Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 23, 1994 TAG: 9410250025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Five groups seeking a major-league expansion team will make presentations to baseball officials on Nov. 1 in Chicago, the owners said Friday. The groups include one each from Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix; St. Petersburg, Fla.; and two from northern Virginia.
The owners haven't decided whether to expand again and say they won't until the two-month player strike ends. There have been previous plans to add two to four teams as soon as 1996 or as late as 1998.
``The decision to expand has not yet been made,'' said Boston Red Sox chief executive officer John Harrington, chairman of the owners' expansion committee.
Attorney Bart S. Fisher and William L. Collins, the owner of one of the nation's largest paging companies, head the two separate local groups that were invited to make 90-minute presentations to the expansion committee, which is made up of team owners.
Neither has discussed exact stadium sites publicly because of the strict confidentiality rules associated with the expansion application process. Each man said that if his group is awarded a franchise, it would play in RFK Stadium while a new ballpark is constructed in Virginia.
``This is a great step forward,'' said Fisher, whose group's $150 million bid to buy the San Diego Padres last year and move them to the Washington area was rejected by the team. ``What it says is baseball is interested in this area.''
``We are obviously delighted and very excited with having the opportunity to go present before Major League Baseball,'' said Collins, vice chairman of Metrocall Inc. ``We are very hopeful we can bring a team to northern Virginia.''
A story in Saturday's editions of The Washington Post said baseball sources say Phoenix and Tampa-St. Petersburg are the clear favorites if only two teams are added.
Washington has not had a major league team since the Senators moved and became the Texas Rangers in 1972. Subsequent efforts to get a team for the area have ended in frustration.
Fairfax County board chairman Thomas M. Davis helped convince county supervisors last summer to work with the two ownership groups to submit an application for an expansion team.
Baseball last expanded in 1993 when the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins joined the National League. They paid $95 million each.
by CNB