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

DATE: SUNDAY, October 15, 1995                   TAG: 9510180011
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VA. GROUP TAKES GIANT STEPS

The Northern Virginia group that is trying to return major-league baseball to the national capital area apparently has turned its attention to the San Francisco Giants.

William L. Collins III, a telecommunications executive who has spent the past year trying to bring a team to Northern Virginia, was in the San Francisco Bay area during the past week. He was meeting with Giants executives, according to Robert E. Hope, an Atlanta baseball consultant who has worked with Collins.

``I know he was there, and I know he met with them,'' Hope said, adding he was not sure of the outcome of the meeting.

Collins did not return calls to his office, but Collins' spokesman, Michael T. Scanlon Jr., acknowledged Collins was on the West Coast. When asked if Collins was in California to try to buy the Giants, Scanlon said: ``Mr. Collins was on a business trip.''

He later said: ``We are trying to buy a baseball team.''

Peter A. Magowan, who led the large group of investors who purchased the Giants in 1992, said the National League club is not for sale and that he did not meet with Collins.

``Our club is not available,'' Magowan said Friday. ``We have not discussed anything with Bill Collins. I would know about [discussions] if they happened and they have not happened.''

The Giants reportedly have lost $20 million this year, with attendance dropping almost 50 percent from 1994.

Already, San Francisco voters have rejected referendums four times to build the team a new stadium, which presumably would help increase attendance.

The consensus in the industry, Hope said, is the Bay area cannot support two major-league teams, so either the Giants or Oakland Athletics likely will relocate soon.

Baseball sources said the Giants and Collins have not requested permission from the commissioner's office or the National League to conduct formal talks about selling the team and moving it to the Washington area. If such talks are occurring, the parties could be fined.

The Collins group also has acknowledged having discussions with representatives of the Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos.

by CNB