BY GEOFF HOBSON and LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Major League Baseball shot down a proposal Thursday by Hamilton County Treasurer Robert Goering that the county buy Marge Schott's controlling shares of the Cincinnati Reds.
Acting Commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday he doesn't expect a proposed Reds' sale to Hamilton County would conform to ownership guidelines.
"We've never done that before, and frankly I don't see that happening," said Mr. Selig of a governmental agency controlling a franchise.
Another baseball source agreed.
"It's a historical fact that Baseball has never permitted a team to be controlled by a governmental agency," said the source. "Who's going to attend the owners' meetings? What happens if there's a trade and a public hearing is called because an official doesn't like it?"
Neither Major League Baseball nor National League bylaws specifically cite government ownership, but any transfer would have to be approved by a three-fourths vote of National League owners and a majority vote of American League owners.
Hamilton County Commission President Tom Neyer Jr., for one, doesn't think the county should be running a ball club.
"Can you imagine a political campaign won or lost based on your starting rotation's ERA or last year's first-round draft pick?" he asked. "Even if it did make sense economically, it doesn't philosophically." Mr. Goering said he hasn't talked directly to Mrs. Schott. Rather, he said, he talked to a "representative" he declined to name. Mr. Goering said he's trying to find out whether the team is for sale, the price of Mrs. Schott's shares and whether MLB would place restrictions on such an ownership agreement.
"We are not aware of Mrs. Schott expressing any interest in selling," said Reds Managing Executive John Allen.
The county would need a change in state law to buy shares in the franchise.
State law includes strict restrictions on the kinds of investments county governments can make so as to protect tax dollars.
While the Reds franchise has been among the biggest money losers in professional sports this decade, that doesn't worry Mr. Goering. "When you calculate the amount of money we're putting in sales tax revenues to fund stadiums, this investment is a fairly insignificant one," he said, pegging the cost at $30 million to $40 million. "As of now, we have no possible return."
Mr. Goering first started talking about buying a limited share of the Reds last year but said he backed off because it wouldn't give the county any control over the franchise.
Controlling the team would ensure that it would never leave the area, he said.
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