Wednesday, December 15, 2004

 

The Island of Misfit Franchises

Oh, won't someone please give a good home to this poor baseball team?

As you have probably heard, the former Montreal Expos are on the verge of being homeless again, a mere 78 days after being packed off to Washington D.C. In a quite unexpected development (that is, unexpected by anyone who wasn't paying close attention), D.C. City Council Chair Linda Cropp decided to, um, alter the deal between the city and Major League Baseball.

Baseball, as you might expect, immediately put the Washington franchise on hold, and will take them off life support if the council doesn't change its mind by December 31.

I have to laugh. I have to laugh at Cropp because the "altering the deal" bit works best when the other side has no leverage. For instance, if you're Darth Vader and you have occupied Cloud City, you can alter your deal with Lando Calrissian because Lando can't do a damn thing about it. If you're Lando, you can't try to alter the deal with Darth Vader.

In this case, Lando Cropp is trying to "alter the deal" with Darth Selig. That just isn't going to work.

MLB doesn't give a rat's ass about Washington D.C. They care only for the mountains of cash they will get by selling the Expos/Nationals/Hobos, wrapped in a shiny publicly financed stadium. If the new owner has to chip in to help build the yard, the Expos aren't worth as much. That means less money for the owners. That makes for unhappy owners, and no one wants that.

So what happens next? First, Cropp has to decide whether or not to back down. She won't. If she does, she looks weak and hypocritical, and her career will be pretty much over. The rest of the council will have to override her, and that seems unlikely.

The ball will then be in MLB's court. Will they keep the Expos in RFK for a year anyway? Forget it. No chance. They will want to punish the district for double-crossing them. Where, then, will they put the team? Back in Montreal? That would be the best thing, I think, but the Expos offices and organization is mostly gone from that city already. Most likely, the Expos will end up in San Juan for an entire season. The stadium is as ready as it will ever be. Whipping a minor-league stadium into shape in Portland, Norfolk, or Las Vegas is probably asking too much.

But this story has been too wild for a simple solution to take hold. There are two wild cards here, and they're both "c" words: contraction and Congress. After the 2006 season, MLB may disband two teams without complaint from the player's union. In fact, they might make more money long term by doing just that. So don't be surprised if MLB shuffles the Expos around for a couple of years and then shoots them.

Congress could throw a huge monkey wrench into everyone's plans. They could threaten to pull MLB's anti-trust exemption if MLB doesn't accept Cropp's demands. This would put MLB in a huge bind, and they would have little choice but to accept. Thing is, I believe Congress is in recess until the new term starts in January. So I think this is pretty unlikely, unless John McCain gets bored waiting for Santa.

My vote is for MLB to do the right thing. Put the damn team back where it belongs, in Montreal. Pledge to the residents that they're going to sell the team to local owners and use the proceeds to build a new, first-class ballpark in Montreal. Start marketing the club there. Apologize profusely for the existence of Jeffrey Loria (who, by the way, has started his dance of death with the Florida Marlins already).

That's not going to happen, though. Montreal's not going to get another team in my lifetime. Frankly, after this debacle, neither is Washington D.C. Three strikes and you're out, folks.

Jefferson 10:05 PM

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