MLB Votes to Contract

Baseball Votes to Eliminate Two Teams

Precedent-setting move by Selig and Owners controversial with players and cities

New York, November 9, 2001 -- Major League Baseball Owners voted overwhelmingly to authorize commissioner Bud Selig to eliminate two of the league's least successful teams. The action, the first such contraction in a major sports league in recent memory, shows that the league made good on its threats to take action to to reduce the number of "poor" teams which they say affect the economic viability of the sport.

The 28-2 vote was a victory for Selig, who has seen his powers gradually increase in his almost decade-long tenure as Commissioner. The two teams to be eliminated have not been identified, but at press time, many have assumed they will be the Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins. The Expos, playing to four digit audiences in a horrid stadium in a small market, are almost guaranteed to get the ax. They averaged 7,600 fans per game last season.

Although other teams are candidates for contraction -- notably the Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Oakland A's and Anaheim Angels, the Twins may have the edge, because their stadium lease lasts only one more year and their extinction would cause the least monetary and legal damage.

Speaking of legal damage, the decision, if carried out, would create a swarm of litigation from the Major League Baseball Players' Association (which has already filed a grievance), minor league teams, stadium owners and other businesses. Congress may also get involved, as legislators from states where the departing teams are located will be less than pleased with the teams' elimination.

Former Commissioner Fay Vincent (who was forced out after a confidence-losing vote by the owners in 1992) criticized the decision, saying: "The lawyers in baseball have been so wrong in labor matters. It probably puts baseball off on the wrong foot, and that's too bad.''

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a brother of President Bush, the former controlling owner of the Texas Rangers, called the decision to eliminate teams ``a fairly Draconian measure.''

According to the New York Times, the reason the two have not been identified is that Selig is waiting to determine whether one or more of those teams can be sold and moved. Expos Managing General Partner Jeffrey Loria is negotiating to buy the Marlins from Owner John Henry, and Henry is negotiating to buy the Angels from Disney. But Selig "denied that those talks are having any impact on his disclosure of the two teams."

click here to read my opinon

click here to read about the union's grievance

Source: New York Times, November 8, 2001

Mark Conrad