Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 2, 1994                   TAG: 9411020074
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                  LENGTH: Medium

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

Organizers of the new United League unveiled their plans Tuesday, saying it probably was too late to get started in 1995 but that 1996 was a realistic goal.

``There are at least 20 cities large enough to support a team,'' said former Rep. Bob Mrazek, one of the founders, ``cities larger than Cincinnati and Milwaukee, which already have one.''

Mrazek, agent Dick Moss, Rep. John Bryant, D-Texas, and Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist are the founders of the league. The United League would be the first challenger to the American and National leagues since the Federal League, which began in 1914 and folded after the 1915 season.

The new league plans on starting with 10 teams, including one each in Canada and Mexico. It would hope to double in size by 1999, adding expansion franchises in Asia.

Individuals involved in the proposed league include former major-leaguer Curt Flood, who sued owners for free agency in the 1970s; former NBA player Tom McMillen, another former congressman; U.S. Trust Co. vice president Eric Vinson; and William Gray, chairman of the United Negro College Fund.

Several criticized major-league owners for their hiring practice, saying minorities largely were excluded.

``Minorities in the United Baseball League will be able to step from the batter's box to the owner's box,'' Vinson said.

Moss, Donald Fehr's predecessor as general counsel of the Major League Baseball Players Association, said the league would attempt to sign free agents next winter and also would try to sign amateurs this summer. He said trying to take advantage of the current major-league work stoppage by starting in the spring was practically impossible.

``The odds are greatly against us for having all the pieces for a quality league and acting them out in the next four months,'' he said.

Organizers hope to sell the charter franchises for $5 million each - less than 5 percent of the $173 million it cost Peter Angelo's group to buy the Baltimore Orioles in 1993.

Twenty cities are being considered in the United States. Mrazek, who co-authored the business plan with Moss, said it would be up to the cities to come forward and offer suitable stadiums with grass fields.

McMillen said it was important to have a team in Washington. A draft proposal said teams in the New York and Los Angeles areas were a must, listing Long Island and Riverside-San Bernadino as possibilities.

``We're not here to prod the establishment and we're not here to replace it,'' Moss said. ``We're here to coexist with it. We will compete, just as Ford competes with General Motors.''

Players would be eligible for free agency after three years of service, according to a draft plan. The average team's payroll is projected to be about $14 million in 1996, less than half the current average of American and National league teams. Player salaries would average $520,000 in 1996, half the current major-league average of about $1.2 million.

The draft plan has first-year teams averaging $31 million in revenue, about half the current major-league average. Average attendance is projected at 17,500 per game in 1996 and the average ticket price is projected at $8, about $2.50 less than the major-league average.

The new league, according to the draft, believes its national broadcasting contracts for 1996 would total $49 million, about one-fifth what the major leagues' total was projected to be this year before the player's strike ended the season on Aug.12.

Once the league is formed, the teams would take responsibility for their costs.

The host city of each franchise, according to the draft, would get a 15 percent equity share of each team and 15 percent of the pretax profit. In exchange for building stadiums, host cities would get 50 percent of luxury suite revenue and 33 percent of parking revenue. Cities would get 100 percent of the money from selling names of the stadiums.

Players would get 35 percent of the equity of each team and 35 percent of the pretax profits, the draft said. In addition, players would get 10 percent of the money any time a team is sold.

Moss said the league would be a ``true partnership,'' mocking the salary-cap and revenue-sharing proposals made by big-league teams.

``This will not be a sham as has been proposed so often by the owners,'' Moss said.