City and county forming teams to lure Marlins

 

Web Posted: 03/17/2006 12:00 AM CST

 

Tom Orsborn

Express-News Staff Writer

 

Anticipating that Major League Baseball will deem San Antonio a viable market, Bexar County commissioners directed county staffers Thursday to assemble a negotiating team for relocation talks with the Florida Marlins.

 

Also Thursday, County Judge Nelson Wolff and Mayor Phil Hardberger set a meeting for March 31 with the San Antonio Sports Foundation, the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to discuss plans to attract the Marlins.

 

"We want to make sure we get the community behind this and approach it with a common purpose," Hardberger said.

 

Wolff has offered a stadium-financing plan to the Marlins that calls for the county to pay two-thirds of the cost for a $300 million ballpark. The county would raise $200 million by extending the hotel/rental-car taxes used to build the AT&T Center for the Spurs on the East Side.

 

Voter approval would be needed to extend the taxes. The deadline to call a November election is August.

 

"We are trying to get things in position and be ready should baseball give the Marlins the green light," Wolff said. "We don't want to waste any time because time will be precious."

 

Wolff said the negotiating team probably would consist of five members. He said the candidates could include David Morgan, the county's executive director of information services and a former negotiator for the city of Dallas, and some of the county attorneys who negotiated the lease agreement with the Spurs.

 

"We could also have the (four) County Commissioners involved on a rotating basis," Wolff said.

 

The Marlins informed Wolff on Tuesday it could be "weeks" before the team and MLB decide whether to pursue more serious negotiations. Wolff said the decision could hinge on MLB's analysis of the San Antonio market, which a recent BizJournal.com study indicated would be hard pressed to support a second professional team.

 

But a national sports marketing expert who served as a consultant on relocation to the NFL's Cardinals, Raiders and Rams suggested the Marlins are seriously considering moving to San Antonio, which has an expanding corporate base but is the 38th-ranked television market.

 

"I believe strongly that it is absolutely worth San Antonio's time and effort to continue with this pursuit of the Marlins actively and aggressively," said Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based Sportscorp Ltd. "If I was advising San Antonio on this project, I would advise it use these weeks to focus on all the major components needed to make the deal happen. I wouldn't wait and be passive."

 

The county's financing plan helps San Antonio's cause, Ganis said, but Wolff and other leaders shouldn't stop there.

 

"They need to line up broadcasting deals, mobilize a civic group to start marketing tickets and come up with a public-sector guarantee of ticket sales," Ganis said. "The more certainty that can be put on the table, the more likelihood the Marlins will come."

 

Wolff said the plans Ganis spoke of would be discussed at the March 31 meeting.

 

"We'll meet and then set smaller meetings to explain to the various chambers what needs to be done," Wolff said. "When the Saints were here last fall, we had one big meeting with the chamber and business leaders and then it kind of fizzled out after that. We want there to be good follow through with this."

 

The New Orleans Saints spent last season in San Antonio because of Hurricane Katrina. In September, leaders from the private and public sectors met with Saints owner Tom Benson for breakfast to discuss ways to market the team's three home games scheduled for the Alamodome.

 

The meeting attracted 200 people, including some of the city's leading CEOs, and one participant referred to it as a "mini pep rally."

 

Wolff and Hardberger are banking on the Marlins creating similar excitement.

 

"This effort is picking up speed and, hopefully, we will have a more favorable outcome this time," said Hardberger, referring to the Saints returning to Louisiana despite indications from Benson and other team officials that they were considering permanent relocation to San Antonio.

 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories...s.1cb69fbb.html

Those stupid hicks better stay the hell away from our team!!!!

Those stupid hicks better stay the hell away from our team!!!!

 

 

this stupid hick says you better watch your mouth.

At the very least, this puts lie to the notion that there are no more cities in the continental U.S. willing to host a future MLB team. I don't know if this effort would succeed or the efforts in Norfolk, Las Vegas, Portland or Charlotte. Still, I think it should encourage MLB to actually help find a solution to this seemingly intractable problem.

Those stupid hicks better stay the hell away from our team!!!!

 

 

i concur...but even if mlb decides san antonio is a viable market, they would still prefer miami, and once the nats get an owner, i suspect mlb to do everything in its power short of giving away money to get a deal done in south florida

concur...but even if mlb decides san antonio is a viable market, they would still prefer miami, and once the nats get an owner, i suspect mlb to do everything in its power short of giving away money to get a deal done in south florida

 

Marlins staff have mention they prefer to stay in South Florida, however If MLB decides SA is a viable market it also opens opportunities for the other troubling franchise i.e. Twins/Royals/Devil Rays.

 

But, right now it's SA & Marlins.

NEW: Baseball legend Ryan supports local efforts to land Marlins

 

It looks like we're getting support from all areas Community/Business/Sport.

The Spurs also have express interest.

useless info...no new news other than ryan is interested...quite frankly...it doesnt matter if he is their spokes person or not

Screw Nolan Ryan.

nolan ryan throwing his support for a san antonio team is actually quite interesting as he had said many times before that the region was not ready for MLB baseball.

 

I mean he should know considering he owns a AA team in Corpus only a couple of hours away and a AAA in Round Rock which is essentially a suburb of Austin. I'm sure Ryan did all the due diligence in researching the market prior to doing what he did.

 

It still remains to be seen whether this is just more sensationalism or if this is truly significant. I suspect whenever MLB gets done with their studies it will answer a lot of questions, though I suspect the overall market in San Antonio is a lot better than many here have made it out to be, but not as good as some of those trumping the San Antonio cause have made it out to be currently.

 

It might all be a bargaining chip and if it is, thats great for the Marlins, but doing this study and releasing the results is extremely significant for San Antonio itself. Win/win in that regard.