http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sananton...y1.html?i=33057

 

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff helped bring minor league baseball back to San Antonio in the late 1960s, and he helped keep it here three decades later. Now he is the local leader swinging for the fences in an effort to lure Major League Baseball to the Alamo City via a relocation of the Florida Marlins.

 

Such a move will require a vote of approval from Major League Baseball owners, and Wolff hopes he will eventually have the support of Texas' two existing teams -- the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros.

 

The Rangers and Astros both have a history in San Antonio. Each have fielded minor league affiliates here in the past. And each have also worked, with varying degrees of success, to build up fan and media support in this area.

 

Wolff says he has not heard anything from the Astros or Rangers that would indicate they are working against San Antonio's drive to secure the Marlins.

 

Contacted by the Business Journal, a spokeswoman for the Astros would only say that the organization has "no comment" on the Marlins situation at this time.

 

"I don't know what issues there may be with the Astros," Wolff says. "I do know they have some fans down here. That could be a problem. But hopefully they'll be supportive."

 

Wolff says Rangers owner Tom Hicks reached out to San Antonio through Clear Channel Communications Inc. co-founder Lowry Mays when Major League Baseball was trying to find a new home for the Montreal Expos, which have since settled in Washington, D.C.

 

"So I assume there are no issues with the Rangers," Wolff says about the American League team, which plays its home games in Arlington, Texas.

 

But Gregg Elkin, senior vice president of communications for the Rangers, suggests the American League team is not anxious to see a franchise enter the San Antonio market. "Anytime there is talk of another team that close to us," he says, "there is concern that there will be an impact."

 

Elkin adds, "We want baseball fans in San Antonio to be Rangers fans. Two teams in Texas -- one in each league (American and National) -- makes more sense than three teams."

 

Wolff says if California can have five Major League Baseball franchises (Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Athletics, Giants), there is no reason Texas cannot make enough room for three. His son, Kevin Wolff, a huge baseball fan and a member of City Council, says neither the Astros or Rangers have worked that hard to embrace San Antonio over the years.

 

New direction

 

Should San Antonio convince the Marlins and Major League Baseball owners that the Alamo City is a better fit than South Florida, there will need to be a new stadium constructed here. To date, much of the talk about where such a venue might be located has centered on the Interstate Highway 35 corridor as a means of attracting the Austin market, too.

 

But San Antonio may want to look to the south, where business leaders say a more passionate base of baseball fans exists.

 

Bill Summers is president of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, a pro-business organization that has worked to try and help bring the NFL to the border region. He says the area is blessed with a large Hispanic population that is hungry for more professional baseball.

 

There are some examples to support such an argument. Last year, Corpus Christi, for example, christened a new $23 million Whataburger Field, which is home to the Texas League's Corpus Christi Hooks. In Mexico, leaders have lobbied Major League Baseball to put a team in that nation.

 

Wolff, who admits that the Spurs have enjoyed only limited success in their efforts to attract interest in Austin, says those South Texas leaders might be right.

 

"There may end up being more of a pull from there," says Wolff about the area stretching south from San Antonio to northern Mexico. He says the Marlins are open to the idea of perhaps playing some exhibition games in northern Mexico should the team move to San Antonio.

 

"I think that makes a lot of sense," Summers says. "The people down here are great baseball fans. I think he (Wolff) is looking in the right direction."

 

Gut feeling

 

The Rangers' Elkin says he believes the Marlins will remain in the Miami area.

 

"Major League Baseball is working hard to keep the Marlins in Florida," he says.

 

Wolff, however, remains confident that San Antonio will reel in the Marlins.

 

"My gut feels good right now," Wolff says.

 

If the Marlins decide to relocate to San Antonio, they will not arrive until a stadium is constructed. That means the team could be forced to ride it out in Florida as a lame-duck franchise until as late as 2010, likely bleeding even more red ink.

 

One solution might be to move the team into a temporary home closer to San Antonio until a new stadium could be completed here. But Wolff says such a scenario is highly unlikely.

 

"I don't think the Marlins are interested in a temporary home," he says. "I think they feel like it would not be a good representation of Major League Baseball."

 

The only alternative, Wolff says, is to expedite stadium construction here and try to cut down on the length of time the Marlins would have to play in Florida.

 

For now, Wolff and other local leaders are left to play a waiting game while they try to keep their eye on the ball.

 

Meanwhile, Wolff says Marlins officials continue to keep an eye on San Antonio.

 

"They're monitoring everything that is going on down here," Wolff notes. "It's like when we started working on the Toyota deal. The first thing they (Toyota officials) said was, 'We want to know if we're wanted.' It's the same with the Marlins. They want to be wanted."

Naa, he's just had too many burritos.

I mean this in the least apathetic way possible, but really, who cares about San Antonio anymore?

 

1) The Marlins have made it pretty obvious that all they're after is a free stadium. I think it could be in Anchorage Alaska or Maui Hawaii and they'd take it at this point over kicking in a not unreasonable amount for a state of the art retractable roof facility.

 

2) Loria and Samson already have their mischevious little plan concocted...engage two areas (Hialeah and San Antonio) that are so star-struck by the idea of a Major League Baseball team considering their previously 'unfit' for baseball town (afterall, it does take a lot to support 81 home games in the middle of summer in two states notorious for opressive heat), and play the saps off one another. Whoever bends first is simply the newest victim in a line that already features the good fans of Montreal and Miami as well as the wealthier owners of major league baseball.

 

It really is just a waiting game at this point, and hopefully both Hialeah and San Antonio realize they're being played off one another in the hopes that someone gets so over-eager that an offer is made that just plays into Loria's hands.

 

Surely we all must realize that the Marlins don't want to move to San Antonio, or Hialeah, they just represent the two markets at the moment foolish/awestruck enough to keep negotiating.