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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview with Chris Cotter

Aired August 09, 2002 - 06:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to turn our attention now to sports once again. We've got a possible baseball strike looming as well as number 600 looming for Barry Bonds.
Joining us to talk about all that and so much more is Chris Cotter of 790 The Zone here in Atlanta.

Welcome.

CHRIS COTTER, 790 THE ZONE: Thank you. Good to be back, as always.

COSTELLO: Yes, it's good to have you back.

Let's talk baseball, shall we, because there's so much going on there it's hard to keep straight?

COTTER: There really is. But actually it's good news, the fact that at least something is being done, right? We're not just beating a dead horse here. They're coming to agreements on deferred compensation, which is a small item, but at least it's something, right? So they're agreeing. They're shaking hands. This is happening.

COSTELLO: Yes, and there's that...

COTTER: So maybe we won't have a strike.

COSTELLO: ... steroid test.

COTTER: Steroids. The players agreed to some type of a steroid test. They submitted it to the owners and the owners are going to give a counter proposal, probably as early as today. So we'll see if we can get some sort of consensus there. So we're moving in the right direction.

COSTELLO: There are a few problems with those steroid tests. There's no, nothing in that proposal that would outline what the punishment would be if a player is caught using steroids.

COTTER: Correct.

COSTELLO: And it doesn't really address other drugs like cocaine.

COTTER: Yes, it doesn't, and this is a problem with a lot of the tests that professional sports leagues are using. They're for specific drugs. They take out specific drugs. Also, they don't look at some. So I think a lot of people would like to see it across-the- board, all illegal drugs, because, after all, we do live in the United States. Professional sports is just a small microcosm of the rest of society and it is illegal in the rest of society, so why not get rid of all of the illegal drugs?

COSTELLO: That's true. You have a good point. We'll see what happens.

Tell us about this suit, the infighting now within the management ranks of baseball?

COTTER: It's almost, now we're going to see it on the front page of the "National Enquirer" or something like that, aren't we? I mean one of the co-owners of the New York Mets is suing another co-owner of the New York Mets, to keep it in general terms, saying that the numbers that were reported by major league baseball last year and the numbers that may be reported this year in terms of losses, there is a conspiracy theory by part of the ownership of the New York Mets and major league baseball to make the numbers look bad. And he's trying to sell his part.

So if the numbers look bad and the team isn't worth as much, then his part isn't going to be worth as much. So he's filing suit and as part of the papers being submitted in this suit,

Major league baseball and those Lehman Brothers and some other, you know, big firms are involved in this. And they say that the 200 and some odd million dollars that major league baseball said they were going to lose this year in operating profit back in January, it's going to be about double that. So they're saying about $450 million in operating losses this year and that only one team will make money this year.

COSTELLO: Make money.

COTTER: Only one team.

COSTELLO: Would it be the Yankees?

COTTER: Could it possibly be? That would be a good guess.

COSTELLO: Yes. Nobody really believes that baseball is losing money. I mean nobody believes that.

COTTER: Well, I think that, you know, when you get Lehman Brothers and some of these other really reputable firms coming out and saying Bud Selig isn't as big of a liar as some people say he is, they are losing money.

COSTELLO: Yes, but Chris, people buy baseball teams not to make money, but to sell them at huge profits.

COTTER: Yes, well, yes, that's right. It's all about franchise value. And, you know, I mean I think Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for $10 million maybe back in the '60s, so... COSTELLO: Back in the old days.

COTTER: He's making some pretty good money. But I think you look at Wayne Huizenga with Florida, after they won the World Series back in the mid-'90s he had to sell the team because he wasn't making any money. And you know if he was making money, Wayne Huizenga, a businessman of his repute, would have kept the team.

COSTELLO: That's true. But he made money in selling the team, I'll bet.

COTTER: He eventually made money. You know, somewhere along the line, he made it. Maybe not as much as he would have liked.

COSTELLO: Oh, it is like a soap opera.

OK, so Barry Bonds, tell me when he's going to hit his 600th home run?

COTTER: Well, he's...

COSTELLO: Could it come tonight?

COTTER: He's at 599 so he's had some practice, right? I mean he should be able to -- this is old hat for him. But 600 would be so huge when you think about it. Only three players have ever done it. Six hundred and sixty would be next on the list, with Willie Mays.

COSTELLO: So who's going to pitch to him?

COTTER: Well, surprisingly, not surprisingly, but we've seen in this last series that he played in with the Chicago Cubs that all the pitchers went after him. I think this is -- you don't want to be the pitcher that gives up the 600. You don't want to be the pitcher that gives up a record home run.

But it's also, it's a mano y mano kind of thing here. You want to go after him. You don't want to give in to Barry Bonds, to be able to strike him out, to get him out, you know, that's chest pumping stuff.

COSTELLO: That's right.

COTTER: And I think these pitchers are going to still continue to go after him.

COSTELLO: Because they're manly men.

COTTER: They are. They're professional athletes.

COSTELLO: Manly men.

COTTER: They take pride in their work.

COSTELLO: That's right.

Thank you, Chris Cotter.

COTTER: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: We'll catch you next Friday.

COTTER: OK.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

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