Smulyan's Bid for Nats Includes Move Veto

Friday, October 28, 2005; 7:56 PM

WASHINGTON -- Local investors in Indianapolis-based businessman Jeff Smulyan's bid to buy the Washington Nationals would be able to veto any plans to move the club to another city.
Smulyan, the former owner of the Seattle Mariners, announced that element of his bid Friday, part of an effort to quell any concern among city politicians about having someone who isn't from Washington purchase the Nationals.
"I have said on numerous occasions that we will not move the team. We want to be in Washington _ that is the whole reason for our bid in the first place," Smulyan said in a statement. "By putting veto power in the hands of the local investors we have removed any doubt about our commitment to keep the team in D.C., where it belongs."
Eight groups have been trying to buy the Nationals from Major League Baseball, which purchased the Montreal Expos in 2002 for $120 million and moved them to the nation's capital before the just-concluded season.
Washington had not had a major league club since the expansion Senators left for Texas after the 1971 season _ the second time a baseball team left the nation's capital.
Commissioner Bud Selig has been interviewing bidders. Baseball hopes to select a buyer before the next owners' meeting, Nov. 16-17 in Milwaukee, although no firm deadline has been established. The sale price is expected to be around $450 million.
Smulyan, who says he would buy a home in the Washington area and commute from Indianapolis, has added several people with local ties to his group in recent months, including former Redskins players Art Monk, Charles Mann and Calvin Hill, and former FCC chairman Richard Wiley.
"The investor group is going to have a veto about the club moving, and I've already told Jeff I'm voting 'No,'" Wiley said in an interview. "And I don't think this club is ever going to move. It's one of the great markets."
Noting the city's plan to build a new stadium for the Nationals, Mann dismissed any talk about whether Smulyan might leave Washington as "ridiculous."
"Why are people getting on that tangent? I don't understand that. People threaten to move if you don't build them a new stadium. Well, guess what? The stadium's being built," Mann said in an interview. "So let's just stop with that. That's a smoke screen by somebody that doesn't make any sense."
Smulyan also announced Friday that his ownership group would form a hiring advisory committee, headed by Hill, to ensure diversity among employees, and a community outreach council, headed by former U.S. Attorney Eric Holder, to work with community leaders and organizations.
"We're going to ensure that people are hired of all ethnicities, look like the community looks, make sure that happens. You better believe that's going to happen on my watch," Mann said.
Smulyan's group of nearly 20 investors includes at least a dozen minorities, spokesman Dan Rene said.
"If we get this team, there's over $100 million being put up by minority owners," Mann said. "That is historic. Never been done. Wouldn't Major League Baseball like to be a part of something like that?"


Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/