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American Morning

Expos Could Be Starting Final Season

Aired March 05, 2002 - 09:54   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: So the big question, at least for right now, is could -- could Major League Baseball strike out this season? Spring training camps already in full swing. Fans turning out for the exhibition games, but will their support be enough to sustain the Major Leagues as we know them? Many Major League baseball teams are struggling financially, and as CNN's John Zarrella reports now, some might not make it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Montreal Expos are an endangered species. By next season, there is a very good chance they will be extinct, contracted out of existence.

SCOTT STRICKLAND, EXPOS PITCHER: It's a bad situation, and you have got to make the most of it, and what are you going to do, cry about it?

ZARRELLA: In this, case the bottom line, not the chalk line, is what counts, and the Expos are baseball's bleakest franchise. So Major League Baseball, complaining of a balance sheet in the red, plans to toss Montreal and at least one other financially poor performing club, yet to be named. The Minnesota Twins were on the top of that TBA hit list, which drew the sarcastic ire of Minnesota's governor during congressional hearings on the state of the game.

JESSE VENTURA, GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA: I bet you we will be taken off the list if we agree to build a new stadium. I bet, you know, magically, other team will appear on the list, then, to be contracted, rather than Minnesota.

ZARRELLA: And just what is the state of the game? That depends on who you ask. If you ask baseball's commissioner...

BUD SELIG, BASEBALL COMMISSIONER: In spite of the fact that the game has probably never been more -- more popular, we have some very significant problems.

ZARRELLA: According to ownership, only five teams, led by the Yankees, were in the black last year. And overall, baseball's 30 teams lost $518 million, despite revenues of three and a half billion, almost triple the 1995 number.

ANDREW ZIMBALIST, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR: That's a 17 percent growth rate per year in revenue. That means demand is growing at 17 percent a year, and Major League Baseball is proposing to reduce supply. That makes no sense.

ZARRELLA: A lot of what's going on in baseball is confusing. The lame duck Expos no longer have an owner. The team is run by Major League Baseball, which bought the Expos from Jeffrey Loria, who, in turn, purchased the Florida Marlins from John Henry, who then went out and bought the Boston Red Sox. Got all that? As for the players, well, the collective bargaining agreement has expired.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, TEXAS RANGERS: What I don't want to see happen is another work stoppage. I know the players don't want it, the owners don't want it, and I know the fans definitely don't want it.

ZARRELLA: But don't worry, both sides promise the only strike you'll see is the one called by an umpire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Now next year, there may be a very different look in Major League Baseball. No Montreal Expos, the Florida Marlins, who play the Expos here today, on the bubble. They could be the other team out of existence in a year or two. And of course spring -- it's spring -- hope springs eternal.

And if you are a fan of the 30 clubs, you want your team to be competitive. But the reality is, according to Major League Baseball, since 1995, the bottom 15 of 30 teams, the bottom 15 revenue producing teams, have only won five of 224 play-off games.

Now if you're in New York, there's no problem. The Yankee's $120 million payroll and the Mets $100 million payroll. Both teams expected to be competitive, and have a real shot at a subway series this year. This is John Zarrella, reporting live from Jupiter, Florida -- Jack.

CAFFERTY: John, thank you.

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