Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994 TAG: 9401200154
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. LENGTH: Long
Owners capitulated to financial demands by the Major League Baseball Players Association, enabling teams to implement a three-tier playoff structure they approved last September. The American and National leagues, which had been split into two divisions each since 1969, will divide into three apiece this season, with the division winners and a wild-card team advancing to the playoffs in each league.
The playoffs will begin with four best-of-five series, with the winners advancing to a best-of-seven league finals. The pennant winners will meet in the World Series.
In order to reach the agreement, owners agreed to a union demand that players receive 80 percent of the ticket money from the first three games of each first-round series. Owners had been offering 60 percent, the current share for the first four games of each postseason series.
"A prolonged negotiation was not in the interest of the game at this point," said Richard Ravitch, the owners' labor negotiator. "The players had no incentive to come to a fast deal. This negotiation would have stretched out for months on end."
Ravitch said that based on an average ticket price of $20, the additional round would produce about $9.6 million in revenue for players.
The realigned divisions:
AL East - Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York Yankees, Toronto.
AL Central - Chicago White Sox, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minnesota.
AL West - California, Oakland, Seattle, Texas.
NL East - Atlanta, Florida, Montreal, New York Mets, Philadelphia.
NL Central - Cincinnati, Chicago Cubs, Houston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis.
NL West - Colorado, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco.
The playoff agreement overshadowed owners' inability to elect a commissioner, their stated goal coming into the three-day session. The office has been vacant since Fay Vincent's forced resignation on Sept. 7, 1992, and the search committee was down to two finalists: U.S. Olympic Committee executive director Harvey Schiller and Northwestern University president Arnold Weber.
The owners never got to a vote, and Milwaukee Brewers president Bud Selig, the chairman of the ruling executive council since Vincent's departure, will remain in power. Selig had insisted, to the public and to Congress, that a commissioner would be elected by January.
"When you go through a process, you have the right to change your mind," Selig said. "It had become clear that a large number of owners were not ready to elect a new commissioner this morning. . . . I'm not sure how long this is. I'm not going to sit here and predict. I don't know."
Selig's announcement drew immediate criticism from senators who are trying to strip baseball of its antitrust exemption. A Senate committee already has called for renewed hearings later this year.
"Baseball owners are demonstrating that they don't want any check on their unlimited power," said Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, an Ohio Democrat whose subcommittee held hearings on baseball in 1992. "The owners are looking to maximize their profits and don't want a commissioner around looking out for the good of the fans."
Said Sen. Dennis DeConcini, an Arizona Democrat on Metzenbaum's subcommittee: "[The owners have] neglected to keep a focus on public integrity in this sport."
Search committee chairman Bill Bartholomay, the Atlanta Braves' chairman, said he was presented Tuesday night with a letter from 11 clubs that "advised the search committee that they would not vote for a new commissioner until the labor situation was resolved."
The executive council and search committee discussed the situation from midnight to 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, and Bartholomay said the number of clubs refusing to vote grew to 16 by later in the day.
"There are people concerned about introducing somebody new into the equation," Selig said. "There is a learning curve. How steep it is, well, everybody has to make their own judgment."
The move leaves Ravitch in charge of labor, which could dominate the latter part of this season. On Tuesday night, he won unanimous approval of the clubs on a revenue-sharing plan, but it is contingent on players agreeing to a salary cap in the next collective bargaining agreement, which will replace the one that expired Dec. 31.
Union head Donald Fehr, speaking in a telephone news conference from New York, said a salary cap wouldn't be an easy sell.
"Nobody's talking about a partnership," he said. "If they want to share revenue, they should share revenue. . . . Why would you give them concessions to give them money and leave the same people in charge?"
Players agents and union officials already are beginning to prepare for a possible late-season work stoppage that would threaten the teams' postseason television money. Owners pledged last August not to lock out the players during 1994 unless the players strike first.
Owners did approve the restructuring report they called for on Sept. 3, 1992, but, Toronto Blue Jays chairman Peter Widdrington said, it failed to resolve whether a commissioner can be fired. Vincent, like his predecessors, said the Major League Agreement included no provisions for firing a commissioner, but several owners disagreed.
Owners also voted to dissolve the Player Relations Committee, which has run baseball's labor relations since the 1970s, and give the next commissioner authority over labor - but only after this set of collective bargaining talks.
As part of the changes, owners decided future labor agreements will require 75 percent approval instead of a majority. This probably won't affect labor talks because they usually are controlled by a small committee of owners.
Also, the National League dropped its ban on advertising signs behind home plate on a one-year trial basis, and Texaco Inc. agreed to take over All-Star balloting from USA Today. Owners elected Phillies president Bill Giles and White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to the executive council, replacing Bartholomay and former Orioles owner Eli Jacobs.
by CNB