Gag Order on Argyros May Kill Stadium Talks

The gag order slapped on prospective San Diego Padres owner George Argyros has stalled and threatens to scuttle the baseball team’s negotiations with San Diego officials over a new lease for city-owned San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Jack McGrory, deputy city manager, received permission from the San Diego Stadium Authority board Thursday to ask National League officials to lift the restrictions to allow Argyros to be a silent participant in the lease negotiations so that they can proceed.

McGrory said that the city receives about $1 million a year from the lease with the team, and is negotiating a 12-year contract for the remainder of the century. The current contract expires at the end of next season.

Negotiations began in November and, in late March, when the Orange County developer announced he had agreed to buy the San Diego team from Joan Kroc, both sides said that the lease negotiations would be unaffected by the change.

Petition to ‘Lift the Lid’

However, at Thursday’s Stadium Authority meeting, McGrory informed board members that the negotiations had stalled and asked permission to petition National League officials to “lift the lid” on Argyros’ gag order so that he could be kept abreast of the stadium lease negotiations.

Argyros, who must sell the Seattle Mariners, an American League team, before he can assume possession of the Padres, was fined $10,000 by Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth for telephoning Padres Manager Larry Bowa on April 16 with congratulations after the team chalked up its second victory of the season.

Stadium Authority board member George Mitrovich urged fellow board members to ask National League officials to sanction a clause in the Kroc-Argyros sale agreement that would ensure that the new owner would keep the team in San Diego, but he received support only from fellow director Oscar Padilla.

When she put the team up for sale, Kroc pledged that she would not sell to someone who would move the franchise out of San Diego. When the tentative sale was announced in March, she said Argyros had assured her that the club would not be moved.

Mitrovich said, however, that Argyros has made no formal commitment to honor Kroc’s promise and is “an unknown factor.”

Mitrovich said that he had “reason to believe” that league officials “would not be averse to such a clause” tying the Padres to San Diego and to the stadium.

Argyros said Thursday through a spokeswoman that he was not aware that the stadium lease negotiations have been affected, and jokingly refused further comment unless the caller agreed to pay his $10,000 fine for commenting on Padres affairs while he is still owner of the Mariners.

The spokeswoman said that the gag order issued by Ueberroth and National League officials prohibited Argyros not only from talking to Padres officials but also from talking about Padres matters.

Sides Called Not Far Apart

McCrory said that the lease negotiations do not involve major issues, and that the two sides--the Padres’ management and the city--were not far from an agreement. However, he added, no further talks are scheduled because the team’s future owner cannot be advised of their status.

“We’re not asking for any major increases (in city revenue) or revisions in the terms,” McCrory said. “The present lease expires following the 1988 baseball season, which gives us plenty of time” to conclude the negotiations.

National League owners are expected to rule on whether to allow the sale of the Padres to Argyros at their mid-June meeting, but they already have made it clear that Argyros must sell the Mariners before assuming control of the Padres.

Mitrovich, in his unsuccessful attempt to tie the Padres to San Diego, argued that the fans, stadium employees, the city and stadium bond-holders all deserve assurances that the team won’t be moved.

He said he had no information that Argyros had any intent to take the franchise elsewhere, but noted that the developer’s negotiations with King County, Wash., and Seattle officials over Mariners leases and other agreements had been “highly confrontational” and “had left a lot of bruised feelings.”

“If everything is as we have been led to believe,” Mitrovich said, “then there should be no problem in such a clause (in the Padres sale contract) being included.”

Padres officials could not be reached for comment.