Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 18, 1994 TAG: 9402180126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Are there obstacles? Yes," Eric Margenau said Thursday. "Are they resolvable? I think so."
The primary obstruction arose Feb. 14, when the Salem City Council voted to continue until May a decision on whether to transfer the lease to Municipal Field from current Bucs owner Kelvin Bowles to Margenau. That decision leaves a Margenau-owned team no place to play when the Carolina League season opens April 7, making it virtually impossible for the league to approve the sale.
"I've done everything I was supposed to do," Bowles said. "The ball is in Eric's court right now. I'm just going to sit back and see what happens."
Bowles said he believes that if the closing deadline arrives and Margenau has not worked out a lease agreement with Salem City Council or found somewhere else for the team to play, then the deal is off.
"You never say never, but that's what I think," Bowles said. "Right now, it's all in the hands of my lawyer and his."
Bowles has said that if the deal falls through, he will keep the team and not seek another buyer.
Margenau and Bowles seem to differ on the significance of the closing deadline.
"The issue is not as cut-and-dried as we close on Feb. 28 or the deal is off," Margenau said. "That is his interpretation of the contract, but not mine."
One possibility that Margenau advanced and the two discussed was that Bowles would continue to operate the team through the season and the deal would close in September. That effectively would render the lease transfer moot.
By that time, Margenau also would have some idea whether Salem plans to build a new stadium, something Bowles and Margenau believe is essential to baseball's continued operation in Salem. All five council members have said they would vote for a new park if the money were available, but that wouldn't be known until budget deliberations in May.
There is one hang-up about delaying the closing of the sale until September: Bowles will not go along with it.
"That is to Eric's advantage, but no benefit to me," Bowles said.
Margenau intends to pursue any avenue available to him to see that the deal goes through.
"There are many possibilities," he said.
Margenau has said he believes a new stadium must be ready for the 1995 season, but Salem's council has indicated it will not be pressured with a timetable.
Part of the urgency in securing a commitment to a new park is the uncertainty about the player development contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates that expires at the end of the season. The Pirates want a new park built. Bowles believes that if the city does not commit to a new facility, the Pirates will not renew the contract, thus leaving Salem with no major-league affiliation and no players.
Margenau, who has owned minor-league baseball teams since 1986, said it his experience that building a new stadium requires at least a year. By that reckoning, ground must be broken soon to have a park ready for an April 1995 opening.
Bowles and Margenau have said that if a new stadium is not built in Salem, ownership would have no choice but to move the team elsewhere. As starved as many communities are for professional baseball, it does not appear that finding a new home would be difficult.
by CNB