buy out the team's limited partners. Van Voorhis notes bidder Frank McCourt's investment adviser, Lehman Brothers, "is hard at work in an effort to raise an additional" $100M. Sources said that Lehman Brothers is "looking for 10 investors to put $10[M] each into McCourt's bid" (BOSTON HERALD, 12/11).

FOCUS ON THE CONTENDERS: In Boston, Kevin Cullen profiled the Joseph O'Donnell-Steve Karp bid group and wrote, "They are betting on the fact that in this town being politically connected, being philanthropists, being thought of as 'good guys' counts for something, whatever the bottom line. They are making a virtue out of necessity." More Cullen: "It's a Boston story, and if O'Donnell and Karp lose out to a New Yorker, it will hurt them more than if they lose out to Californian Tom Werner." Karp: "We didn't grow up loving New York" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/10). Former FleetCenter President Larry Moulter writes an Op-Ed in today's BOSTON GLOBE under the header, "Is The Red Sox Sale Good For Boston?" Moulter: "Is not the business of the Red Sox, both on and off the field, best served by people who live here and are influenced by the realities of this town? ... We must restore a sense of values to professional teams balancing the almighty financial concerns of these teams with civic and personal responsibility that make them so special" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/11).

N.Y. PRESENCE? In this week's issue of the BOSTON PHOENIX, Dan Kennedy writes on the N.Y. Times Co.'s potential stake in the Red Sox with Werner's bid group. The Times Co. owns the Boston Globe. New Boston Globe Editor Marty Baron, on how the potential ownership could impact the newspaper's coverage: "There won't be a conflict of interest, because people will be free to write independently about the team and about the organization." However, Kennedy wonders if the Globe "would be willing to use its full journalistic resources" regarding story developments including "such thorny issues ... as neighborhood opposition to a new ballpark and potentially hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars flowing into the next owners' coffers" (BOSTON PHOENIX, 12/8 issue). The N.Y. OBSERVER's Pappu & Gay write, "While few believe that a Times stake would influence day-to-day coverage of the Red Sox in either the Globe or The Times, it could become more complicated when it came to stadium projects or land-use issues, when a newspaper's editorial page would usually be employed" (N.Y. OBSERVER, 12/10 issue).

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