Murdoch Expected to Get Full Approval

Jerry Colangelo, managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, said Monday that he expects Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of the Dodgers to be approved at next week’s owners meeting in Florida and any owner fearful of competing with Murdoch or concerned about aggressive signings by the Diamondbacks may be in the wrong business.

“If you’re a competitor you’re going to compete, and if the stakes are too high you better leave,” Colangelo said, adding that he strongly endorses Murdoch’s purchase and isn’t aware of any underground attempt to block it.

Colangelo’s view on the owners’ vote corroborates an Associated Press story Monday quoting two unidentified members of the ruling executive council as predicting that the sale will be approved.

The council members said they expected some opposition but were confident the $311-million agreement between Dodger owner Peter O’Malley and Murdoch’s News Corp. has enough votes to pass.

The sale requires three-fourths approval in the 16 team National League and majority approval in the American League. The vote will be conducted on March 19 during a joint meeting of AL and NL owners in St. Petersburg. The ownership committee’s report on the transaction is expected to be distributed to all clubs this week.

Five negative votes in the National League could kill the deal, but a high ranking baseball official said Monday that he does not expect more than three teams to vote against it.

The San Diego Padres are adamantly opposed. The San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves could join the Padres.

Speculation that the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates will vote against it is inaccurate, the official said.

Bob Graziano, executive vice president of the Dodgers, reiterated Monday that the Dodgers have not attempted to lobby clubs on behalf of the sale.

“We think the transaction speaks for itself and is good for baseball,” he said. “The feedback we’re getting is all positive.”

However, the concern among some clubs, particularly the neighboring Padres, is that Murdoch will drive the salary scale to new heights in pursuit of a winner, ignore baseball regulations governing international TV rights and affect local revenue streams through his local cable connections with 22 of the 30 clubs.

Colangelo, also a principal owner of the Phoenix Suns, dismissed the concern.

He said he favors media conglomerates of the Murdoch, Disney and Turner stature as baseball partners because they raise franchise values and are major links to the entertainment world.

“I think that has great benefit to us,” Colangelo said, speaking of the industry overall. “The little guy is out. The day of the old entrepreneur is over. Very few people can play the game anymore. It costs too much to buy in and too much to run. You’re going to see more and more corporations involved, and sometimes people fear the unknown rather than focusing on the responsible manner that a Murdoch runs his business, the responsible manner we’ve done it with the Suns, and that’s an insult.”

The Diamondbacks have sold 36,000 season tickets and 61 of the 69 luxury boxes in the new Bank One Ballpark. They have marketing deals totaling an unprecedented half billion dollars and expect a first year gross of $110 million.

If there’s industry concern with some of his bold signings, Colangelo said he agrees with those who call it jealousy of a “non-typical expansion franchise.”

Among those signings: A five-year, $48.75-million extension for Matt Williams; a five-year, $34-million contract for Jay Bell; a three-year, $18-million deal with Andy Benes; a three-year, $11.5-million contract for Willie Blair, and a $10-million bonus for amateur first baseman Travis Lee.

Colangelo, however, cited the $325 million that his ownership group has invested and said, “I’d like to see the hands [of how many other owners] have that much invested.”

The $325 million stems from the $130 million that the Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays paid to buy in, about $100 million in start up costs and the difference between the $258 million in tax money for Bank One Ballpark and the actual cost of $365 million.

“We’re in for the long pull,” Colangelo said. “This is not an overnight situation, where we start a franchise that’s moved, sold or torn down.”

That was an obvious reference to what Wayne Huizenga did with the Florida Marlins, but Colangelo said:

“I’m quite aware of the spending habits of people in baseball, but my practice is never to shoot arrows at how someone else runs their business. My nature is to be competitive sooner rather than later but never ever did I think we’d be in the $50- or $60-million payroll category where we very well could be today. I mean, my payroll will be $32, $33 million. When you look at the top payrolls in the league at $70 and $75 million and how many people in the 50s, 60s and 70s, I don’t know what the complaint is.

“If they expected me to come in with a Pittsburgh or Montreal payroll after investing $325 million, that’s crazy. I feel very comfortable where we are and I’ll feel comfortable when we go out and sign someone else. There’s a big gap between $33 million and $75 million.”

It may not take the Diamondbacks long to reach the $70-million stratosphere of the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles if there’s a second winter of spending like the first. Yankee owner George Steinbrenner has already accused Colangelo of tampering with center fielder Bernie Williams, who can become a free agent at the end of the season.

Williams, Bell, Benes and Jorge Fabregas, the catcher Colangelo recently defeated in arbitration and then signed to a two-year, $2.9-million contract, a move that further outraged many in the industry, are all represented by Scott Boras. Speculation among baseball executives is that Colangelo made the deals with Boras as a precursor to signing Williams and, possibly, other Boras clients.

Steinbrenner asked acting commissioner Bud Selig to investigate, which went nowhere. Colangelo said the allegation is ludicrous.

“We’ve aggressively tried to create a new model in a positive sense, one that should be emulated by a lot of people rather than those who are taking shots at me,” he said. “When they make it personal, it goes way out of bounds, but I won’t participate in it or let it worry me. Whatever we do will be within the context of the rules. We’ll do it the right way, and we’ll compete.”

It can be guaranteed that Murdoch will compete as well.