Season Could Be Over in Two Weeks

With no negotiating sessions scheduled for the Labor Day weekend and no holiday baseball for the first time since 1894, acting Commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday that he will begin to look closely at a possible shutdown date for the rest of the season.

“It’s a tragic situation, but sooner or later you reach the point of diminishing return,” Selig said.

It is believed the owners have tentatively set Sept. 15 as the date by which a decision has to be made.

However, with TV advertisers turning away from the uncertainty of the playoffs and World Series, the owners no longer have $140 million in TV revenue at stake in the postseason and might not feel compelled to wait until the 15th before closing on ’94 to begin planning the unilateral implementation of their salary-cap proposal, sources said.

The season could now be called off as early as Sept 10, the sources said.

“We were off to a wonderful start, but the advertisers stopped investing in early August,” Selig said, a reference to the Aug. 12 start of the players’ strike.

The possible loss of a potential $5 million per club in postseason TV revenue compounds a major regular-season setback. In the first half year of the partnership with ABC and NBC, each of the clubs has received about $1.5 million compared to about $14 million per year during the CBS contract.

With the plug about to be pulled, federal mediators talked via telephone with union and management officials Thursday but still found no reason to call a bargaining session.

Jerry McMorris, owner of the Colorado Rockies, continued his informal talks with union leader Donald Fehr without substantive results and several players, including Randy Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steve Trachsel of the Chicago Cubs, went on strike and off salary when recalled from the minors.

In addition, the salary-cap proposal continued to generate unprecedented unanimity among the owners despite pressure from some high-revenue clubs favoring compromise and resumption of the season. Seven to nine of the big markets, including the Dodgers, have been keeping phone lines busy, sources say, but have been unable to muster enough support.