The 96th Baseball Winter Meetings will be held this
weekend in New Orleans. The industry-wide convention, with
sessions today through Tuesday, is hosted annually by the
NAPBL (NAPBL). BASEBALL AMERICA's Will Lingo writes that
while MLB has held separate meetings from the NAPBL since
'93, now, after the media, trades, and "intrigue" which
surrounded MLB's recent expansion draft, the idea of joining
together again has "new momentum." But the "holdup ... is
nothing more than scheduling." MLB owners moved their
meetings to January and "are reluctant to change," but the
NAPBL doesn't want to move their meetings from December as
they "need to hire employees" and conduct other business
before January. NAPBL President Mike Moore said that he
would "lead a more organized effort to bring the meetings
back together" in the coming months and said that he "thinks
it's possible" the two entities could meet together again
"by next year" (BASEBALL AMERICA, 12/22 issue).
MINOR DETAILS: While the "big boys" in the minor
leagues generate millions of dollars in revenues, teams in
smaller cities are feeling "left behind," according to Lacy
Lusk of BASEBALL AMERICA. The last two Professional
Baseball Agreements (PBAs) have "put more of a financial
burden on minor league teams," creating a "growing
dichotomy" between teams in big cities and their small town
counterparts. Lusk writes that despite the belief that
minor league franchises have become "cash cows ... even the
biggest teams don't have huge profit margins," and those who
made fortunes in the minor leagues did so "by buying
franchises when they were relatively cheap and then selling
them for millions" (BASEBALL AMERICA, 12/22 issue).
