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REPORT HAS MARLINS-TO-SMILEY DEAL HINGING ON THREE-WAY MOVE

          Marlins President Don Smiley's bid to buy the team
     "hinges on a three-way marriage" between Marlins Owner Wayne
     Huizenga, Cablevision Chair Charles Dolan and USA
     Broadcasting Chair Barry Diller, according to Alan Snel of
     the Fort Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL.  Sources close to the
     negotiations said that Huizenga and Smiley "struck a deal"
     on July 21.  Snel: "But that agreement, witnessed by
     National League President Len Coleman, is contingent on a
     complicated three-way transaction."  The tenets of the deal:
     Huizenga sells SportsChannel to Dolan for about $100M, with
     SportsChannel broadcasting Marlins games until 2024; Dolan
     also gains control of the over-the-air TV rights to Marlins
     games from UPN-Channel 33, and he in turn, "cuts a deal to
     provide the over-the-air rights" to Diller, "who wants the
     Marlins as programming" for his newly launched WAMI-69.  The
     "key to any Smiley deal is Huizenga selling SportsChannel. 
     Huizenga doesn't want to sell the Marlins before he sells
     SportsChannel because the cable station's value rests in the
     broadcast rights to Marlins games."  Huizenga was
     unavailable for comment Monday, and Smiley could not be
     reached (Alan Snel, Fort Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 8/11).
          MEANWHILE, IN MIAMI: The HERALD's Barry Jackson reports
     that Huizenga's spokesperson, Stan Smith, said that FL
     business exec John Henry is "a serious candidate" to buy the
     team and that negotiations can begin as soon as Henry is
     approved by MLB.  However, Huizenga has not submitted
     Henry's name to MLB for approval.  Jackson also reports that
     sources confirmed Monday that Diller has an interest in
     joining Henry's group, with Henry serving as the Managing
     Partner in that scenario (MIAMI HERALD, 8/11).
          WAYNE'S BANE: In Ft. Lauderdale, columnist Dave Hyde
     writes that Huizenga "keeps being the deadbeat dad of
     baseball owners, not just shirking any responsibility to his
     franchise today but refusing its fans any hope for tomorrow. 
     Huizenga ... keeps running the most misguided attempt to get
     a stadium in sports history by directing the most
     transparent sale in sports history" (SUN-SENTINEL, 8/11).

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