Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 27, 1995 TAG: 9510270136
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: HERNDON LENGTH: Medium
Several news reports had said an agreement was imminent to move the money-losing team from the Astrodome.
``Preliminary discussions have been held, but there is absolutely nothing final to call an agreement,'' Astros spokesman Tyler Barnes said Thursday, repeating what team owner Drayton McLane has said for a week.
The Virginia group, led by telecommunications executive William Collins III, had hoped to complete the deal and make an announcement within a week to 10 days.
``Things work in funny ways. We think once the World Series is over and we have the opportunity to sit down, we think things might happen,'' Collins said Thursday.
Barnes, too, said the Astros may have an announcement after the World Series.
Acting commissioner Bud Selig said McLane does not have permission to even talk about selling the Astros to a group that would move the team. He said McLane would have to apply to him if he wished to discuss a deal with Collins.
``There are certain guidelines we cannot tolerate not following,'' Selig said during a news conference before Game 5 of the World Series in Cleveland. ``This is one. ...
``A team hasn't moved in 24 years. Our policies are geared toward trying to keep a team where it is.''
Meanwhile, the stadium authority picking a site for a potential Virginia baseball stadium Thursday endorsed Collins' group as the best hope of bringing baseball to the Washington area.
The group's chairman, George Barton IV, contradicted his statement in the Washington Post that the Astros and Collins have ``an agreement in principle.'' Barton told the paper, ``There has been a handshake.''
On Thursday, Barton said he was not involved in negotiations between Collins and the Houston team and does not know if an actual handshake took place.
``What I did ask, because, obviously, it affects the work of the authority, is if negotiations with the Houston Astros were in fact serious negotiations - is this, you know, a serious offer,'' Barton said. ``I was assured by the Virginia Baseball Club that it was.''
The Virginia group wants to bring a team to the Washington area as soon as next season. The new team would play for two years at Washington's RFK Stadium, while a new 40,000-seat stadium is built in the Virginia suburbs.
Any deal would have to be approved by 10 of 14 National League owners and eight of 14 American League owners. Selig said McLane also would need permission from the ruling executive council for the deal.
The Greater Houston Partnership has launched a drive to sell 12,000 additional season tickets to help keep the Astros in town. Randall Onstead, who is heading the drive, said the figure could be adjusted to 14,000, if necessary.
``We want this to be something that the citizens of Houston and Harris County are really committed to, something they want,'' McLane told the Houston Chronicle. ``If it's not something that people want to support at the level that's necessary, we're not down on Houston we're just saying that you have to move your product.''
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB