Group Agrees to Purchase Pirates

An unusual coalition of the public and private sectors committed to keeping the struggling Pirates in Pittsburgh for at least five years reached an agreement Wednesday to buy the team from the John W. Galbreath family and Warner Communications Inc. for $22 million.

Mayor Richard Caliguiri, who has headed efforts to keep the Pirates in the city they have called home since 1887, said that the partnership will raise $50 million to buy the team and cover anticipated operating losses through at least the 1990 baseball season.

The public sector’s estimated $25 million share may be funded through the sale of municipally owned Three Rivers Stadium, where the Pirates and football Steelers play. The money raised from selling the stadium would be loaned to the new partnership, Pittsburgh Baseball Inc., which would own and operate the team, Caliguiri said.

The coalition also would assume $7 million in debts owed mainly to players who signed deferred contracts, including former Pirate outfielder Dave Parker.

“I’m glad to announce that the Pittsburgh Pirates will remain the Pittsburgh Pirates,” said Douglas D. Danforth, chairman of Westinghouse Electric Corp., a corporate member of the coalition.

The mayor called the public-private coalition plan “unprecedented in major league sports.”